Three separate autumn 2021 releases from Sailors Grave really capture the Orbost brewers love for harvesting and collaborating. In the Rip is a Belgian pale ale made with Centenniel hops from the family-run Ryefield (who you can read more about here). Both the Belgian yeast notes and the fresh hops provide quite punchy fruit notes so it’s a little hard to tell what’s causing which flavour dive in and find honey, light stonefruit and lemon or lime rind in a beer that has overall herbaceous notes too.
Rhubarb Harvest Ale is a returning beer brewed with Lightfoot & Son that uses chardonnay lees from the winemakers along with local rhubarb, strawberry and wild foraged roadside fennel pollen. It might sound like an unusual combination and it creates a beer that's one part tart and stewed fruits in a can and another part drinking juice after you've brushed your teeth gor a rhubarb, citrus and grape palate cleanser.
Finally, Honey Bush Braggot is a collaboration between Sailors Grave and Nura Gunya; an education and cultural organisation run by Noel and Trish Butler. The beer is part of their ongoing Jerra Ngia - story you, story me - series that focuses on storytelling and takes cues from the local landscape. The beer's inspired by traditional methods of gathering and soaking the nectar-heavy blossoms to create a nutritious drink and uses pure Banksia Serrata honey from Tambo Valley Honey. Pouring dark amber, it's both rich and quaffable at once with characteristics of burnt caramel, sweet toffee and soft floral and eucalyptus notes with a dry finish.
Will Ziebell
Published April 13, 2021 2021-04-13 00:00:00
