Friends, beer lovers, countrymen (and women) – lend us your beers! We’re looking for Australia’s first ever People’s Pint.
“What’s that?” you ask.
Well… Umm… We don’t actually yet know. In fact, we want you to tell us. From today, we’re inviting you, the good people of Australia, to tell us what your dream beer would be. The best ideas will be put to a public vote next month, with the winning one being brewed at Temple Brewery & Brasserie at the end of March ready to be launched during Good Beer Week.
That’s right – a beer dreamed up by you, called whatever you want to call it, could become The People’s Pint, brewed by one of the country’s top brewers and enjoyed by drinkers at some of the best beer bars in the land.
Like the sound of that? Then head to The People’s Pint site and send us your fantasy beer ideas now! Or read on to find out a little more…
The idea is simple. You don’t have to be a brewer, you don’t have to know how beer is made. We’re just looking for creative, inspired concepts. You might be after a beer that brings back special memories, or one that captures a feeling. You might have a flavour and aroma combo that will knock people for six – a big, hoppy beast or a delicate flower made with native ingredients. Maybe you dream of a stonking great Imperial Stout that’s a meal in a glass – or maybe the people will choose a plain old pale lager if you can make it sound appealing enough.
Perhaps there’s a magical ingredient out there that you’re desperate to see included in a beer. Perhaps you’ve never quite found what you’re looking for behind a bar and now’s the chance to tell us what that is. Or maybe you’ve got an hilarious name for a beer and are dying to share it with the world.
Whatever it is you have in mind, Temple is the perfect fit – led by a brewer who has never been afraid to approach beer a bit differently. When asked to brew a beer for the Shinobi Japanese Beer Festival, instead of the obvious choice of producing a Japanese style beer, the focus instead turned to ingredients. Head brewer Ron Feruglio had an idea to use buckwheat, more commonly found in Japanese soba noodles, and the result is now a core Temple beer – the aptly named Soba Ale.
Similarly, in the mission to brew their very own Draught beer, the team at Temple chose the quintessential Australian hop Pride of Ringwood – an uncommon choice among craft brewers – as the star attraction. After a series of pilot brews, the resultant Brunswick Draught became Temple’s very own âbeer for everyoneâ – easy drinking and suitable for all occasions.
As such, Ron and wife Renata were only too happy to get on board with The People’s Pint.
âAs part of my job as a brewer, I get to dream up beer ideas and recipes every day,â says Ron. âBut that’s an opportunity that the majority miss out on.â
âThe People’s Pint is both daunting and incredibly exciting for us at Temple,“ says Renata. "It gives everyone the opportunity to put forward their own idea of the perfect beer, and will give us the opportunity to interpret that to create what will hopefully be a great beer.â
As for the daunting part, âwe have absolutely no idea what to expect from the entrants,“ says Ron. "The beers could be incredibly technical, far too weird to ever work, or downright scary. I guess we’ll have to see what the people put forward, and rely on our brewing experience and instincts to end up with a brew that’s worthy of the âPeople’s Pint’ moniker.â
Entries are now open and will close on March 12, 2012. At that point, a team of judges from The Crafty Pint, Temple, ingredient suppliers Bintani and Good Beer Week will select their top six. These will be presented on The People’s Pint website for two weeks for a public vote.
The beer that gets the most votes will be crowned The People’s Pint, at which point Ron will speak with the winning entrant while perfecting the recipe for what will be a full length commercial brew, ready to be launched during Good Beer Week. Then comes the best part: you all get to drink it.
The person who comes up with the concept for the winning beer also gets a pair of tickets to the launch event, a case of the beer and, if they live outside Victoria, one return flight to Melbourne from their nearest capital city (terms and conditions apply) plus one night’s accommodation in Melbourne on the night of the launch.
If you haven’t already, head to The People’s Pint site to learn more and enter your fantasy beer ideas. You can also keep in touch with the latest via Facebook and Twitter, where we’ll be sharing some of your beer ideas as they come in.
Anyway, enough chatter: get thinking, get creating, and send us your beers!
Temple has agreed to brew the beer for The Crafty Pint at no cost. Bintani is supplying all raw ingredients free of charge. Thanks also to Code Create and William Delmont for the website and logo respectively. We’ll shout you a beer some time soon!
