Beer Burnley Brewing Strawberry Witbier & Dunkles

Before they were head brewer and head of sales at Burnley Brewing, Michael Stanzel and Chloe Hoiberg ran a craft brewery in Germany and their two June 2021 limited releases both pay tribute to that time. Strawberry Witbier is a recipe from that craft brewery (which was called Wild Animal Brewing) and it's the first time they've recreated one of those beers at Burnley. It seems like a fitting one too given a fruited witbier might give the middle finger to the Reinheitsgebot but fits nicely into Australia's modern craft beer world with its love of fruit and adjuncts. Along with those berries, there's also coriander, orange peel and - thanks to an unfortunate typo - cinnamond, which fortunately does actually taste like cinnamon. That spice isn't quite as noticeably as the coriander though which is nicely complemented by the beer's yeast profile and its around fluffy mouthfeel to create a fruit-filled beer that still keeps a foot in being a classic wit.

Dunkles on the other hand is very much a classic and was inspired by Germany’s Christmas markets and features Burnley’s beloved dog, Harry, on the can, which was designed by Melbourne artist Lily Suwitra. The dark and malt-led lager contains quite a rich aroma of chocolate biscuits (Digestives to be exact) and that's the flavour that comes as you first taste it too, but let it warm up a little and there's a touch of nut and fresh toast in a winter lager that still retains much of a lager's, well, lageriness.

Will Ziebell