One of the standout concepts from last year’s Sydney Craft Beer Week was Beer Mimics Food. The festival organisers invited a selection of chefs and writers to create beers inspired by their favourite dishes to be launched during the festival. Such was its success that Beer Mimics Food returns on a grander scale when the third Sydney Craft Beer Week kicks off this weekend.
It all stems from a desire by festival founder, Beermen.tv’s Todd Venning, to do “something that would once and for all set aside the stereotypical view that beer comes in limited flavours and form.
“By proving that beer has limitless flavour and really is the lesser known sixth food group, we also wanted to make it appealing to a broad audience and in particular people that LOVE food,” he says. “So we brought the foodies and beer worlds together, and magic happened. Beer that tastes like food!”
This year’s lineup sees them bringing together brewers and chefs from all over Australia, including chef of the year, Michael Ryan of Beechworth’s Provenance who created a Shitaake beer with Bridge Road (pictured above), and WA’s beer food maestro Gerrard “Mitch” “Beersine” Mitchell. The beers attempt to recreate dishes such as Kimchi and Lemon Meringue Pie. The full list of pairings is:
- Ross Kenrick from Bacchus Brewing and Ben O’ Donoghue (QLD)
- Jared Birbeck from Birbeck’s Brewing and Poh Ling Yeow (SA)
- Ben Kraus from Bridge Road Brewers and Michael Ryan from The Provenance (VIC)
- Shawn Sherlock from Murrays Craft Brewing co. and Myffy Rygby from Timeout Magazine Australia (NSW)
- Keith Grice from Hunter Beer Co. and McWilliams Wines (NSW)
- Andrew Tweddell from 4 Pines Brewing and Single Origin Coffee Roasters (NSW)
- Dennis Beer Co. and the team from The Welcome Hotel (NSW)
- Justin Fox from Colonial Brewing and Mitch Mitchell from beersine.com.au (WA)
- Paul Wyman from The Monk Brewery and Hadleigh Troy from Restaurant Amuse (WA)
“Last year we were lucky enough to be able to partner with the great team at 4 Pines Brewery in Manly to produce all the beers with our culinary partners,” says Todd. “This year we thought it was time to kick in the expanded plans and to take it national – to really showcase the culinary and brewing talent Australia-wide. You should see it continue in that direction for future years if last year’s feedback is anything to go by.”
As for how the brewer / chef partnerships were created, it was a simple case of “pick some of the most adventurous and talented brewers and pair them with the best culinary talent Australia has to offer.” And as for guidelines to the chosen pairings, well, there aren’t any, other than: “Don’t take NO as an answer!” according to Todd.
“This really has to be the food world calling the shots and then it’s up to the talented brewers to turn ideas into reality without being constrained by style, tradition or what they’ve done in the past.”
We posed questions of some of the participants to give you an idea of how the ideas became beers and also what to expect.
The Monk and Hadleigh Troy of Restaurant Amuse
How did you decide on your beer?
Hadleigh: We were changing the menu at the time and I thought the dish, being Sweet Corn, kimchi and bacon, would be a perfect match to a beer.
What was it like working with a brewer?
HT: It was great to see his face when I told him what I wanted to do and he looked at me like I was a crack smoker! Then when Paul digested the idea, he gave it a red hot go.
Do you see similarities between craft brewing and what you do?
HT: I think anything that has a lot of passion involved in it, as both cooking and craft brewing do, will have a lot in common. I think that creates a great respect and understanding between the two fields.
Favourite beer and food match?
HT: Well I love beer and I don’t mind food either, I think it’s more about who you share it with then what you match it with that makes it special.
How did you approach turning the chefs idea into a beer?
Paul Wyman: With a massive open mind and trying to not let the perfectionist in me affect the final result of using such a unique ingredient. I threw caution to the wind and tried a lot of ingredients I haven’t done before in brewing a beer. Therefore there was a lot of âfirsts’ in making this beer and a lot of sleepless nights wondering how this crazy beer would turn out.
The dish upon which The Monk / Restaurant Amuse’s KimChi beer was based
What was it like working with your chef?
PW: Hadleigh was amazing. I was really impressed that he gave me such a serious challenge with a product like KimChi. He also had the tough task of prepping 10kg of KimChi to infuse into the beer, post fermentation. He was intrigued as much as I was to how this beer would turn out, contacting me daily for updates. I am hoping I have opened his eyes to what beer can really become and hopefully influenced him to use more in his restaurant.
How has the beer panned out?
The beer with all its craziness has turned out to be a very interesting but drinkable Saison. People who have not experienced KimChi might be a little put off by the aroma of cabbage, chilli and garlic on the nose but upon drinking it the Saison still holds up and assists in balancing the beer.
It will be available at The Monk’s Brewery Restaurant in about a month’s time.
Bridge Road Brewers and Michael Ryan of Provenance
How did you decide on your beer?
Michael Ryan: I wanted something that reflected the flavours we use a lot in our kitchen, but equally wanted to produce a beer that was drinkable. Something you would go back to for more.
What was it like working with a brewer?
MR: Ben and Steve were great to work with. Open to lots of ideas.
Do you see similarities between craft brewing and what you do?
MR: I guess mainly in that you start with a few simple ingredients, and through technique and observation, you extract as much flavour as possible.
Favourite beer and food match?
MR: Beer and yakitori, beer and cheese, beer and a sunny day, beer and stormy weather, beer and spicesâ¦
How did you approach turning the chef’s idea into a beer?
Ben Kraus: I think I tweeted him. I tried to explain what Beer Mimics Food was and he came around with some ingredients that he thought would work well in beer and we took it from there.
What was it like working with your chef?
BK: Great, Michael has his restaurant just up the road and he dropped round each time he had an idea before the brew and continued to keep in contact after brewing. We tasted the beer as it developed and decided on dry shrooming rates.
How has the beer panned out?
BK: Pretty good, we achieved what we were after. The idea was to have a beer that looks quite plain and normal but confuses you when you drink it, a bit of a mind F*#k. The beer presents quite normal, pale, yellow and fizzy, but has a strong Shiitake character, aroma and flavour.
Where is it going to be available?
BK: The first release will be part of the Beer Mimics Food event, then it’ll be available at Brewers and Chewers the same week. Then the usual suspects. We will have 100 cases for general release as well.
Colonial Brewery and Beersine
How did you decide on your beer?
Gerrard Mitchell: I thought of some of my favourite foods and then tried to work out which ones could be turned into a beer.
What was it like working with a brewer?
GM: As always – awesome!!! Gary and I spent over two years together at The Monk so putting the band back together was great!!!
Do you see similarities between craft brewing and what you do?
GM: Our business, Beersine, is all about beer and food matching and using beer and beer ingredients in all of our products, so turning it back the other way was a bit of fun. I did get told by one person that “you chefs should stay away from a brewery”, which as always I ignored.
Favourite beer and food match
GM: Too many!! Sours and cheese probably but really there’s way too many to list.
How did you approach turning the chef’s idea into a beer?
Justin “Gary” Fox: Having worked in a number of breweries, Mitch’s idea for a beer was already pretty complete when he came to me⦠Lemon Meringue Pie! Chasing a creamy pale beer naturally lent itself to adapting the base of our GABS beer âGary the Whiteâ, adding in some biscuit and Maris for a bit of a richer feel.
I let Mitch make all the calls on hops and adjuncts as his palate for the flavours he was chasing is far better than mine⦠Most of the calls were made on the fly on brew day which we conducted out at Edith Cowan Uni. As much as I liked Mitch’s crazy ideas, I thought 10 kegs would be a far safer move than 80 from the Colonial kit.
What was it like working with your chef?
JF: It was really easy, having worked with Mitch in the past we are good friends. He knows how to make me do stupid stuff like put 200kg of malt into a six hectolitre brew and I am quite happy to sit back and watch him shovel the mash tunâ¦
How has the beer panned out?
JF: Really good, a little bit twisted off track from where we were originally headed but has come out balanced and all of the flavours we targeted are represented in some capacityâ¦
Where is it going to be available?
JF: Three kegs are off to the Welcome Hotel for the event, leaving seven in WA. They will be sold under our Project banner at The Royal, Raffles and down at the brewery in Margaret River when the Mission Brown stops flowing over the next few weeks.
Beer Mimics Food kicks off at The Welcome Hotel on October 20 from 3pm. Any remaining beer will make appearances at each brewery’s usual tap venues. 4 Pines, which is brewing a beer for the launch, has also created a number of other food beers that will feature at a separate event on October 24.
Sydney Craft Beer Week runs from October 19 to 26. Check out the full program here.
