Brand New Kooi

March 31, 2011, by Crafty Pint

Brand New Kooi

Whoever claimed it never rains but it pours might have had Kooinda in mind. The Melbourne mates who came to the craft beer world’s attention with a no-holds-barred American Pale Ale produced in their back yard kept us all waiting for beer number two. And waiting. And waiting. Then, finally, up popped the Raspberry Witbier at this year’s Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular. And now, well, it appears the dam has well and truly burst and the fruits of the five brewers' experiments are about to be unleashed.

First up is a twist on the Raspberry Witbier – and one that we assume is a brewing first: a Karakaberry Witbier.

“What the hell’s a karakaberry?” you ask. And with good reason. Turns out it’s a hybrid blackberry only recently developed in New Zealand and thus far only grown in the Yarra Valley on mainland Australia.

“I saw a colour lift out in a magazine and it said there was this guy growing it,” says Mick Opie, one of Kooinda’s brewers. “I thought Karaka sounded a bit like Kooinda so I rang him up and he gave us 10kg to brew with. No one else is brewing with it.”

Kooinda_brewery_12

They transferred 500l of a witbier brew that had been fermenting with raspberries for a week into another tank and added the karakaberries. The resultant beer’s now sat in five kegs and 250 champagne bottles awaiting labels and distribution.

That’s not it, however. Not by a long way. Also due to appear soon in 750ml champagne bottles is the Full Nelson, a black IPA made using nothing but Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand. It was a style a few of the brewers had been playing around with for some time on their home setups before one of the five, Travis Pain, came up with the Full Nelson idea and a beer was born. It remains a couple of weeks away from ideal carbonation, but early tasting suggests it deserves to be snapped up as soon as it’s released: big, sharp kiwi fruit and lychee hop aromas with a hint of chocolate, masses of fruity hop flavour then a wall of bitterness created first by the hops before the roastiness takes over.

Both those beers are coming out in seriously limited runs (although there will be a bigger batch of Full Nelson to follow – get your keg orders in quick, bar owners!), but there are firm plans for two more that will get a wider release – possibly even becoming permanent figures on the brewery’s roster. First up will be a red ale, an earthy beer featuring a load of Fuggles hops, then a porter. Release dates are yet to be confirmed for any of the beers, but for those who spent so long hanging on for beer number two, there’s three, four, five and six taken care of. Oh, and possibly number seven, as there’s a prototype 10% Belgian strong ale showing a lot of promise fermenting away too. Should be enough to keep you busy!

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