Meet the Brewer – HPA

Sunday Road walk the path to the Australian International Beer Awards

Pixel3 — Mon, 31 May 2021 04:33:50 +0000

Conducted by the RASV, the AIBA is the largest annual beer competition in the world, assessing both draught and packaged beer. In 2021, the awards attracted 2,500 entries from 402 exhibitors from 21 countries. It is a valuable benchmarking opportunity for breweries of all sizes to secure internationally recognised credentials that will help their beer stand out in a crowd.

Sunday Road Brewing were recognised once again, ironically winning the HPA trophy for Best New World Style Pale Ale for their Cryotherapy Hazy IPA. The Sydney brewery is all about looking forward to the best day of the week, when most of us get the chance to relax, spend time with loved ones and follow our passions while enjoying a tasty beer or two. After giving Sunday Road time to celebrate their big win, we got in touch with Head Brewer Mick O’Rance to congratulate the team and ask a few questions about their beers and living by the southern beaches.

Q: Congrats on your recent success at the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards. We’re glad we were able to support your success by sponsoring the trophy for Best New World Style Pale Ale. But we’re curious to know what you were doing that prevented you from accepting the trophy on the night?

A: We didn’t know we were likely to win a trophy. A missed phone call apparently! Also, we’re still quite a small team with only myself in the brewery, and it was a busy week of canning beer Wednesday, kegging beer Thursday, and tank cleaning Friday to ensure everything was ready for the following weeks brewing. So there wasn’t really time to shoot down to Melbourne for a few days.

Q: Your Cryotherapy Hazy IPA features concentrated hop pellets. Are you using any other innovative hop products in the brewery?

A: Yes, lupulin rich hop products are a favourite of ours for the intense flavour and aroma they can provide, whilst also reducing losses during the brewing and fermentation process. We’re always looking for, and open to trying anything new and interesting that becomes available.

Q: We’re particularly proud that Aussie hops feature heavily in one of your flagship beers. What makes the Enigma Australian Pale Ale the ideal thirst quencher?

A: We hopped on the Enigma train very early, even before it had a name. The Enigma Ale is our first born, and still our biggest selling beer. I think that’s because it’s well balanced and sessions very well in the Aussie climate. It has just enough hop character to keep the craft beer lovers happy, but it’s also is a good introduction to craft beer for people coming across from more mainstream lagers.

Q: You’re also known for making a lot of really good limited edition beers, like the Lunar Eclipse Lager. Where does the inspiration come from?

A: We were stoked to be involved with the Eclipse mixed back. We’d spent time with the hop back when it was known as HPA-016, and really liked what it contributed to the beers we brewed. Our inspiration for the Lunar Eclipse Lager was to step away from doing another hazy and look for something very different. We ended up at a classic Schwarzbier with a modern twist through the use of a new world hop. The subtle chocolate nuances from the malt worked perfectly with the mandarin/citrus character that Eclipse provides, giving the beer a very subtle jaffa flavour.

Q: I think we can agree the mark of a good beer is one that keeps people coming back time and time again. What’s your go to at the moment?

A: On tap at Sunday Road I can’t go past our Vienna Lager, which just won a gold medal at AIBA. It’s the perfect time of year for this malt forward copper coloured lager too. Buying beer, I’m always on the lookout for anything new and interesting. We’re pretty spoilt these days. It’s becoming so easy to have an incredible selection of different beers readily available.

Q: And finally, describe your ideal Sunday.

A: Being a morning person, I’m always awake early and love getting out for a mountainbike ride first thing, followed by the kids sport. Then it’s all about relaxing through the rest of the day with a late lunch/early dinner with family, friends and a couple of beers.

Barossa Valley’s winning combination of talent and intelligence

Pixel3 — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 22:56:21 +0000

The Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards (RABCA) was established in 1844. This year, brewers across Australia and New Zealand competed for 13 trophies, including Most Outstanding Beer, Champion Large Brewery, Champion Small Brewery, Best New Exhibit as well as Champion IPA, Lager, Ale, Porter/Stout, Specialty Beer and Reduced Alcohol Beer.

Barossa Valley Brewing’s Hop Heaven was awarded the highly coveted Champion IPA trophy, proudly sponsored by HPA. Founding the brewery was a dream that started on the far away shores of the United States, now it’s a reality right here in the Barossa. We got in touch with Head Brewer Denham D’Silva to congratulate the team and ask a few questions about their beers and the role of AI in the brewery.

Q: Congrats on your recent success at the 2023 Royal Adelaide Beer & Cider Awards. As proud sponsors of your trophy for Champion IPA, can you tell us a bit about the inspiration for Hop Heaven?

A: I went to university in Michigan, USA where I fell in love with the IPAs the led the charge of the craft beer revolution that had started a few years earlier.

Q: You were also awarded Champion Small Brewery, picking up Champion IPA, Champion Lager, and Champion Reduced Alcohol Beer. What’s your take on the emerging no and low alcohol trend?

A: One of the things I love most about Barossa Valley Brewing, as one of the earliest craft brewers established in 2005, is that we’ve grown up with our customers. 18 years ago, our fans were 25 years old, looking for big flavours and big alcohol content. Now they’re 43 years old and still looking for big flavour, but in a format that will help them avoid a hangover and allow them to drive their kids to footy the next morning. We’ve grown up along with the sector. I think no and low alcohol is here to stay.

Q: You recently partnered with the University of Adelaide to produce a beer called Rodney AI2PA created entirely by artificial intelligence. What role do you see AI playing in your brewery moving forward?

A: We’re embedding AI into every aspect of our brewery. We’re the only brewery in the world with access to a neural network. The real power of AI is the ability to listen to all your customers. Every one of our beers has a QR code that rewards customers for reviewing our beers. This feeds the neural network with our customers becoming part of the brewing process by helping inform beer recipes. In the 3 years we’ve used AI, we’ve also won a Champion state brewery award.

Q: You fell in love with craft beer while studying Economics and Business Stateside. Is there a particular beer you enjoyed during that time you still dream about?

A: I keep going back to IPAs. I’m in Michigan right now visiting my sister, writing this with an IPA in hand.

Q: Upon returning home, you chose the Barossa region for its adherence to quality and culture of experimentation. What’s one of the most unexpected ingredients you’ve added to beer since then?

A: We’ve done so many experiments. I like to think we were the first to really start experimenting with new ingredients nearly 20 years ago. The peanut in the peanut butter milkshake is one of our most popular and still gets people talking.

Q: Given you’re located in one of the country’s foremost wine regions, is there a friendly rivalry with local vintners? Or is it more about leveraging the opportunity to learn from each other?

A: Very much both. In fact, we hold very popular Beer vs Wine events where we match a beer and a wine to 3 courses and customers vote for the best match. It’s one of the few fringe events that have a 10-year unbroken 5-star rating. I love putting our $8 beer next to their $180 wine and coming away with a win.

Meet the brewer: Mike Magee, Eight Degrees Brewing

Pixel3 — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 22:00:02 +0000

We first came across this Irishman mid-celebration at the World Beer Cup in Denver.

Eight Degrees Brewing had just taken out Bronze for their Amber Ella American Amber Ale, starring you guessed it, our hop Ella.

As the brewing world’s Olympics, with more than 4,700 entries from 58 countries, it’s a cracking result for anyone.

In this instance, with the ale originally intended as a ‘one-night stand brew’ for a festival and the brewery only three years old, it was a particularly gratifying result.

So, who is Eight Degrees Brewing?

Owners/brewers Scott Baigant and Cam Wallace are a unique pair; a Kiwi water engineer and an Aussie accountant working in (self-described) semi-harmony, in rural Ireland.

Appointing Mike, a former chemist, as Head Brewer, the micro-brewery in County Cork has gone from strength to strength.

Over the past few years, Mike’s fallen hard for a few of our hops:

“You get a different, atypical flavour using Aussie hops – some American hops are over-used. I love working with Ella, Galaxy^® and Vic Secret – all are wonderful late kettle/whirlpool additions.”

Including Ella and Galaxy^® in his Amber Ella, Mike was, “…delighted with how it turned out, particularly seeing the way Ella and Galaxy^® interact. Both have tropical fruit notes but the Ella has a nice spicy edge which tempers the Galaxy^® beautifully.”

For further proof of how delighted the boys were, check out Cam’s ode to Ella below…

Mike has also recently done a single hop Black IPA with Vic Secret.

“It was one of the best beers we’ve ever produced. Galaxy^® and Vic Secret work beautifully in black IPA’s when you’re looking for an intense tropical fruit hop bomb to lighten the dark malts.”

If you’re keen to get your hands on a few of these ales, hopefully you won’t have to wait long.

The team are working to expand their current site in Mitchelstown with some quality second hand equipment they secured from Mauritius, off the East coast of Africa.

A spot of crowd funding is helping them bring it over to Ireland where they’re hoping to expand their production volumes so Cam can see his brews being enjoyed back in his homeland.

Cam’s Ode to Amber Ella

Who is Amber-Ella?

Amber-Ella is an enigma. She is that casual glance in the street that makes your heart beat.
A free spirit, a whirlwind of excitement and allure,
She exudes confidence but is a mystery of intrigue.
She’s a roamer, nomad, wanderer, vagabond, call her what you will.
She’s like the wind, and will take your breath away.
She is the opposite of our faithful wet weather companion, the umber-ella
Don’t try and hold on to her, set her free and enjoy the moment.

Aether’s Art of Craft

Pixel3 — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:49:16 +0000

After three years of livestreaming the Indies due to the pandemic, the IBA was finally able to get the industry back together in person at the 2023 awards on the Gold Coast. Following a major review of the trophy classes and the way in which beers are scored, the competition attracted 1,348 entries from 190 breweries with a total of 229 beers being awarded gold medals. This medal tally demonstrates the exceptional quality of indie beer around the country.

Aether Brewing’s IPA was awarded Champion Modern IPA, proudly sponsored by HPA. The family-owned, Brisbane-based craft brewery inspires their community to live creative, flavourful, connected and fulfilling lives. We got in touch with Head Brewer George MacGregor to congratulate the team and ask a few questions about their beers and growing awareness and appreciation of the Aussie arts community.

Q: Congrats on your recent success at the 2023 Australian Independent Beer Awards. As proud sponsors of your trophy for Champion Modern IPA, can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your IPA?

A: Easy! We just found a way to can good vibes. Imagine it’s a lazy, sun-soaked day. You’re lying on the beach. Reach into the ice bucket – you’re going to want to pull out our core IPA. Big and bold, piney and tropical, all while being ultimately refreshing. We look at this beer as the space where the tropical vibrance of Australia meets the boldness of a West Coast IPA. It’s all about making something bold but refreshing, taking that laid-back Aussie vibe and pairing it with a classic style.

We love working with HPA because of the abundance of unique hop varieties and new flavours they can bring to classic beer styles. Our IPA uses hops you’d see in classic West Coast IPA’s, while also using some HPA hops that add new and exciting things!

Q: You were also awarded Champion Juicy-Hazy Pale Ale for your All Australian Pale Ale. What do you love most about the flavours this country has to offer?

A: For our All-Australian Pale Ale, it’s in the name – it’s brewed with ingredients all grown, farmed, and manufactured right here in Australia, including Cascade, Galaxy^® and Topaz hops from HPA. Essentially, what’s not to love? When it comes to an Australian beer brewed with all-Australian ingredients, we feel a connection to the land and people in ways that are hard to describe. It becomes more than just a beer – it becomes a tribute to the history and modernity of Australia.

There’s such a diverse mix of flavours in Australia that allow us to really flex our creativity. Whether it’s the distinct character of native fruits and herbs, the quality of the grain, or the big & beautiful aromas of Australian-grown hops, the culinary offerings from our country give us so much to play with in our brewery. We’re just having fun with it all!

Q: Passion and creativity shines through in each of your beers. What’s the weirdest and wackiest flavour that’s featured in your special releases?

A: We’re super passionate about creativity and trying new things. Our goal is to make a beer you’ve never had before. Once a month we set out to make one-off batch of something unique. We also have a pilot system that lets us play around on a small scale with anything weird & wacky we can get our hands on. Take a trip through our taproom and who knows what you may find!

Off the top of my head, we’ve used ingredients like crème brulee, Davidson Plums, hemp, a sake koji starter, truffles, coconut rice, and even bone marrow once upon a time. I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of examples, but if you name it, we’ve probably done it! And if we haven’t, find me some because I want to brew with it! We even crushed up 100kg of Biscoff biscuits a few months ago for a Biscoff Ice Cream Porter for GABS – we were super stoked when it won the People’s Choice award!

Q: Your motto is ‘The Art of Craft’, which you’re living through the Artist Amplifier Initiative. Can you tell us a bit about this collaborative springboard and how homegrown talent can get their artwork on your beers?

A: While we see the inside of the can as our liquid art, we want to share the talent of the Australian arts communities on the outside of the can. The Artist Amplifier Initiative is our way of giving a platform to Australian artists while curating an experience for all the senses, and hopefully inspire creativity within our communities. When we’re looking for art, we try to match the meaning behind the art to the beer to bring that elevated experience. In addition to having their art and name featured on our labels, the Artist Amplifier Initiative also features the artist on our website and social media. We’ve been running the Initiative for about a year now and we’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most wonderful and creative people out there.

As for getting your art featured on our cans, it couldn’t be easier. Head to https://aetherbrewing.com.au/artist-registration/, sign up, and upload an existing piece of art. You can also hit us up on social media, shoot us an email, anything you can think of! Plus, there’s no obligations to do custom pieces, we don’t take ownership of the art or anything like that – we’re just looking to work with great people and make great beer.

Q: Speaking of art, who gets credit for the awesome hop mural at Aether HQ?

A: Yeah! We have a huge hop mural just as you walk into the brewery. Super detailed, it’s a treat to see every day. That was done years ago by Steven Falco, an artist we’ve been working with for years. Wildly talented, he does a lot of mural art around the SEQ area. He’s also done a lot of our can art in the past, including every iteration of our Ginger Beerd.

January past, Steven Falco paired up with another artist named Jordan Bruce to make a collective called The Brightsiders. Working together, these guys are absolute wizards with a can of spray paint. They did another mural on the outside of our brewery – a beautiful piece featuring a crushed beer can holding all-Australian native flowers. It’s bursting with colour, life and texture and is impossible to miss if you’re going by the brewery!

Q: HQ will always be the brewery’s beating heart, but can you tell us about your partnership with the Talisman Group?

A: It’s been an absolute pleasure working with the Talisman Group. These guys know how to do hospitality right! A few years ago, they approached us to make a house beer (an Italian Pilsner) for Sasso Italiano, their new venue in Woolloongabba. Since then, they’ve also opened Casa Chow next door to which we make a purple corn rice lager as the house beer there. In the coming months, Talisman will be opening a 300-person “Mad Men”-inspired brewpub called The Wright House, also in Woolloongabba. We couldn’t be more excited to work with them on this project, which will see our core beers being poured from any of the 6 rose-gold beer tanks mounted above the bar. We’ll also have an on-site brewery in the venue to collaborate with local producers and chefs to create special and amazing one-off brews for the venue too.

Meet the brewer: Will Tatchell, Van Diemen Brewing

Pixel3 — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 23:00:21 +0000

Will is more than Van Dieman’s head brewer, he’s also the owner, delivery driver, sales rep, barman and Dad to two next gen brewers.

Yep, this guy wears a few hats. But still he found time to be the first to trial our new girl, Enigma^® alongside our Sales and Marketing Manager and former brewer, Owen.

Will first started working with our hops a few years back when he updated the Van Diemen Ragged Jack Pale Ale around our Galaxy^® flowers.

“The great results have seen us now using 100% HPA hops, and we couldn’t be happier”.

Naturally this made him a great choice to be the first to really tackle our new hop after on-farm testing and small sensory profiling brews were complete.

“It was a huge honour to be the first in the world to commercially brew with a new hop. Establishing flavour and aroma characteristics for a new variety is at the edge of exploration in our industry.”

So what do you do when you’re the first to get your hands on a hop? Go with your favourite style – an IPA.

The boys started with a basic brew, using both bittering and aroma additions to establish Enigma^®’s character.

In subsequent trials Will progressively increased both additions, keen to test the boundaries of our newest hop’s capabilities.

“Consumer feedback is always a critical component in testing. Fortunately we’ve had nothing but favourable comments from a broad range of drinkers.

Most pick up on the fruity nature of the beer – it showcases a soft bitterness with a rockmelon, grapefruit aroma and flavour.”

As for Wills tips on using our hops? He prefers using flowers over pellets.

“Despite being a little more work to brew with, I find flowers provide more character, that we can’t seem to replicate with pellets.”

Van Dieman received nearly the whole 2013 crop of Enigma^® and with their cut of the 2014 crop they’ve just brewed the Jacked Up IPA for Hobart’s Jack Greene craft beer bar.

“Given the initial positive results from Enigma^®, I expect it’ll become really popular with Australian craft brewers in the next few years.”

If you’re as keen to taste Will’s new brew as we are, you might need to take a trip to Tassie – at the moment Enigma Pale Ale is available at the Rosevears Hotel just north of Launnie, and Preachers Bar in Hobart, and the Jacked Up IPA will be launched at Jack Greene at the end of June. Good excuse for a visit!

Slipstream beers are pure flavour

Pixel3 — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 05:29:15 +0000

The Royal Queensland Beer Awards invited top Aussie brewers to compete for national recognition once again in 2024. Supported by a team of brewers, beer writers and industry figures, the competition has become a trusted guide for Aussie beer drinkers.

Hop Products Australia (HPA) were particularly proud to award Slipstream Brewing the HPA trophy for Champion Small/Medium Brewery. Their Brewer Daniel Thomsen was also awarded the trophy for Emerging Queensland Brewer. After a well earned week off, we got in touch with Head Brewer Gavin Croft to congratulate the team and ask a few questions about brewing balanced beers.

Q: Congrats on your recent success at the 2024 Royal Queensland Beer Awards. As the proud sponsor of your trophy for Champion Small/Medium Brewery, tell us the secret to your story.

A: No secrets here. Just a lot of hard work and attention to the little things. It helps that the venue and sales teams are kicking goals and customers are obviously enjoying the beers. We’re turning over the batches quite frequently, so that our beer in the marketplace is always fresh. We conduct a lot of in house sensory analysis and take the feedback from previous competitions seriously, so that we can focus in on areas for improvement.

Q: Daniel Thomsen was also awarded the trophy for Emerging Queensland Brewer. Describe the energy he brings to your business.

A: Dan is a quality focused brewer, who asks all the right questions and leads initiatives for process improvements. He is also very passionate about beer and likes to keep it fun with innovative ideas. He once brewed a 12% ABV Affogato Stout with cold brew coffee and vanilla beans, that had a finishing gravity of 14^oP. It was a ridiculous and delicious beer that was very hard to brew but executed to such a high level. And although he doesn’t typically go for a 12% dessert stout knock off, he has shown that you are only limited by your imagination.

Q: The judges noted there was a big improvement in the standard of beers entered this year. What do you think is driving this renewed focus on beer quality?

A: Every year beer drinkers are getting a little more savvy with a better understanding of what good beer is, and across the board brewers are delivering. Brewers are a social bunch and we are happy to give feedback to our mates/competitors in the industry, which along with competition feedback, conferences, etc, guides brewers to adapt where necessary to up their game. In an uncertain marketplace high quality beer is becoming more necessary – when consumers generally have less disposable income, it becomes vitally important that every beer they buy is great.

Q: Hops obviously hold a special place in your heart, but Slipstream is renowned for crafting balanced beers. What’s your favourite hop/malt or hop/yeast combo?

A: We use an Australian grown and malted Pale malt as the base for almost all of our beers. It has a pretty light flavour profile which is perfect for layering specialty malts, specialty yeasts, and/or hops depending on the desired outcome. For most of our beers we are using fairly neutral yeast strains also, as our preference is for the hops to do the talking. Not to say the malts and yeast are unimportant but the balance probably comes more from a significant consideration for finished gravity, finished pH, alcohol content, bitterness (calculated IBUs and dry hop bitterness) and healthy fermentation.

Q: And which of our Aussie hops currently holds the top spot in your heart?

A: My personal favourite is Vic Secret, but we also use quite a lot of Galaxy, Eclipse, and Topaz.

Q: The vision for Slipstream was actually inspired by the American beer scene. Which brewery or beer had the biggest influence on the brewery back home in Australia.

A: It’s difficult to single out just one, but beers like Sierra Nevada Pale, Ballast Point Sculpin, Green Flash IPA and breweries like Deschutes and Stone Brewing all inspired our brewery and hop forward beers. This year we head to CBC in Las Vegas to see what has changed since those early days.

Meet the brewer: Richard Adamson, Young Henrys

Pixel3 — Thu, 15 May 2014 23:00:17 +0000

You’d think we’d be talking about beer, but Richard Adamson is known for his experimental beers and collaborations with rock stars, so you never know what you’re going to get.

When we called to have a chat about Young Henrys recent award we ended up on gins, specifically hopped gins.

First up, the award. Richard was one of only ten brewers from around the world invited to the UK by JD Wetherspoons to brew with a local for their Spring 2014 International Real Ale Festival.

Joining forces with Simon Yates, Head Brewer, Banks Brewery in Wolverhampton, they brewed an Australian homage to the English Bitter – essentially “selling ice to Eskimos” as a recent piece in the Daily Telegraph put it.

To put a uniquely Aussie spin on the classic style Richard used three of our hops, Galaxy^®, Ella and Topaz.

The Young Henry’s Real Ale took out not only Best in Class but also the Gold Medal as best overall beer for the festival from a field of 40 UK and international entrants.

“The reaction to our Real Ale over in the UK has been phenomenal – the hop flavours are what everyone’s talking about. Particularly on UnTappd – they’re getting so excited” said Richard.

When we asked Richard on his top tips for brewing with our Aussie hops he said “Play with them. Experience them. The flavours are difficult to get a handle on just by reading the description, you need to trial them.”

Now back to the Gin – always interested in trying new things, Richard loved that our latest flavour hop, Enigma^®, doesn’t taste like any others and to differentiate it even more he popped it in a gin.

“Almost Pinot Gris like in the Gin, Enigma^® shows real grape-like, fruitiness. This hop nailed it from the get go” said Richard.

After maceration of native pepper berry and bush tomato, the alcohol vapour passed through the hop flowers picking up the full spectrum of Enigma^®’s flavours but none of the bitterness.

Folks at TedX in Sydney recently were lucky enough to try it – unfortunately it’s not available for sale but we’ll be sure to keep you posted if anything changes.

Just to bring things full circle, the Young Henry’s Gin has inspired the team’s entry into the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular – look out for their entry once again using our Enigma^® this time with juniper berry, coriander and orange peel.

If you’re in Melbourne 23 – 25 May it’ll be well worth a look.

From barely drinkable cider to champion brewery

Pixel3 — Wed, 22 May 2024 23:47:38 +0000

The Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards is the largest annual beer competition in the world, judging both draught and packaged beer. After celebrating 30 years in 2023, the awards attracted over 2,500 entries from more than 410 breweries across 23 countries. It is a valuable benchmarking opportunity for breweries of all sizes to secure internationally recognised credentials that will help their beer stand out in a crowd.

King Road took home Champion Small Australian Brewery, proudly sponsored by HPA. The family owned and operated business may have begun as a self-described “home-style setup that made barely drinkable cider”, but has evolved into a state-of-the-art venue that brews award-winning beer and cider. After giving King Road time to celebrate their big win, we got in touch with Head Brewer Steve Wearing to congratulate the team and ask a few questions about their beers and the key to consistency.

Q: Congrats on your recent success at the AIBAs. You went home with the trophy for Champion Small Australian Brewery and Best Traditional IPA. What does this kind of recognition mean to you?

A: This is a huge credit to the brewing team. They work bloody hard, and it’s really nice to receive recognition for the consistent quality they are pushing out. Aside from the huge pat on the back, hopefully this will correlate to sales. We installed a can line late last year and are very much in a growth phase, so the timing couldn’t be better.

Q: Your Pale Ale was also awarded a gold medal for the third consecutive year, earning you the coveted Consistency of Excellence Medal. They say consistency is key, but what’s the key to your consistency?

A: For me, it’s a culmination of the little things. There are many different ways to make good beer. We strive for consistency here as I strongly believe this is the path to great beer. We spend a lot of time training new staff that come through to ensure everyone is following the same procedures, allowing us to work hard at dialling in the finer details of a recipe, and hopefully achieve consistency from batch to batch.

Q: To round out an incredible evening, you were also awarded a gold medal for your Summer Ale, which just happens to feature Galaxy hops. How do you go about building the hop bill for a new beer?

A: This is something I struggled with for a long time. When I was first elevated to Head Brewer and had the responsibility of developing new recipes, I was never happy with the hop driven beers that I created. They were either too grassy, or astringent, or resinous… you get the idea. What I’ve come to learn is there is no silver bullet when it comes to recipe design. It takes experience to get to learn which hops play well together, what hopping rates are suitable for different styles, and which hopping techniques to use. We are lucky to have access to such a huge range of hop varieties, and now an array of different product formats (T90 pellets, concentrated pellets, liquid extracts, etc). For the consumer, this gives an almost unlimited number of beer flavour possibilities. To answer the question, developing a new beer, if it’s something similar to a beer I have brewed in the past, I just lean on experience. If it’s a completely new beer, I have a stab in the dark and push through a little 20L batch for proof of concept, and adjust from there.

Q: As a believer in continuous improvement, you’ve been known to experiment with seasonal beers from time to time. Which one of your creations truly had to be tasted to be believed?

A: A few years ago we didn’t have a core range IPA. Instead, the intention was to have a seasonal release IPA on tap year-round, showcasing a different hop variety each release. In the second iteration of this we featured a hop called Strata, which was a relatively new and unknown variety out of the US at that stage. First time I tried it in tank, just after it was chilled, I was blown away by the big strawberry jam notes. It settled into a more mellow and balanced beer by the time it made it into keg, and I was really impressed with the beer. It was launched at Frothtown and was a crowd favourite. Shortly after, it took out a trophy at the AIBAs, and the again at the Perth Royal Beer Awards. It was obvious this needed to become core range, so the rotating IPA range only made it to iteration #2… It’s continued to win trophies and has been a big driver in the growth of our brand.

Q: You’ve made beers for the likes of Homestead and Blasta. What was it about King Road that attracted an award-winning, well-travelled brewer such as yourself?

A: The location was the initial attraction. A brewery that had a rural feel to it, but close enough that I didn’t need to move house and I was able to keep all the conveniences of living in Perth. What’s kept me here is the owners. It really is ‘family owned and run’. The owners are heavily involved in all aspects of the business and treat the staff like family. They have given myself and the brewing team a huge amount of support, allowing us to continue to grow.

Q: King Road is the perfect meeting spot right in the middle between north and south. How does your location influence the general atmosphere of the venue?

A: Our venue, although not far from the suburbs, is in the middle of farming land. It has the feel of a rural down south brewery, whilst only being 10 minutes from local suburbs, and about 45 mins from the CBD. On top of that, there is a big emphasis on being family friendly, with a huge playground and oval to keep the kids happy. The result is a very laid-back atmosphere where customers get the ‘away on holidays vibe’ without needing to travel too far.

Meet The Brewer: John Allen, BrewDog

Pixel3 — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 22:00:47 +0000

Meet John Allen, Senior Brewer at Scottish craft brewery BrewDog.

John spent time at Fuller Smith and Turner as a Junior Brewer and Quality Control Technician before cutting his teeth at Little Creatures. Now, he’s back in the Northern hemisphere, this time in Scotland, working as a senior member of the BrewDog team.

Having travelled our shores, we feel John’s got a good handle of what Aussie hops are like, but he hadn’t seen them take off until the Galaxy® craze started a few years back. “It’s been a defining move for the image of Australian hops and really helped put them on the radar of craft brewers everywhere.”

“UK drinkers went mad for Galaxy® when it first came out. Aussie hops have a tendency to deliver juicy passionfruit and zesty tangerine-style notes that give a good bite – they’re unlike a lot of other international varieties. The Vic Secret IPA is a new beer from BrewDog that will hit the market in the next few weeks; which has come out beautifully. It’s showing notes of tropical fruit and passionfruit flavours with a good resinous back bone and stone fruit sweetness.”

“We might have underestimated the capacity of this hop, which we used through all elements of the brewing process; start and end of boil, in the whirlpool and dry hopped. Heavy dry hopping gave a slight spicy and earthy after taste while maintaining a good hop punch – but dialling it back a little will allow the more delicate flavours to shine.”

“The craft beer revolution has taken hold in the UK and now more than ever UK drinkers are looking for something different. We are known for crafting beers that make you think – “how do they make it taste like that?” So it’s good to find an international hops grower that allows you to be creative but still make a great tasting, commercially viable beer.”

“The brewing industry is a big community. No matter where you’re from, everyone’s really collaborative and we all serve to educate and test one another. There are some brewers who bring out beers and you just think ‘I wish I brewed it’. In my fridge at the moment are the Beergeek Breakfast, Mikkeller’s I Beat You and a big bottle of Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale. Also have a couple of BrewDog legends in there like Tokyo, Alice Porter and Dead Pony Club.”

“Unfortunately being based in Scotland we don’t have access to many Aussie beers but favourites include Stone & Wood Pacific Ale out of Byron Bay and Hop Hog from Feral in WA.”

If you’re in the UK or popping over for a visit make sure you visit John and get a taste of BrewDog’s Vic Secret IPA.

Bangin’ beer made in Margs

Pixel3 — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 04:54:13 +0000

The Perth Royal Beer Awards is the premier beer competition in Western Australia (WA). The state’s pursuit of new and innovative ways of brewing is stronger than it has ever been, with 529 entries from large, medium and small craft breweries as far and wide as Esperance, Kalbarri, Margaret River, Busselton, Swan Valley and Perth.

Margaret River Beer Co. enjoyed a trophy-filled night, taking home the HPA trophy for Best IPA (Packaged) for their flagship In The Pines as well as Best IPA (Draught) for River Dog. Born from three beer-loving couples who sought to create a venue that feels like home to locals and visitors alike, Margaret River Beer Co. has become an institution that captures the region’s laid back and inclusive feel. After a well-earned break, we got in touch with Head Brewer Ryan Allen to congratulate the team and ask a few questions about their shiny new brewery and the perfect Sunday session.

Q: Congrats on your recent success at the 2024 Perth Royal Beer Awards! We were thrilled to hand you the Best IPA (Packaged) trophy for your flagship In The Pines, which has been cleaning up at industry awards of late. What’s the secret to that pillowy mouthfeel supporting those vibrant fruity flavours?

A: Our main focus of getting In The Pines where we want it to be over the last 6 months has been with our water chemistry and protein content of the malt bill. Making sure we have the correct level of calcium and pH in the mash really lays the foundation for this beer.

Q: You were also awarded Best IPA (Draught) for River Dog, a beer Crafty Pint once described as “smooth and clean with impeccably balanced bitterness”. Was the beer name inspired by a particular furry friend of yours?

A: Funny that. Even though we have a dog in the artwork, the name is actually inspired by the locals name for Rivermouth Beach.

Q: With the paint still drying on your shiny new brewery, which piece of equipment has made the biggest difference for you?

A: It’s more of a luxury, but I have to say the oversized heat exchanger. We’ve gone from taking an hour to knock out 1000L to 25 minutes for 2,500L. Definitely makes the end of the brew day a lot nicer!

Q: Plus, you’ve got some flash new can designs on the shelf. Who’s the talent behind the new artwork?

A: That would be the excellent Jarrod Fuller from Zendoke.

Q: What is it about the people of Margaret River that makes them so laid back, inclusive and welcoming?

A: I’m still relatively new to Margs, but I think the small town vibe combined with the beautiful landscape is just naturally relaxing. I’ve definitely felt very welcome and included in the community since moving here.

Q: Finally, describe the perfect WA Sunday session.

A: Can’t beat a swim in the morning, followed by a couple beers on the beach.