(Previously published by Wine Business Magazine in 2009)
Category: Craft Beer
Beautiful Beers Amongst the Beautiful Valleys
Beer & Brewer
Beautiful beers amongst the beautiful valleys.
(First Published by Beer & Brewer Magazine in 2011)
By John Krüger
South Australia is blessed with some of the best wine regions in Australia, many of them only a short drive from the capital, Adelaide. If beer rather than wine is your heart’s desire there’s still plenty of good beer destinations to visit the Barossa and Clare valleys.
The Barossa
The Barossa valley is only an hour away from Adelaide thanks to the newly completed Northern Expressway, which passes the rolling hills of farmland and enters the historic vineyards of the Barossa, which look spectacular at any time of the year. There’s plenty to see and do in the Barossa and it’s a good central location to for day trips to Clare, Burra or the Riverland.
The first stop upon entering the historic German settled town of Tanunda is the recently relocated Barossa Valley Brewing brewery and brasserie. Previously in Lyndoch, the new location right at the entrance to Tanunda boasts a great selection of beers, all the snacks you’d need and a chance to see the brewery in action as well. Head Brewer Mark Prior is a passionate bloke who’s keen to keep a few staples like the Bee Sting honey wheat beer and Organic Ale on tap, but is also free to play around with Russian Imperial Stouts, English Bitters and the like. In fact, Barossa Valley Brewing has seven beers on tap, with the eighth dedicated to a non-alcoholic brew for kids or designated drivers. A pizza and tapas menu has been formulated to provide a wide range of choices to match the beers with an excellent selection of local wines to peruse as well. The brewery is right next to the brasserie and there’s some nice big windows to catch the action while enjoying a beer and a meal.
In the middle of Tanunda is acclaimed restaurant 1918, which not only has a reputation for quality dining, roaring log fires and relaxed outdoor settings but also serves local bottled beers along with their extensive wine list. The grand old home of a long gone local mayor houses one of the Barossa’s finest restaurants. Head Chef and owner Christian Fletcher serves fresh, seasonally inspired modern Australian cuisine with inspiration from Asia and the Middle-East.
On the western side of the Barossa valley is the charming hamlet of Greenock. The impressive Murray Street Vineyards winery stands on the hill approaching Greenock, and just at the edge of the town on the main road is their cellar door. With a good range of wines available along with regional platters, their outdoor area is a great spot to relax with the kids and take in the views.
Further into Greenock is the Barossa Brewing Company. Situated in the historic 1860’s wheat stores building, owner Darryl Trinne opens the tasting room on weekends for beer aficionados and curious visitors. An interesting operation, the beers are currently mashed and boiled in Mildura, then immediately brought back to Greenock to be fermented, conditioned and bottled or kegged. Darryl is happy to show inquisitive visitors through the facility, which is an eclectic mix of new custom-made stainless steel and classic old German machinery. The Barossa Brewing Company produce regular beers; the Millers Lager, Greenock Dark Ale and Wheat Store Hefeweizen, which are complimented with occasional appearances of a hoppy American style pale ale called Victorville, and the Bunawunda Blonde, which definitely isn’t a low carb excuse for a beer. The beers are becoming so popular that they’re occasionally sold out after a big event like the Barossa Vintage Festival, which is an annual week-long event at the end of April, so it’s worth calling ahead. The second best thing to having a beer with Darryl in the Wheat Store is trying one of his beers fresh on tap just around the corner at the Greenock Tavern. It’s not unusual to see him wheel a keg into the pub on a sack truck direct from the cold room in cellar door so the beer is guaranteed to be fresh.
On the eastern side of the Barossa is the quaint town of Angaston. Just before the town is Saltram Wines cellar door. Not only are they well known for their wines, restaurant and wood oven pizzas, but it’s also the home of Saltram’s Pepperjack Ale. The only beer in the valley to use local Shiraz juice to add fermentables, a hint of colour and the unmistakable Shiraz aroma to this tidy ale. Only open for lunch, it’s a great place to relax with a few beers and plenty of good wine options. Sundays include live and local music to keep the toes tapping while enjoying a beer.
Further into Angaston is another Barossa pizza institution, The 40’s Café boasts Australia’s best pizza for 2009 in Dairy Farmers Best of the Best Pizza Challenge, an award winning pizza that meat lovers will fall in love with. Local ingredients like Barossan wood smoked bacon ensure a pizza experience that’ll never be forgotten. The Café is licensed with a modest beer selection as well as wines and spirits.
If a few days of enjoying the local beers and wines have taken their toll, drop into Blond Coffee in Angaston for the best coffee in the valley along with excellent breakfast and lunch options. Saturday mornings are particularly busy with many locals making Blond part of their Saturday mid-morning routine. There’s also a toy box and small play area for the kids.
If early mornings aren’t too much of a strain, the Vintners Farmers Markets just out of Angaston behind the Vintners Bar & Grill is one of the best farmer’s markets in the state. Fresh coffee and smokey bacon & egg rolls are available from opening at 7.30am Saturdays, and the range of fresh produce is amazing. Many locals drop in to purchase a good percentage of their fresh supplies for the week so the biggest range is available early.
Clare
The drive from the Barossa Valley to Clare is only 90 minutes through rolling countryside with plenty to see along the way. The valley gets bitterly cold in winter and can often seem like it’s somewhere in Europe rather than only two hours drive from Adelaide. The Clare valley actually encompasses a string of towns running through the valley rather than just the area around the large town of Clare itself so there’s plenty to see. The Rising Sun Hotel in the picturesque town of Auburn offers a good range of beers, good honest pub food as well as popular accommodation with ensuites. A perfect spot to sit out under the veranda sipping on a few beers and watching the world go by.
From Auburn travelling towards Clare along the Main North road are plenty of regular little towns ready to explore, each with a different little hotel and more winery cellar doors than you can poke a stick at. A favourite if somewhat understated little town is Watervale. The area is famous for Watervale Riesling and up on the hill behind the pub is Crabtree Wines cellar door. It’s rustic, charming, and boasts some of the best wines in the Clare Valley. The popular 35km walking and cycling track the weaves through the Clare Valley known as the Riesling Trail runs right past Crabtree and the Watervale Hotel so don’t be surprised if there’s more bicycles than cars in the car parks.
Pikes may have started brewing in the Adelaide Hills town of Oakbank back in 1886 but these days the Pike family call the Clare Valley home. They continue their family history of fine beverages concentrating on excellent wines including their massively popular Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend. Pikes don’t make their own historic Pikes Oakbank beer anymore but it was resurrected in 1996 and is now contract brewed in Sydney. The beer and an outstanding range of wines are available at their family-friendly cellar door situated at Polish Hill River near Sevenhill. There’s also an art gallery incorporated within the cellar door.
In the main township of Clare is their renowned beer destination, Knappstein Enterprise Winery and Brewery. Established in 1878 the grand historic looking cellar door boasts the only place in Australia to try the renowned Knappstein Reserve Lager on tap. Guaranteed to really get those Nelson hop aromas wafting out of the glass, there’s nothing better than fresh draught beer. For those beer geeks who like their brewery bling, there’s a big glass window viewing area where brewing and bottling can be seen if the timing’s right. More organised people can call ahead and book a brewery tour to get closer to the action.
One of the grand old hotels in Clare is Bentley’s Hotel Motel in the main street. They’ve got everything from the local Knappstein Reserve stubbies as well as a range of other beers, great pub meals and even a play area with toys for the kids. It’s the kind of pub that’s large and comfortable enough to stay for most of the day relaxing with good food and plenty of drink options. Bentley’s is also popular with travellers who are just after a quick counter meal and a drink on the way through town.
Day Trips
Moonta is situated on the western coast of Yorke Peninsula and home to the biennial Kernewek Lowender, the world’s largest Cornish festival that runs for five days in the middle of May. The next festival is due in May 2013. The area known as the Copper Coast encompassing Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo has a strong history of Cornish copper mining. Each two years a batch of beer known as Copper Coast Swanky is made by BrewBoys in Adelaide strictly for the festival and available only at the Moonta Bay Patio Motel and Restaurant as well as a small quantity available to guests at the Adelaide Caravan Park. Six different labels are produced and beer fans are encouraged to buy a six pack to collect the different labels.
Yorke Brewing is a relatively new operation with its heart at the small town of Warooka in southern Yorke Peninsula. The Yorke Peninsula is a well loved holiday destination for many South Australians with beautiful scenery, a thriving local gourmet scene and secretly, some of the best fishing spots around. Justin Murdoch is a proud local and Company Director of Yorke Brewing who currently brews his own beers at a facility in Adelaide, but he’s keen to eventually move the operation completely back to Warooka. He’s pleased to maintain the regional authenticity by adding locally grown wheat to his White Sands wheat beer. Justin has carefully selected a few local hotels that meet his requirements of no pokies and good service and is in negotiations now to have his beers on tap at these local pubs. Keep an eye on the Yorke Brewing website and he’ll announce where the beers will be available. Along with the White Sands, his English style ale called Shipwrecked will be a welcome bold brew on a winters day at 6%abv and has become very popular with those lucky punters who have tried it.
Renmark is situated in the South Australian Riverland along the banks of the Murray River. A two and a half hour drive from the Barossa, it’s completely different scenery with long flat roads occasionally crossing the banks of the Murray, surrounded by vivid deep red soils and under clear blue skies. One minute the roads are surrounded by orange groves and the next, vineyards that go for ages. An old shearing shed now houses the brew-house for aptly named Woolshed Brewery. Partners Tom Freeman and Sarah Dowdell currently produce their first beer, the Amazon Ale, named after the nearby Amazon creek only a kilometre away. The Amazon ale is described as an Australian style pale ale. The brewery is open for tours by appointment and ultimately in the future will be the ideal tourist destination with Kayaking and possibly the only brewery in South Australia that can be visited via the river. Tourists travelling along the Murray River will be able to moor their houseboat or tinny at the brewery and enjoy the day there.
Burra is less than 90 minutes from the Barossa and only 30 minutes from Clare. It’s another area of South Australia that rose to fame and fortune in 1845 when copper was discovered. In it’s hey day the town was a thriving community with it’s own brewery. The remnants of the old Unicorn brewery that was started in 1873 is still able to be toured with access via the Burra Information Centre.
One operation that is still thriving in Burra is Thorogoods Cidery. Tony Thorogood and his wife Susan have worked hard to plant orchards of a variety of classic cider apples and still use an old Italian basket press to press their own estate grown organic apples, making traditional ciders with wild yeasts natural to the area. The resulting range of ciders are unique and full of flavour. Everything from sparkling cider to a range of liqueurs and even a dark and golden apple beer that both weigh in at hefty 12%abv. Their cellar door is open to the public for sales and tastings pretty well every day of the year.
Burra still has four operational hotels, one of which, the Kooringa Hotel is directly across the street from the historic Paxton Square cottages. The Kooringa is a beautiful old hotel with polished wooden floors and a cozy little front bar. It’s known for good value meals and a modest selection of beers on tap. It’s the perfect spot for a pint of Kilkenny and a filling counter meal.
Info Box
Barossa Valley Brewing
2A Murray Street,
Heinemann Park
SA, Tanunda 5352
Brewery Phone: 08 8563 0997
Restaurant Phone: 08 8563 0696
1918
94 Murray St, Tanunda, SA 5352
Phone 08 8563 0405
Murray Street Vineyards
Murray Street, Greenock, SA 5360
Phone 08 8562 8373
Barossa Brewing Company
Mill Street, Greenock SA 5360
Phone: 0419 811 525 or (08) 8563 4041
http://www.barossabrewingcompany.com
Saltram’s
Nuriootpa Road, Angaston, SA 5353
Phone: 08 8561 0200
http://www.saltramwines.com.au
Angaston Roaring 40’s Cafe
30 Murray Street, Angaston, SA 5353
Phone 08 8564 2901
Blond Coffee
60 Murray Street Angaston SA 5353
Phone 08 8564 3444
Barossa Farmers Markets
Vintners Sheds, corner of Nuriootpa and Light Pass Roads, Angaston SA 5353
Maria Yfantidis Market Manager Mobile 0402 026 882
The Rising Sun Hotel
Main North Road, Auburn SA 5451
Phone: 08 8849 2015
Crabtree Wines
1 North Terrace, Watervale SA 5452
Phone 08 88430069
Pikes
Polish Hill River via Sevenhill, South Australia 5453
Phone: +61 8 8843 4370
Knappstein Cellar Door
2 Pioneer Ave, Clare 5453
Phone 08 88412100
http://www.knappsteinwines.com.au
The Bentley’s Hotel Motel
191 Main North Rd, CLARE, SA, 5453
Phone 08 8842 1700
Yorke Brewing
PO Box 113 Warooka, SA 5577
Phone 0439 890 006
http://www.yorkebrewing.com.au
Woolshed Brewing
Wilkinson Rd, Murtho via Renmark, SA 5341
Phone 08 8595 8037
http://www.woolshedbrewery.com.au
Thorogoods Cidery
John Barker Street Burra, SA 5417
Phone 08 8892 2669
Kooringa Hotel
4 Kingston St, Burra SA 5417
Phone 08 8892 2013
Events Box
Barossa Vintage Festival
April/May
http://barossavintagefestival.com.au
Barossa Airshow
May
http://www.barossaairshow.com.au
Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend
12-13 May 2012
http://www.clarevalleywinemakers.com.au/Gourmet
Kernewek Lowender
May
The Rotary Farm Shed Markets, Kadina
Last Saturday of each month.
50 Moonta Road, Kadina SA 5554
Phone 0458 368 419
Riverland Balloon Fiesta 2012
Renmark Oval Complex, Ral Ral Ave, Renmark, SA 5341
Phone 08 8586 6704
Big Bumper Beers for 2012/New Year 2013
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Big Bumper Beers for 2012/New Year 2013
(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2012)
Holiday beers; forget the dodgy sporting sponsorships and marketing campaigns. By all means, if you need a safety net, buy your preferred uninspired slab of fizzy dishwater and stash a 6-pack in the back fridge. But I beg of you for the sake of the future of good beer, go to a decent bottle shop and buy a broad range of proper beers. I’d usually insert “in brown bottles to avoid light strike” in that last sentence, but during the holidays there’s pretty good turnover of stock, so fingers crossed.
I have to say, Dan Murphy’s might be a dirty word to the producers, but for a prolific beer buyer like myself, some of the big stores like Dan’s have a big range. For the rest, I frequent good wine stores. The better ones now have quite a few obscure beers and sometimes even a staff member who has tried a few of them.
Australian beers have a history of being insipid, pine-like flavoured bitter yellow fizzy water. I have a very hard time drinking the top 2 selling beers in Australia. It’s not being a hipster or a beer snob, I just really dislike their aroma and flavour. Thank goodness there’s new beers emerging that exhibit reliability, fresh flavours, quality aromas and they’re local.
Here’s a list of Aussie beers (and a cider) that I’ll be happy to purchase and drink over the holiday period in no particular order.
Feral White – A Belgian style spiced wheat beer. It’s soft, easy drinking, naturally cloudy and a great food beer. Subtle additions of orange peel and coriander to the boil add to the spicy yeast.
Sail & Anchor Cat’s Shank Kölsch – Aussies call it “Kolsh” but it’s a bit more like “Kelsh” in its original home of Cologne, Germany. This is a great Aussie version. My wife tried it at a food & wine event and thought it was that great, she came home plastered. It’s light, floral in a hoppy way and perfect for a hot day. It’s a tasty beer, wherever it’s brewed.
Stone & Wood Pacific Ale – It’s a bit like a light bodied American Pale Ale and so sessionable you’ll easily knock over a six-pack. Hoppy tropical fruit aromas leap out of the glass and it’s not too heavy or sweet. If only it was regularly on tap nearby.
McLaren Vale Beer Co IPA – It’s hoppy and malty and has some weight. Maybe not a session beer but drinking more than a few is still on the cards. The beer bigots thought it wasn’t hoppy enough, but it’s a damn fine beer.
Murray’s Angry Man Pale Ale – A very smooth drinker. Really nice full body with an almost creamy mouth feel. Fruity hops but not overly bitter or offensive. Definitely a session beer but there’s enough guts to be a nice single sipper as well.
Goodieson’s Wheat Ale – Like the German stuff but fresher. A quality weizen that ticks all the boxes; soft, aromatic and great with food. I’ll happily chip away at a six-pack of these without a problem. Available online direct from the brewer.
David Franz Cider – sits nicely in the middle of craft cider meets drinkability. 500ml bottles full of zingy and refreshing apple cider with guts. Try adding some ice because it’s a ball buster at over 7%abv. I wish I could drink more than one but I’m too scared to. So good, and available online from Dave himself.
Yes, but have you actually tasted this?
Beer Radar
By John Kruger
“Yes, but have you actually tasted this?”
(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2012)
…is a question I almost blurt out quite often, but I stifle it and nod. It’s the first response after tasting a very occasional new commercial beer that’s pretty damn rough around the edges. It’s usually a beer from a new small time operation but not always. I know tasting is all very individual and one man’s Champagne is another man’s low-carb light beer. Unfortunately there’s always a shocker waiting in that bottle shop beer fridge for me. Sometimes it’s a fermentation issue, or a sparge issue, sometimes I wonder if some brewers think that using old hops will be fine, but the oxidised cheesy character isn’t always complimentary to the style. Sadly, it’s the hop driven beers that sometimes get the stale hops instead of fresh sappy aromatic hops. If the beer is supposed to be conditioned; before adding another 3 big-screen TV’s to the bar area, please at least consider if that money would be better spent on longer conditioning for the beer. It seems as if the quality of the product slips down the list of priorities for some brewers, where I’d consider it to be permanently number one and well above the live band nights and Facebook campaign.
I find it hard to give people a response to their beer because some people in the brewing business just want to share the beer love, not get a critical response to a friendly gesture. That’s why some people prefer the anonymous feedback from a competition rather that a razor sharp critique from a friend or loved one.
I can understand how the occasional dodgy beer slips through into the market in the heat of running a small brewery passionately. You love your beer so much, that’s all you drink and your blinkers go on, but tunnel vision doesn’t give a very helpful view of uncharted terrain. Good brewers constantly get feedback from as many people as possible and I’ve also noticed that successful brewers, sometimes surreptitiously, drink a lot of other people’s beers. It’s not just for market research; it also keeps the palate stimulated. Unfortunately the newly commercial brewers often seem to be asking the wrong questions. Instead of pouring a good friend another free beer and asking him or her, “Hey, what do you think of this?” Where the answer is an amazingly enthusiastic and positive response like “Oh this is amazing, it’s so good. Would you mind pouring me another free beer please? You really should start selling this after I’ve left.”
A more realistic question you should be asking is “Hey, would you pay eight bucks for a glass of this? If you did, how many do you think you’d buy?” Then the answers come back from a very different angle. All of a sudden it’s not an ego stroking, free beer inducing response, but the kind of answer a business owner should be hearing.
“Well actually, this beer has a funny medicinal background taste and there’s also a dry husky harshness going on, but it’s cold and drinkable.” might be a more realistic response when the weight of a person’s wallet is thrown into the mix.
One SA brewer changed one of his beer recipes directly in response to some fairly minor comments left by an anonymous beer judge in a large competition for commercial beers. The next year the brewer entered the resulting beer from the new recipe and won gold. The same brewer is also known to religiously work the taps at night. Not because he’s too tight to hire more bar staff, but because he listens to every comment every customer makes about the beers. He’s not trying to turn the brewery into the biggest business ever, he just wants to be known for damn good beer, and it’s working.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s what we lovers of a pint of ale or a crisp lager want; damn good beers. The promotions, the hats and cheap sunglasses, the sporting and events sponsorships are all secondary and very short term in the memory compared to the primary thing of importance, the beer. Get that right and when you do, please let me know about it.
Stone & Wood 2010
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Stone & Wood
(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2010)
This month we’re having a closer look at Stone & Wood from Byron Bay. A while back we looked at their Pale Lager, which is a very light, very soft quaffable Munich Helles style lager. We’ve recently had the chance to try two more of their beers fresh on tap recently and can totally understand why there’s so much excitement in the Aussie beer scene at the moment.
Apart from being a great bloke, Brad Rogers the chief brewer for Stone & Wood has a great attitude to making beer; it has to be drinkable. That doesn’t sound like rocket science but so many modern brewers are getting carried away with mega imperial India Pale Ales and the like, they’re hopped beyond belief and are verging on undrinkable. Sure they’re different and powerful, but here in the Beer Radar office we like to have more than one beer before our taste buds have been paralysed and the enamel stripped from our teeth. Quite a few beers in succession over a yarn in a hospitable hotel is still one of life’s simple luxuries.
This is where Stone & Wood have done things just right. Their simple draught ale has a wonderful prominent hop presence, but you could drink it for hours. In fact, we did! It’s a wonderfully fruity ale with Galaxy hops bursting out of the glass thanks to some generous dry hopping. It’s a beer with a delicious hop character and a cleansing dry finish. Perfect balance, yet still a bold modern beer.
The second beer we tried was their Stone Beer. We’ve tried the bottled version before, which we loved, but draught beer is like meeting the movie star in person instead of just seeing them on a screen. Stone beer is a unique project where Brad and his crew go old-school in the beer making process, building a fire and getting appropriate rocks scalding hot before adding them to the unfermented beer wort. In the old days, it was a way of getting it to boil without having to heat a kettle. It sounds like a lot of hassle instead of just lighting a gas burner or turning on a heating element, but the wort caramelises around the hot rock, creating extra toffee flavours and complexity. It’s another very drinkable beer.
The Stone & Wood beers are available at a surprising amount of locations around Australia. Check out their website for an ever growing list of pubs with their beers on tap. They’re great in the bottle, but for us, nothing beats a fresh pint or three.
http://www.stoneandwood.com.au
Big Brown Creatures and Little White Rabbits
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Big brown Creatures and little White Rabbits
(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2010)
When a large cardboard box arrived at the Beer Radar office recently we were all in a tizzy. Especially when we realised it was from Little Creatures and White Rabbit. It’s not every day that we get a few beers in the post from Australia’s brewing rock stars. They’re not the kind of breweries that knock out a new beer every week, so we guess that these beers will be well thought out and executed.
First up, a big brown bottle of limited release Brown Ale from Little Creatures. It’ll be a solid, yet hoppy beer, we know that before we’ve chilled and opened it. What we got was power, balance and restraint. Powerful aromas in an American style but not in an ‘old-ladies’ perfume’ kind of powerful. There’s a solid blend of malts including a hint of spicy rye. Rye is rarely seen in Australian brewed beers and it adds a unique nutty spice and a little oilyness that suits darker beers. Each malt in the Little Creatures brown ale stands out instead of a forming a mish-mash of flavours and we’re guessing this beer has been through as much refining as a race-car does before it’s been released because it’s spot on. Kegs and open fires please.
White Rabbit had sent us a little potion sized bottle of their White Ale. We’d also tried it recently on tap at our local and while the draught version seemed a little light-on for us, the bottled version, maybe because of the small amount of yeast in each bottle, seems to have a lot more oomph for what’s still a pretty light kind of beer. There’s a hint of spice, the classic orange peel and coriander but again, very restrained. Belgian Wit is a fantastic style and so well suited to our hot summers, here’s hoping some venues cotton on to a little White Rabbit this coming summer.
*Mentioned beers were supplied by the breweries
Weizens 2012
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
“Weetbeers – Like Weetbix, but breakfast for grownups.” (First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2012)
OK, that may not get past the officials, and Moa got in trouble with the NZ officials after they released a cherry wheat beer and suggested it’d make an awesome breakfast beer; and it does. For those of you who aren’t too seedy on a Sunday morning, wheat beers with a pan-fried breakfast are perfect matches. Gentle acidity, a little soft sweetness, carbonation and refreshment, all go with bacon and eggs on sourdough toast. Try a half litre of fresh Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen, swirled so the yeast is incorporated into the correct tall weizen glass. Add a slice of lemon if it’s stinking hot weather. Serve next to a barbequed slice of Jagerbraten with all of the trimmings, it’s wunderbar!
Ground breaking Spanish chef Ferran Adrià teamed up with Estrella to produce Estrella Inedit. It’s a Belgian style wheat beer that includes the usual coriander and orange zest, but also a hint of liquorice. It’s subtle enough to add complexity without tasting like Liquorice All-Sorts. It’s a stunningly packaged 750ml beer, which can be purchased around the $10 mark, surprisingly. It’s more of a dinner party wheat rather than a breakfast beer. Ferran is known for pioneering amazing molecular gastronomic creations, so many fans were surprised that this beer is so restrained.
For an Aussie option, the classic – bacon, origin-unknown snag, baked beans and egg goes well with a variety of local wheat beers. Here’s some Aussie options:
Cascade Blonde – The Germans would call it a Kristalweizen because there’s no yeast so it’s clear. It’s a good entry level wheat beer. Nothing too offensive, which is what Cascade does best. It’s clean and clear while still having a sweet wheat aroma.
McLaren Vale has a bubbling collection of craft brewers at the moment and there’s a handful of good wheat beers to be found there too.
Swell Wheat Beer –Swell Beer Company co-founder Dan Wright also loves a good wheat beer. His version has a lean towards a Belgian style with a hint of orange peel and delivers aromatic esters while still being an easy drinker. You’ve got to love the 500ml bottles too.
Goodieson’s Wheat Beer – It’s had a brewer’s loving touch for ester production. Head brewer Jeff Goodieson has the passion and know-how to really make German wheat beer yeasts sing, and it shows. It also picked up the Ecolab Trophy for Champion Wheat Beer at the 2012 Royal Adelaide Beer Awards in a close competition.
McLaren Vale Beer Company Wit – Another Belgian style wheat beer. Limited production means that it’s only occasionally available in kegs. This beer reminds me of a young crowd at the Vale Inn Taphouse on a sunny day, lamb on the spit and large plastic cups of cold beer. Head brewer Jeff Wright says there should be some fresh Wit pouring at the Taphouse around Christmas time.
Wahoo?
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Wahoo? (First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2011)
We’ve recently seen the only significant difference in beer packaging since we spotted aluminium Heineken bottles during a pub crawl through Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong back in 2004. Gage Roads have released its Wahoo Ale in a new Vortex bottle made by the high profile American owned glass company O-I in Sydney. The inside of the bottle neck has large smooth grooves twisting around almost like rifling in a gun barrel, while the outside of the bottle remains normal. Miller Lite in the States has been doing the same thing for a while. Not surprisingly, everyone has asked “why?” and the only reason we can think of is chugging a beer could possibly happen ever so slightly faster, not that there’s any mention of accelerated consumption in the Miller Lite or Gage Roads press-releases and marketing. So it’s basically a point of difference in the glass packaging that Gage Roads are hoping will give them an edge in a very crowded market. We couldn’t tell any difference to the flow of the beer from the bottle but we swear the Wahoo tasted hoppier than it did the last time we tried it, even though Gage Roads assured us that the recipe hasn’t changed since its first release.
A family lunch at the Adelaide German Club recently was even better than usual when we realised that Hofbräu Maibock was on tap. Traditionally, in Munich, the first barrel of Maibock is tapped in the last week of April in readiness for the month of May. Hofbräu Maibock is Munich’s oldest bock (strong beer), which dates all the way back to 1614. Now that’s brewing heritage! The Maibock is darker than the Hofbräu Original and has a very rich malt flavour with a high alcohol level of 7.2%. After three or four 500ml steins, you certainly realise that this is no ordinary beer. Hofbräu 500ml bottles are available at most good bottle shops. We rate their beers highly.
Transitional Beers
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
Transitional Beers. (First published in Wine Business Magazine in 2010)
We’ve covered some of the darker beers a few months ago in Beer Radar, and we’re leaving the stouts until they’re really needed. This month we look at a selection we hope could be transitional beers. The ones you could feed to your your Dad in the hope that at last he’ll give up his nasty generic beer in a can.
Matilda Bay – Fat Yak: Reeking of hops. Truck full of citrus crashes into a cheap perfume stall. Might smell too scary for Dad. Background aromas of malty goodness. Resiny bitterness backed up with a light malt sweetness and thin body. Almost a little watery at the end, fading away.
Coopers – Sparkling Ale: classic Aussie Pride of Ringwood hop flavour so Dad will recognise something familiar, but also bready yeast complexity and toffee. We’d call it Mother’s Milk but milk has never been this good. Like a good radio station, the hits we love but also something a bit different.
Mildura Brewery – Mallee Bull Heavy: A malty amber style ale. Loads of dense malty goodness without being overly sweet. Subtle bitterness and all round well balanced beer. Good soft intro into decent drinking. Could have a few of these.
Barons Brewing – Black Wattle Original Ale: Sweet, nutty and rich but it’s not as heavy as it smells, so you can drink more than one. Creeping bitterness. A gutsy amber ale with roasted black wattle seeds giving a seedy nutty twist to the usual chocolate and coffee flavours associated with winter ales. Looks too good to drink from the bottle, should be in longnecks or growlers.
Cascade – First Harvest 2010: Malty for a Cascade, still bright and clear but with a hint of colour. The bitterness units might be up there but the Fat Yak slayed this beer in regards to hop presence. Dad friendly beer. The bitterness might start Dad up on the old Southwark Bitter “green death” rant again so better not risk it.
A Cidery Start and a Hidden Beer Finish.
Beer Radar
By John Krüger
A cidery start and a hidden beer finish.
(First published by Wine Business Magazine in 2011)
It doesn’t take a short fuzzy mandolin player to tell you that cider is a big thing at the moment. Even Perry is making its way back onto the shelves. We’ve braved the meagre 4 days of heat during the recent summer and have downed a few great ciders including Adelaide Hills Cider on tap which has been a revelation. It’s all that we love about artisan cider; a hint of natural spontaneous ferment sourness, real apple flavour, and no nasty saccharine or other artificial flavours. Lobo Cider from Lobethal, also in the Adelaide Hills was a bridge-too-far for my sister-in-law who pronounced “this is off!” and left the rest for us to down faster than a dog eats dropped snags at a BBQ. Some people prefer their cider without the rustic charm and a little more 20th century. One cider we’ve sampled recently from our other favourite spot in the world, the Yarra Valley, is Coldstream Cider. It’s made by brewers so it doesn’t have any funk, but it does taste like real apples and is a damn site better than the artificial ciders popular with the alcho-pop brigade. It’s also thankfully lacking in the massive hit of sulpher that’s prominent in some of the imported ciders and sits somewhere between sweet and dry on the residual sugar. We copped a lot of flak from the UK expats about adding ice to our cider but we’re not in cardigan and long socks country anymore are we? We’re that impressed with the cider, we’re keen to try what else Coldstream are doing.
Our favourite surfy brewers from Byron Bay, Stone and Wood, have intelligently renamed their deliciously fruity ale. Previously called Draught Ale (Draught means “drawn from the tap” a fresh beer) certainly makes sense on tap, but the term “draught” in relation to packaged beer has always irritated us. It’s like bottled water, but in a can. Anyway, their beer is still great fresh from the tap or bottle as we’ve reported before, but now to avoid more confusion (we’re looking at you West End and Carlton) Stone and Wood have renamed their excellent beer “Pacific Ale”. Why “Pacific”? Buggered if we know but it makes more sense.
As the nights cool down, it’s time to work out which sock drawer you’ve stashed the Coopers Vintage Ale. Initially we couldn’t stand the previous vintage fresh from the brewery. It seemed all marshmallow weed and cheap lollies, but given time to mature the 2009 has really come up a treat. We’ve even stashed bottles in various locations so we don’t knock them off all in one go. Young and foolish beer nerds dismiss the ale quoting the term “oxidised” and go back to their Fat Yacks, but hey “dudes”, great matured bevvies that have a bit of oxygen under their belts flourish with new and complex flavours. Don’t ask us for proof, ask Seppelts 100 year old port for example. The 2009 Coopers Vintage Ale will be our sneaky brandy balloon tipple during the coming colder months until we stop finding all of the hidden stubbies.