Special release from Bridge Road

There aren't too many beers that I would recommend trying sight unseen and untasted, but Ben Krause from Bridge Road Brewers in Beechworth is one of my favourite brewers in Australia. Not just because I enjoy his beers, but I love his approach to brewing. For him consistency isn't the Great God of Brewing. He's adventurous and experiments and while his beers are usually pretty good, they are always interesting. Last year he made a  Chestnut Lager which was one of my favourite brews of the year. He has made two more batches and while, in my view at least, they haven't been quite as good, it's been fascinating to see how they've changed as he's played with hop regimes etc.

Information about his latest experiment below. As I said, can't say what it's like but I know it will be a great ride. If you order a couple of bottles, add a bottle of his Saison to your order. If this warm weather keeps up you may need to keep the Porter in the cellar until next year's cold weather and Ben's Saison is a great summer beer.

Oak Aged Imperial Porter - Special Release

Well its mid winter, and cold enough in Beechworth to freeze the balls o¬ your tethered goat (i know, it happened to mine last Thursday!). However, this weather is not bad for all, it does put a wry smile on the face of the local woodcutter. Apparently the winter is also good for brewing, don’t know why, but it is….. apparently.

The cold weather has also given us the inspiration to create a unique beer to celebrate our 4th birthday…. To do this we've created a bit of a monster, an oak aged imperial porter that has been dry hopped to the hilt and packaged into our big fancy 750ml bottles. Basically we took our best winter beer, the Robust Porter, and beefed it up. We also used red wine barrels that were sourced from Beechworth’s renowned Giaconda winery. The barrels were acquired through a dodgy deal with the winemaker’s son whilst dad was on holiday. I'm sure the cash we slipped him won’t go close to making up for the wine we had to pour down the drain to make the barrels empty for the beer!

After some aging in barrel the imperial porter was transferred back into stainless for a stint of dry hopping. What is dry hopping you ask? - We basically pack a given amount of dried hops; whole and pelletised, into a bag on a string, much like, well exactly like a giant tea bag. We dangle this big t-bag from a string in the tank and allow it to steep for about two weeks. This allows the aromatic hop characters to slowly nd their way into the brew. The resulting beer is an overdone porter with big roasty and chocolate layers which are overtaken by a mid pallet explosion of fruity hops. Each bottle, of which there are only 1000, has been numbered. This beer is drinking like a big bomber of a porter at the moment, but will also age fantastically and we encourage you to buy 2, drink one now and lay the other down for a year or two and allow it to mellow and develop.

Ben Kraus Bridge Road Brewers PO Box 525, or The Old Coach House, Ford St. Beechworth Victoria 3747. p. 03 57282703 e. info@bridgeroadbrewers.com.au w. bridgeroadbrewers.com.au

It's the End of the World....

I heard a rumour yesterday that has been confirmed today that Canadian brewer Unibroue is stopping all exports to concentrate on the North American market. Apparently the brewery is operating at full capacity and exporting is cutting into the local market. They aren't going to expand the brewery to cater for the exporting North American market is more profitable and provides quicker in sales.

It's devastating news for me. If I could only drink from one international brewery, it would be Unibroue and looking at their website I realise that I may have inadvertently stolen one of my favourite lines from them in "Drink Less. Drink Better."

Apart from enjoying them myself, I invariably use at least one Unibroue beer in the beer and food matching classes that I host, especially the Beer Appreciation for Women classes.  Serving up a glass of La Fin du Monde to a sceptical non-beer drinker was inevitably a delight. Watching someone with a prejudice against beer, believing that every beer tastes like a bland lager or Guinness try their Belgian-inspired strong golden ale is priceless. As the aromas and the flavour hit, you can almost see them visibly confused and try and make sense of what they're tasting. I don't know how many times I have heard, "but it doesn't taste like beer" which provides one of those job-affirming feel good moments in beer educating. Unfortunately, I hear just as often, "gee, I like that...but I couldn't drink a lot of it" as if I was offering them a 6-pack to drink after the mowing - which shows another unfortunate perception of beer.

There are hundreds of other breweries, obviously but scrolling through their list of beers and knowing that they aren't going to be easily available - if at all - is like hearing that your favourite band has broken up...only Unibroue hasn't gone through a drug-inspired, experimental, visit India phase first.

I need a beer to cry into.