It may come under the Pilot Batch tag but this autumn 2018 release from Stone & Wood bears all the hallmarks of the brewery's old Mash Collective project. There they would bring together people from outside the beer world to help create a beer: musicians, artists, craftspeople, surfers; chefs and so on. Here it's a trio made up of "wild chef" (referring to the source of her ingredients and inspiration rather than any coke 'n' fist fights behaviour in the kitchen) Sarah Glover, inventor of, among other things, bee-friendly hives Cedar Anderson, and artist Jonas Claesson.
The beer they came up with in conjunction with the Stone & Wood brewers is a cream ale infused with honey, wattle seed, ginger, strawberry gum, round lime and pepper berry. Given cream ales are typically pretty simple beers, it's a blank canvas upon which to layer on such a smorgasbord of Northern Rivers' ingredients. Yet this is Stone & Wood, where subtlety and balance is key. So, while a swirl and a sniff might recall memories of honey and lemon throat lozenges or honey and ginger tea, once you knock it back the various parts of the pale and hazy beer all tie together. Pleasant soft, sweet (and honeyed) malts lead the way, with floral, spicy, herbal, eucalypt and anise flashes making an appearance, yet not taking away from what's a more straightforward (on the palate at least) and easy-drinking beer than its constituent parts might suggest.
You can watch a video about the beer here
Published March 15, 2018 2018-03-15 00:00:00