A weekend in Copenhagen - Guest Blog

My Father in Law spent some time travelling in and around Northern Europe so I asked him to write a "Guest Blog" on one of the many towns of his travels. Thanks Steve!  



Think of Denmark and you probably think of LEGO, Bang & Olufsen, 
Skype or even Velux Windows?  You will almost certainly think of 
high end minimalistic furniture that exemplifies functionalistic 
Danish design. The Dane Jørn Utzon even designed the Sydney Opera 
House. However you probably do not associate Denmark with craft beers.
Come to Copenhagen and it is difficult to miss the huge Carlsberg and Tuborg 
brewery and, if you come from the UK, to get the tagline “Probably the best 
beer in the world” out of your head but do not blame the Danes for that but 
Saatchi & Saatchi. However if you look carefully you will also find a healthy 
craft beer industry which shows that Danish design even produce good beers 
today.  

Navigate your way to the BREWPUB, Vestergade 29, in the city centre.  As you pass through an archway you will know you are in the right place as you can see the fermentation vessels that have given birth to some excellent beers very much in the US style. In the summer a bar is set up in the courtyard rather than having to go down into the permanent cellar bar. This summer the beers boast some international titles.  I started with a Pale Ale called Hurricane (after the aircraft) which was very refreshing after a full day of sightseeing. This top fermented golden beer uses fruity New Zealand hops combined with malt and caramel so had a light bitterness and moderate sweetness.  I then tried the US India Pale Ale, Geronimo.  This 6.5% beer proved to be very tasty with significant bitterness moderated by the caramel malts and by being mashed at a higher temperature. You could also detect citrus from the use of the American hops Zeus and Chinook.  If you like IPA you should also try the 6.2% US PowerPils ZEUS.  This is a single hop golden bottom-fermented strong larger made from the American hop Columbus and is said to have the distinctive flavour of apricot-peach and a fresh rich aftertaste. Not tried there was also a 5.6% Dark SCHLAGER which is a dark bottom-fermented lager and a 6.6% Rosebud Porter

BREWPUB have not neglected wheat beers.  Jackie K 5% is their 
new American-style wheat beer which is more aromatic and 
moderately bitter than the usual wheat beers.  Jackie K is dry-
hopped with American Citra introducing notes of mandarin and 
passion fruit but in the opinion of my wife it was no match for the 
4.9% VesterWeisse.  This refreshing, thirst quencher is ‘unclear’ 
as the high content of protein in the wheat malt makes this beer 
appear cloudy.  In my wife’s opinion this is ”Probably the best 
wheat beer she has ever tasted”.  I told you it is difficult to get a 
tagline out of your head!

Being a GABS volunteer

I was really excited to find out that GABS (Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular) was coming to Sydney, and I will post about the event next week. But as it happened, they were looking for volunteers for a session and I thought "why not?" - my logic was that I would hopefully meet a number of like minded beer enthusiasts, meet a few brewers and have a good time, so I "volunteered". 

I have to say, as the weeks counted down, I really thought to myself "why am I doing this" but looking back, I think it gave a really different angle to the event and I learned a bit more and chatted to likeminded beer enthusiasts. So I would say to other craft beer fans, give it a go - what do you really lose? A few hours, and what you can gain is so much more. 

I was at the front - handing glasses out to people as they wandered in, and stamping people who went outside to smoke etc so I didn't get to mingle with the brewers, or get too much of a feel of the event but I would say that during the break, I could work out "who's who in the zoo" and I talked to a number of people to work out which brewers were coming out on top, and what beers were to be missed. I would also say the day event was miles busier than the evening event (which was really strange!)

Certainly the biggest thing I learnt was about the punters, man people moaned over little things like branded glasses. Now it was poorly organised that they didn't have enough branded glasses for everyone, nor did they have enough "craft beer passports" (offering discounts to venues) but the alternative glasses they were offering were fine, and you go to a beer festival for the beer, not the glass the beer lives in... People were also stealing glasses from other people etc, and you just think "really?".

Looking back now, I knew about GABS, a bit through blogs, brewers emails etc and also by being in Melbourne, by chance, last year and we went to it! Now many punters knew of it from similar experiences to me, but the majority had no real understanding of what it was really about as the advertising wasn't great - for example many didn't know that the brewers brewed beers specifically for the event, so it was a spectacular in brewing as much as it was a spectacular in trying new breweries - I think the organisers must of thought that people knew about it from Melbourne so understood the concept... As I was chatting to people, I would inform them about this and many saw the event in a new light and enjoyed it a bit more, (saying that many others couldn't care less and were just there to have a good time!) but I reckon next year, the Sydneysiders need to be better informed - otherwise the point of the event will always be lost...

Volunteers learning their role at GABS Sydney 2015

The quiet before the storm! GABS 2015

So I just stand here? No, go over there and stuff glasses!! ;)

So while I thought the event could of been better organised and prepared for, I did enjoy it, and enjoyed being a volunteer and learning the other side of the event - and I could guide the friends I went with in the evening on the layout, must do talks, must do brewers to visit etc. There is also an element of luck on your role - if you get to support the 'Craft Beer Uni' you listen to the talks and learn more,  so maybe it could be good to rotate volunteers around in and around the event as they are volunteers opposed to cheap labour... but if you have an interest in craft beer, and a half day free, I reckon consider volunteering for a craft beer event - you do gain from it. 

Next week I will tell you how awesome the event was when you are actually a punter and can drink at the event!

Mornington brewery (MP Brew)

So as I said a few weeks back, we were in Mornington Peninsular, and had a great time enjoying the range of local beers on offer, but we managed to actually pop into the MP brewery, on the last day for a few beers and share pizzas and stories before heading in different directions. 

Beautiful sunshine, but the outside was in shade...

Is it a bar, is it a brewery? No it's a brewery bar! or Yes! It's a brewery & a bar! whatever answer you prefer...

So, after a wander around downtown Mornington, we hopped in the car to the industrial estate that is home to MP Brew. It is worth the drive as I always love to see the breweries and get a feel for them as it is a little window into the operation and their aim - is it a tiny brewery like Batch  Brewery (Inner West Sydney) that is deliberately small and community focused? Or is it like Little Creatures (Fremantle, WA) which was always aiming to get good beer onto the big stage. Well MP Brew seems to be half way - it is still a small operation, but with potential to expand and be more and more as its presence expands (you can start to slowly find MP in Sydney for example).    

The Witbier

The wifey loved the Witbier as it was a true Belgian style beer - light body, little to no head, with a fruity and spicy combination that makes it an easy beer to drink. Interestingly, the local breweries here seem to be quite traditional in the beers - i.e. if it is a traditional style beer, they breweries are true to the tradition; unlike Sydney-sider / Melburnian brewers who experiment with everything. The acid test for the wife when drinking beer is, "would you order it again or would you go for a coopers?" and the answer was she would happily order this again...

The Sorachi

So while MP were true on the witbier, they really experimented with the Sorachi, a "Japanese hopped Kolsch". So as you can see, this is a light bodied beer, with a short head that stayed. It seems a number of brewers around the world is experimenting with Sorachi Ace Hop, and I can see why, it seems to give it a lighter and more lemony flavour to a kolsch, but I can't help think they were trying to make it like a light saison with the sweet upfront and refreshing fruit smells unfront that dies of to a slightly bitter finish. While I enjoyed it, and thought it was interesting to try, I can't say I hugely too bothered about it as a beer. Don't get me wrong, I will happily drink it, and I really wanted to try it as it is a new hop for me, it's just I am not sure what they were really going for here with the beer style.

While we drank we eat many good pizzas, and talked about our long weekend away, and I have to say it was the perfect relaxed atmosphere for a group of friends to chat away, hassle free. Good wood fire oven pizzas and brewery bars seems to be a winning combination, while all these carbs may not be ideal for the ladies (it was only them that raised this point), it sure worked for me... 

Before we all departed, the non drivers had one more beer and it had to be the MP Pale to finish the weekend off - an American Pale Ale which is just a cracker, really easy drinking beer, fruit driven upfront with a solid head and just enough malt backing up the beer to make it a great balanced beer. I am a little over Pale Ales, as the aussie market is flooded with them, but when you have a great Pale, you remember why the market is full of them, as it is just a great beer style. I reckon MP Brews Pale is a beer that can 'do the cross over to mainstream' as it is so well balanced. Don't be shocked if you see this appearing more and more in your local...

Overall, a great brewery to hang out with friends, and definitely to have a few MP Pales over a pizza and laughs... 

Mornington peninsula, the brewery tour!

Well everyone knows that Mornington Peninsula is a great area for a few days R&R and also a great place for wine tasting - what many may not know is that it also has a few great micro/breweries too! 

A group of us went for a long weekend and after a day of wine tasting, the boys would launch into a few beers to have a break from wine and it was a great pleasure buying local craft beer here! 

The main three are Hix, Red Hill and Mornington Peninsula Brewery. I think it would be tough to work out which was the best, but I think the overall favourite beer of the group was the Red Hill Pilsner - it was a little sweet, offset with a bit of malt and hops and a really light body, but had a little more flavour than a number of pilsners so it was absolutely perfect in between or after drinking wine.  

The Hix Pilsner was a perfect classic Pilsner, like you would find in central and eastern Europe - the guys haven't tried to make it into some ale / pilsner mix that you often find a lot of aussie breweries do, so if you a fan of classic Pilsener, check it out! The fact that that they call it "Pilsener" as the Czechs do is really all you need to know to gauge how it tastes!

The Red Hill Wheat Beer will be a  love it or hate it beer for Aussies - wheat beers over hear are more Witbiers in my opinion, which marries in with the pale ale tastes that Australia loves. I was a real fan of this beer - the fruit tastes and sweet fruit smell is lovely, it has that nice cloudy heavy body that I like in a wheat beer but the taste is more like a Hefewizen; i.e. unfiltered, solid with a hint of bitterness and a bit more lighter than say a Witbier.

Red Hill

Wheat cloudy beer

I have a separate review of MP Brew as we also managed to head along to the brewery for beer and pizza, but as a general note - the APA was amazeballs... 

4 pines

Is it a Microbrewery or is it a bar selling beer from a micro brewery? That is the question... Especially that 'big brother' has opened in Brookvale - http://4pinesbeer.com.au/venue/brookvale-brewery/ 

I suppose the question you will ask is, "what's the difference?" Well, I am glad you ask... The wife and I met some friends here on a Saturday night, and it was rammed! There was no way I could ask the bar staff questions, or really get a feel of the brewery part of 4 Pines, and I suppose that's the point of a brewery bar for me - it is the peeping window into the breweries philosophy and I think it is something that Batch Brewery really gets. 

4 Pines is a Micro Brewery apparently, and if you look close, there are 4 pine trees in the sign as well

The 4 Pines bar, right at Manly Wharf

Considering its small size, it is amazing it manages to fit in a brewery as well!

Pints of 4 Pines Pale Ale

As for the beer, the Pale Ale is a more golden colour, with a smooth taste and a slightly malty finish. The fruit masks the malt so the after taste is a bit of a surprise! It is a really good session beer. It was a lot better than I was expecting - Pale Ales seem to be the "anything beer" and as a result there are a lot of basic Pale Ales in the market in my opinion.

The Kolsch is full of wheat with little head and light body, just as it is traditionally made but for me, the first taste was a little too sweet for me (although it dried out on the finish). 

They had a Rye Ale as a cellar door tap and I tried to order a pint, but the waitress let me know the alcohol content - 8.4% so that was given a wide berth; on a night out, anything at 6%+ is out the window for me. I had a taster and it was nice, but as you would expect, you can really smell the alcohol on it. I was gutted as I really do like a Rye Ale to be honest, a really nice trend in the Craft Beer scene at the moment... 

The two girls had wine, and they both liked the range on offer, so it's a great place to go with friends or couples, opposed to a brew bar like the Lord Nelson, which lets be honest here, is a great pub for the boys...

So to sum it up, great bar to meet friends, but maybe go to the Brookvale site to get a flavour of the brewery opposed to this brew bar. If you local bottleshop has the Pale Ale, it's definitely worth a go...

Community Beer - grow your own beer!

Grow your own beer...

So I have a good friend in Walthamstow, North London UK and he was telling me about a community project that he is part of- to grown your own beer - you grow the hops and then it is collected, brewed and then you are given beer back! Here is some info -

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/11/how-to-produce-your-own-community-beer 

http://cultivatewf.org/walthamstow-beer-needs-you/ 

What an amazing idea, as it is community based and gets to the heart of local, good craft beer.

While obviously home brewing would be amazing, this is a great first step for many to get involved in!

So Sydney, who's up for reproducing this over here??

Bridge Road Brewery, Beechworth Victoria

So I hope everyones Easter was awesome, we had an amazing time in and around Beechworth in Victoria, home to great little vineyards, farms and gourmet foods and of course Bridge Road Brewery! 

This is a cracking brewhouse that pumps out a huge array of beers of high quality! The beers are categorised for people that may not be too familiar with craft beers, and the volume of weird and wonderful styles of beers being produced these days, making it a great way for people to say what they like in a beer and then being able to use the menu to pick something.

Thats a lot of beers, but did you notice the IPA - you can choose your own hop as well!! Awesome!

While the brewery did have a Weizen and a Saison, what was on offer was a large array of IPAs and Pale Ales - I get the feeling that the brewers were trying to say, "lets take pale ales / IPAs and have fun playing about with them" whereas places like Batch Brewery (NSW) is taking the opposite approach - lots of small batches of a huge amount of styles of beer, i.e. "lets try as many new styles of beers as possible". There is no right or wrong, better or worse, it is just interesting to see how brewers are developing their approach.     

Lots of staff, lots of seats, inside and out, lots of beer, a decent wine list and great pizzas. Yip sounds like it's a place that will succeed!

It was a cool night when we went, so we wandered in and hunkered down for a night of pizza and beer (although the wife did move onto a local wine). The pizzas were great, and helped make a great casual night out. 

As for the beers, the wifey enjoyed the Weizen, it was a big wheat style beer! With a big body on it which was great for a cool night. 

The Fat man, red suit, big sack was a classic American style beer - sweet to start with, light to medium body with refreshing malt finishes. If you an American living in Aus, this is the sort of beer you will miss when you head to your local. I think the closest style of beers would come from Matilda Bay, brewed in Port Melbourne.  

The new age pilsner was good. It's a pilsner, you happily drink it - it is just not going to be the most memorable beer in your life [but many times in life, that's the sort of beer you want!]

The Single hop IPA was the star, I had the galaxy which was excellent. It had this lovely citrus hoppy flavour upfront, medium to full bodied and a ever so slight malty / stone fruit bitterness aftertaste to remind you of what you just drank. Great beer (I tasted the Summer, which was also really nice, but maybe a bit too sweet for me - it starts a bit like a cider and then finishes like a malty IPA!)

Single hop IPA (Galaxy) in front, and the Weizen in the back...

New age pilsner.

The best beer name in the world.

While most people won't find their way to Beechworth (but you should; its a great place) there is a chance that your local bottlo will stock a Bridge Road Brewery beer. Based on our night here, I would recommend you give it a try - your more usual styles of Ale, but brewed slightly differently and made really well...

Murray's Fred IPA

Hi Fred, my name is Neil, I think we are going to be seeing a lot of each other...

EVERYONE, NEWS JUST IN, I think I have a new favourite IPA. I bought a long neck of this as a last minute addition in the bottlo and thank goodness I did!

What a beer! So what I love about it is that it is so moorish- i.e. there are a numbers of flavours to this beer but none are too strong so you keep wanting more and more... It's a great half way house between a strong IPA and a session beer - the light flavours, medium body and gentle finish offers an after taste of citrusy hops and light fruit flavours!

Beer and sport, thats a combination that works!

Golden Bavarian wheat beer style colour

I went to the bottle shop during the weekend and bought another long neck to confirm my views, as boldly claiming a new IPA champion is a big thing, and I have to say, it totally is the IPA King. Medium body, light sweet fruity upfront taste is balanced with a bitter finish to give the offset and balance the beer needs. I think the saison phase that Australia went through this summer has made brewers alter their IPAs - less about the "how much hops can i fit into a beer" to "how can I big up the fruity hops and offset it to give a balanced beer". 

Honestly guys and girls, demand this beer in your bottlo and in your local, it's a goody... 

 

Two metre tall - Cleansing Ale

So I bought this beer on way home from local bottlo to celebrate the end of the working week (nothing feels a better way to celebrate the end of the week than buying a new beer to try!). What caught my eye was the name "Cleansing Ale" - I loved the idea of it; beers these days are being made full of hops or brewers are trying weird and wonderful styles like a summer farmhouse ale etc I thought this could be a winner. I suppose "cleansing" is in the eye of the beholder- to me this is another amazing 'full on' beer and leaves your tongue remembering the taste! That is maybe not what I was expecting to say about a cleansing ale! 

So what about the beer? 

The first thing you note is the smell! The smell reminds me of a Belgian beer like a Belle Vue, really strong and really fruity / florally. The next thing you notice as you pout is the colour: it has such a bright, vibrant colour. A quick read online tells me the beer is made with wild yeast, so it is no surprise that the colour and smell is so unique.

Yip, the beer is that bright

Every time I poured this beer it produced a big head, but it settled quickly.

As for the taste: really interesting fruit flavours but not as fruity as the nose suggests - I think it is the wild yeast that gives bigger smells. The body of this beer definitely has sour flavours through it and there is some big hops, malts and a little bit of sweetness on the after taste to ensure the sourness doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth.

I had a wee look on their website; it says the beer needs 3-4 months in the bottle for the characteristics to start to fade to give it a lighter flavour. Well both my beers had 4 months on them and I ain't too sure they had faded!

Really interesting bottle, label and brewing history notes

How cool is that message! 

I would love to met the brewer and ask about the name / adverstising - I find it confusing, it isn't a beer that will cleanse the palate, and they don't make it obvious that it is a wild yeast beer so the colour, sourness and smell is meant to be that way and I would love to know why they don't promote it for what it is!  

Is it an absolutely awesome beer? Sure is!

Is it a cleansing ale? Hmm, not to me- drinking a few of this beer will make me switch to a cleansing ale! 
But if you can get hold of this beer, you definitely need to pick up a few! Especially if you like wild yeast beers and things like Belgian Beers and French Saisons. 

A conversation about Knappstein Reserve Lager

So a friend asked if I had tried Knappstein Reserve Lager yet, and while I knew of it, I hadn't tried it before. So at the weekend, on a trip to the Boathouse in Palm Beach, I spotted it on the beer list so ordered one. Unknown to me, my friend had just picked up a four pack and I thought I would share our thoughts on the beer as we emailed each other about it!!!...

It's a hot day, and sitting at the Boathouse in Palm Beach with this beer is a good thing...

Well firstly, I am slightly surprised it is advertised as a Lager, especially a Bavarian Style Lager - this is more like a pale ale lager mix to me - and my friend shared the view that it is isn't what you would describe as a typical lager. 

The first thing we said to each other about the beer was the smell - it has a distinct white wine smell over a beer - hardly surprising considering it is Knappstien! 

The beer itself was again, like the smell, really interesting (think peaches etc) and has a smooth light body which makes it a great hot weather drink. The beer offered little head (me and my friend sniggered like little boys at this comment but you know what I mean - the head disappeared quick style on this lager) and it left a residual taste of a mix of white wine and an ever so slight hoppy bitterness. While I stopped at one of these as I enjoyed it, but didn't love it, my friend went for a second as he was raving about it. After the second, he slightly altered his view - while he liked it, he said two was the max he could have in a night. 

Maybe this change of view sums up the beer - an unusual lager that sums up all that is awesome about craft beer - a 'thirst' by beer makers to make beers that are different and make the beer part of the conversation opposed to being something to sip while having a conversation. I am sure this is a beer that many will love and many, like me, love to have tried and tasted... 

Keg and Brew

I was slightly unsure of going to this place; I was worried it would be a 'fad' place - like so many places that get the "latest popular magazine/website favourite place tag" it is often all PR and not a lot of substance. Never-the-less, I met up with a friend mid week and I have to say this place is AMAZING. I actually think it might become my new number one beer venue!

There are a lot of taps in this place!

AND even more taps here...

When you walk in to this place, you get dazed staring at all the taps behind the bar that you don't even notice the animals on the wall!!

It's a bison!

Theres a moose loose around this hoose! Hehehe

This is such an easy place to get to from Central Station, if you are looking for somewhere with easy transport links -  this place is a solid choice. The sheer volume of beer on tap made me realise how many beers there are to try and blog about! Speaking to the bar staff they also say that the beers often change which is excellent and the number of Australian States and countries from around the world represented made it a bit of Craft Beer World Cup... 

As you can see, I am loving this place and have actually been back since I took the photos etc and I can promise you it is just a great pub (I don't often go to the same pub in quick succession... I like to keep trying new places as often as possible).  

So the first beer I tried was their 'Beer of the Week' - Young Cub from Arctic Fox. It looks like a Coopers Green and it also reminds me of a flatter version of it too. It has very gentle flavours and aromas (there are some citrus smells and a little hint of wheat) which makes it a really easy beer to drink and I think will do well with people new to craft beer, people that normally drink wine and also people stuck somewhere on a really humid day and needing a beer to refresh.

It is a really cloudy beer like a Coopers Green...

I then moved onto the Arctic Fox Rye Ale. I have to say, I am loving the whole Rye Ale trend going on at the moment, this is a beautiful beer. Like a good Rye Ale, this beer has a little bit of bitterness in the aftertaste with strong sweet rye notes upfront. It is medium bodied and dark golden in colour. I hadn't heard of Arctic Fox before, but I will look out for it in the future. 

Arctic Fox Rye Ale

A then finished the night with Bridge Road Pale Ale. I am a fan of Bridge Road and I like to finish a mid week beer session with beers that isn't hop overloaded, as I don't want to wake up the next morning tasting hops... The Bridge Road is a lighter Pale Ale with a light golden colour and a head that keeps. It is a really smooth tasting beer with a light hops taste upfront that gently dies away. It is a perfect finishing beer to a great night catching up with a friend in one of my new favourite pubs...

Bridge Road Pale Ale

Well, I am really glad I tried KB, what a great pub that I will just keep coming back to... 

The outside has kept its traditional routes...

Lord Raglan

So I have a list of craft breweries and craft pubs I want to try out and I found out that Shenanigans were doing the tap takeover at the Lord Raglan I realised that I could kill two birds with one stone! So off the wife popped down on a mid Sunday arvo to Redfern and spent a few hours in the pub! 

The Rocks Brewing Company has done a great job in restoring it - it looks amazing! The pop art graffitti on the walls is very cool, almost a bit of a Newtown influence and the retro pin ball machines look like they were stolen out the set of Greece the movie... a cool touch! The bar area is big to allow for all the tabs they have - the full set of the Rocks Brewing range, Yulli and Riverview were all on show as was Shenanigans - like I said, they have a lot of beers of tap! 

The wife was driving so she could only have one drink but she was impressed that the staff not only knew their craft beer, but also the wines as well and picked a really great chardonnay - often in these craft beer places, the wine list isn't too hot and the staff couldn't tell you too much about it so this place got a big tick from her as well (guys should note this point).  

Pin Ball anyone?

Thats a big bar area... that means lots of taps!

B E E R? at a bar? awesome!

So onto Shenanigans, so I tried the Red Sky first, as it seemed to be getting a few mentions in craft beer sites but it wasn't really for me. The upfront flavours were great, you can tell the american influence but the really flowery taste at the end wasn't jumping out at me (it has flavours of jasmine in it). Different yes, interesting yes, glad I tried it? yes. Will I order another one, probably not. But I am sure many people will and love it. One of the reasons that the craft beer scene is so interesting is that you try new and weird and wonderful things, and this beer proves the craft beer scene is still firing innovative beers out into the marketplace. 

Then I moved onto the Wrong Turn, and this was both the wife's and my favourite beer - so it looks like a Belgian White Ale with its cloudy colour and the fruity, slightly bitter smell. But it must be the rye they add to it that takes a little of the fruitiness away from a Belgian White Ale and gives it a bit more punch and weight in the body. This really is a great beer in my eyes. Shenanigans has taken a common and popular style drink and give it a slight twist to reflect what they want from it - great job! 

After this I moved onto the Winston - probably their most common known beer. It is an American Pale Ale - a big, fuller, flatter, full of hops beer that is getting quite a common style of beer in Sydney. It's your go to beer, great to drink and the Winston is no different. I would say that it isn't a session style beer as I think after a few of these you would have a mouth of hops but a few after work or after dinner and you would be a happy person.   

Shenanigans tap takeover

A Wrong Turn leads to a chardonnay which leads to some food....

Overall, the Lord Reglan is a great asset for Redfern / Alexandria and a great pub that has some cool games, graffitti art and a huge array of beers on tap. Shenanigans is a great brewery and the Wrong Turn was my favourite - get along to the Lord Reglan and enjoy their beers!

Stone and wood

So one of the reasons I was excited to head up to Byron Bay was to enjoy the weather, surf and drinking Stone and Wood, especially drinking Stone and Wood, especially drinking Stone and Wood in their Brewery, especially drinking Stone and Wood on the beach, especially dri... OK, you get what I am trying to say here! 

But, a quick tweet to find out opening times I was shocked and horrified (I am being a bit dramatic here...) to find out they don't have a brewery bar and tours are just during the day. So my immediate thought was - "well how am I going to blog about Stone and Wood then?" So over the course of the weekend, I drank the various Stone and Wood beers in pubs or back at our cabin. So below is a few pictures! 

Drinking Garden Ale in the Railway Pub

A Pacific Ale at the Beach Hotel

Drinking Stone and Wood Lager back at the cabin

Drinking the Garden Ale at Great Northern Hotel. 

You find Stone & Wood everywhere up in Byron!! Awesome.

So the Pacific Ale is just a great beer, and up in the humidity, by the beach when you are hot and sweaty, the Pacific Ale becomes even better. Its light body and upfront aromas of fruits and passionfruit just make this such a refreshing beer! 

The lager is really full of flavour - not like your usual lagers, and if it is possible, the lager has more 'weight to it' than the Pacific Ale. They advertise this beer as German style and I get it and would agree. A good european style lager. My only slight 'reservedness' on this is, well if you want a great German Beer, then drink a German one - what I love about the craft scene here in Aus is that it creates new styles or blends styles or does deviations on styles and this is just a good German style lager.

I tried the Jasper Ale but it was too hot for it, so I will talk about it in a winter blog - by the fire, up in the Blue Mountains and this beer would be awesome, in summer on the beach, it didn't work for me. 

And onto my favourite - the Garden Ale. I haven't really come across it down in Sydney, and I have to say, if you see it on the list - you have to try it. It was fantastic! It is a low alcohol beer, which means you can just smash em, there is malts in there, but no bitter finish. You get a "wiff" of fruit, but nothing too much - you get a little of everything, with a medium body which makes it a great beer to drink after a few stronger crafties like a Belgian White Ale etc... 

So, gutted that I couldn't see the guys brewing it and having a few in their [non existent] brewery bar, but it is amazing that everywhere stocks these up in Byron, and if it is hot - go for a Pacific Ale, if it winter, tell me what the Jasper Ale is like, and if you see the Garden Ale, grab it in the pub before it runs out... 

Bryon Bay Brewery

So when you think of Byron Bay breweries, you naturally think of Stone & Wood but to our pleasant surprise, we found the Byron Bay Brewery on the way to our hotel (the wife and I had a weekend up in Bryon; great spot!).  

This place was an arts factory, then a rock and roll venue and now a cinema and brewery bar - it is one massive bar! It is slightly outside of town with a free shuttle bus to cart you from the town to the place and there is plenty of parking outside. 

The band were playing outside (if the weather is bad they move inside) in the beer garden with a steady flow of people coming through the back as this is drop off point for the shuttle bus.

Yes thats a ukulele, amazing... 

The size of the place gives it quite an American feel to it and when it's quiet, this place will really struggle with an atmosphere and it's an area the Brewery can improve on [in my opinion] - when you go to places like Bentspoke in Canberra or other brew houses in Sydney or the Hunter Valley the thing that really jumps out at you is "we love making beer" and, to be honest, the Byron Brewery Bar didn't really give that vibe off. It felt sort of felt fake and a bit "generic formula for a large brew house" if that makes sense?  

as you walk in you see the brewing process

it's a big place!

As for the beers, they have five on tap and a special beer. The special when we were there was the Special Longtime IPA which sounded awesome but it had run out by the time we made it to the brewery unfortunately. 

I started with the pale ale and it was a beer anyone could happily drink, very easy and smooth.

The pale ale

The dark lager is a bit like vegemite - you will love it or hate it - you get a dark coloured lager, with toffee English ale flavours and smells upfront but it finishes slightly sweet like a pilsner lager. For me, it is was hot and sweaty when I drank it and it was the wrong type of beer to drink in the heat - come winter, I would give it another go. 

I finished with the "Premium Ale" - such a unique beer! It tastes like a full flavoured lager with more natural carbonation and a creamy finish - quite unique and really quite enjoyable! I think the place deserves a lot of credit for coming up with a few unique tasting beers, so well done!

If they could only make the place smaller, or split it up into different rooms etc, this would be a great place to hangout and enjoy a few beers, never-the-less, sitting in the beer garden in the back, listening to the band play here is an enjoyable night out...