Tallboy and Moose’s crowler machine has been a staple of the Preston brewpub since its early days, with punters leaving with a litre tinnie under one arm after trying one of the myriad beers on tap a regular sight. Since, for the moment, nobody can enjoy one of those beers in the brewery, that canning line is getting more of a workout than ever before. Indeed, the Tallboy team is now selling crowlers nationwide online and some Melbourne bottleshops have taken to stocking them too, as the brewery has invested in better equipment to ensure those one-litre cans hold up a little longer. In fact, the brewery says the dissolved oxygen tests they’ve run on them meets the same standard as a run of regular of cans.
Among those large cans you might find on your next bottleshop visit is Pukka, a lemon myrtle sour that was a collaboration with the brewery's Preston neighbours Dexter & Takeaway Pizza. The idea was to focus on a native ingredient and pour it at the collaborating venues and, while that can no longer be the case, it has given the beer a slightly wider release. The beer’s tart edge and lemon character that mixes with a delicate rosewater or Turkish Delight flavour make it a little reminiscent of a homemade lemon slice you’d find on the dessert table of a dinner party. If dinner parties were still allowed and it was the 1960s, of course.
Then there’s Pinkest Pink, a peppercorn and hibiscus grisette that certainly pours the pinkest of pinks. That colour is due to the hibiscus while the peppercorn adds a rounded spice that complements the witbier-like esters that, along with Pukka’s sprightly carbonation, make it more a handy drink to cut through the treats while gorging yourself on that aforementioned dessert table.
Will Ziebell
Published April 6, 2020 2020-04-06 00:00:00
