Dry-hopped, wet-hopped, late-hopped, mash-hopped. However beer can be hopped, it’s happening for the third running of the Paddy’s Brewery beer festival. The brewery in Sydney’s west has brought this year’s event forward from October to April 30 to coincide with the release of beers made with the 2011 hop harvest. So far, a dozen breweries are confirmed with more expected, all of whom have been asked to bring along something special, whether it’s a trial batch, a twist on one of their normal beers, a hop harvest beer or something featuring a handful of hops grown in the brewer’s back garden.
It’s an all New South Wales affair and you’re guaranteed to meet the brewer as, instead of charging breweries to appear, all Paddy’s brewer Gerard Meares asks is that “the bloke pouring the beer has to be the one who brewed it – no reps!”
“We’ve timed it so that beers using the new season hops will be coming out,” says Gerard. “Some of the brewers might have had a crack at growing some of their own hops as well; whether they’ll be any good, you don’t know, but this is the way to find out!”
The Hop Harvest Festival will feature more than 25 microbrewery beers from the likes of Paddy’s, Murray’s, the Lord Nelson, Hunter Brewing Co, Happy Goblin, Ekim, 4 Pines, Black Duck, St Peter’s, Mountain Ridge, Mudgee and Bad Lands. There’s no entry fee, just a flat rate of $3 a midi, while there will be plenty of food on offer too. It’s also a chance for newcomers to check out one of the more unusual brewery setups – the gleaming DME system shares a room with a grand piano that plays itself and a pair of carved giraffes!
“Each brewery normally brings two or three kegs,” says Gerard. “It’s great to see a queue form behind a keg trolley when people know something good’s about to come on.”
He’s planning to debut a beer brewed with wet hops picked in Victoria one morning and added to the kettle the same afternoon as well as a new version of his Pale Ale pouring through a hopinator filled with homegrown hops.
It’s on April 30 at Paddy’s Brewery in the Markets Hotel, 268 Parramatta Road, Flemington. Call (02) 9764 3500 for more info.
