It did seem a little odd – at least it did if you were able to stop admiring what a good beer it was to focus instead on its name: Draught Ale. In a bottle. The brewers knew it was a little odd too, but as victims of their own success they went with it anyway. Until now, two years on from the first kegs of Stone & Wood Draught Ale rolling out of their Byron Bay brewery doors, when they’ve decided it deserves its own name. Which means it’s goodbye Draught Ale, hello Pacific Ale.
“Ever since we launched our ale, people have continually been asking us, ‘What style of beer is it?’,” says Jamie Cook, part of the three-man team that founded the brewery. “As independently minded brewers we don’t want to be limited to brewing beers from an existing style register. There is nothing stopping brewers from developing new approaches and using new ingredients to create new styles of beer that don’t fit the strict criteria of traditional beer styles. That’s the mindset that drives our approach to brewing, and is what led us to develop our ale.
“After a couple of years of living and brewing in this little town and watching people enjoying our Draught Ale here and afar, we are convinced that it has developed its own style, its own special place in the small beer world. So we changed the name, but the beer remains the same.”
He says they felt it “deserves a name that speaks to where it is created, its home, a name that helps it establish its own place and its own beer style”. Hence Stone & Wood Pacific Ale.
The beer – a wonderfully refreshing, passionfruit, citrus and tropical fruit explosion that’s a great example of what can be achieved with the Australian Galaxy hop – was only ever intended to be served as a draught beer. But when word spread outside Byron’s bars, it was put into bottles as the brewery’s second year round packaged beer (following the Pale Lager). You’ll still see it labeled as Draught Ale for now, but expect to see the new packaging appear over the coming months.
