Little Creatures Special Bitter

Just received from Little Creatures...for Brisbane readers, we'll speak to Matt Coorey at the Grand Central about getting hold of a keg soon...

Special Bitter Now on Tap!

Hi Hopheads,

Here at the brewery we have been very busy in the lead up to Christmas.  But not so busy we couldn't have a bit of fun...

A while back we held a little brewing competition between our brewing and packaging guys - each entrant was to craft their own beer for a blind judging.  The winner would have their brew replicated in the 10,000L brewhouse.  So after much tasting, debate and more tasting, the big trophy went to Cam Barron, Packaging Man, with his Special Bitter.

Special Bitter (sometimes referred to as "Best Bitter") is a traditional english style of beer with a moderate alcohol content and firm bitternes.  The beer was produced with a blend of Pale Ale, Crystal and Belgian Aromatic Malts.  It is a "single-hop" beer, produced with 100% East Kent Goldings (traditional UK hop) used in several additions early and late kettle, along with whirlpool.

The results is a bold beer with a golden hue - the hop aroma is more subtle and "english" (think of an old stately fellow), but the bitterness will give you a run for you money.  Nice little early summer session beer.....

The specs for the beer lovers:

Alcohol = 4.2% ABV

BU = 34.0 IBU

Colour = 22 EBC

It will be on tap at Little Creatures starting Friday 3rd December while supplies last.  And for those not living a stones throw from the brewery - we will have it on tap in select outlets around the country - check with your local.....

Scott Vincent on Big Helga

Judging by the number of searches for Big Helga that have landed at BeerMatt, there is a bit of interest in this beer. So, here's an interview with brewer Scott Vincent that we did on the 4BC Beer Show last Sunday night. [audio http://beermatt.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/01-scott-vincent-interview.mp3]

Big Helga

I'm at The Matilda Bay Garage in Dandenong for the launch of their new beer, Big Helga, a dry Munich-style lager for Oktoberfest.  Following the success of Fat Yak last year it will be interesting to see how it tastes and if it reverses the trend so far this summer from the national brewers for ultra-bland beers.

Here's the official release...tasting notes to follow as soon as I try it for myself...

Fall in love with Big Helga – just like we did all those years ago Meet Big Helga – once you’ve met her you will never forget her . . . that’s for sure.

Strong-bodied, well-rounded and full of character, a nod to the Munich Oktoberfest lagers, Big Helga is Matilda Bay’s newest brew in an on-going journey of discovery and exploration of the world’s greatest beer styles.

Making her debut in October (no surprises there) at some of the best bars across Australia, the story of Big Helga begins with a Matilda Bay brewer who took a break, went in search of inspiration and found it in Munich at Oktoberfest, where he fell in love with a lofty blonde beer maid named Helga. . . well that’s the story he told us on his return.

Helga, he said, through misty eyes and with a croaky voice, could carry 12 steins of beer while his mates struggled with two. Helga was large, certainly, but she had a heart of pure Munich gold. Helga, he reminisced, should come to Australia one day and meet his parents . . .

She never came. So he made a beer in her honour instead.

Big Helga is brewed with malted barley and noble hops. It is kettle-hopped and after being lovingly nurtured during fermentation, it is then dry-hopped producing a fruity and fresh aromatic lager.

Big Helga is now available nationally at bars and pubs – any place where the finest beers are sold. She is only on tap but one day, we hope, if the good drinkers of Australia love Helga like we do, she will be available in bottle as well . . . Helga in a bottle, almost too good to be true.

Big Helga is perfectly suited to BBQ gourmet sausages (German of course) but she also loves curries, tapas, the occasional Thai salad and has even been known to go off with some Mexican . . . she is nothing if not versatile.

Here’s to you Big Helga – welcome to Australia.

XXXX Summer Bright Lager

On Thursday Lion Nathan released their new summer beer, XXXX Bright Summer Lager. I'm late putting this up - it's taken me a while to work out how to approach it. I interviewed the brewers and marketer. I tried it. I meditated on it and engaged in all sorts of abstractions about the true nature of beer. I even wrote and deleted more than 2000 words about it for this post. But I came to realise that all you need to know about it has already been said by UK writer Tim Webb in an article he wrote in Beer Advocate magazine about his first interview with a major brewer:

My first interviewee, some 20 years ago, deserved my question,"if you are so proud of your brewing credentials, why do you produce all this characterless piss?"

And I deserved the answer--"Because my customers prefer me to do so."

New beer for Coopers

I like Coopers. I like their beer and I like the company. I respect the fact that when they say they have stayed true to their traditions, it's not just a well-crafted-but-largely-fictional back story to their brand. They make ales, good ales, and it has been a struggle for their business to do so as tastes and fashions have changed. The only reason they have been able to pursue the course that they have is by being a family company. True, they make a 'premium' lager and it's pretty good within the class in which it sits...but being the tallest pygmy in the tribe doesn't make you a giant. So I am eagerly awaiting the chance to taste their new Coopers 62 Pilsner, soft launched yesterday at the Balaklava Cup in South Australia. It's a pilsener-style beer and seems to fill the gap temporarily occupied by Grolsch in the Premium Beverages lineup (Premium Beverages is Coopers' distribution business which also distributes Budweiser - the InBev-Anheuser Busch one, not Budvar. For a brief period in late 2007 to early 2008 Premium Beverages also distributed Grolsch. This agreement lapsed in May 2008 after Grolsch was bought by SABMiller. SABMiller purchased NSW-based Bluetongue at around the same time.)

Coopers 1862 is set for a major launch in Sydney in the next week or so, followed by a national roll-out. Press release below (I include these seperately as a lot of media releases cross my desk and I can't stand to see it when they are published almost in their entirety uncredited - which happens all too often. See how often you see these words crop up over the next few weeks...PR Bingo).

Coopers 62 Pilsner

The Cooper Family introduces the perfectly individual pilsner

September 2009, Sydney: The Coopers Brewery has introduced the latest generation into their family of beers. Renowned for brewing award-winning ales and stouts since 1862, the Cooper Family has created Coopers 62, a full-flavour Pilsner made with the same uncompromising passion they are renowned for.

Glenn Cooper, Chairman and Marketing Director of Coopers, said “The launch of Coopers 62 Pilsner is an extremely exciting project and it’s our first step into this category. Coopers 62 Pilsner has been painstakingly perfected and tested, and offers Australians the option of drinking a home grown yet world class pilsner.”

Coopers 62 is the perfectly individual pilsner for the beer drinker who knows who they are and what quality tastes like. It is targeted towards a discerning and self-assured individual, who enjoys a quality premium domestic or imported lager.

Based on a classic Bohemian-style Pilsner, Coopers 62 has a straw-to-golden colour and dense, rich foam. Hopped, using a combination of traditional Saaz and Hersbrucker varieties, it has a medium-bodied palate and is generously fermented to produce a well-attenuated lager.

The hop flavours of Coopers 62 are perfectly balanced by an all-malt recipe of Australian-grown malted barley to finish with a residual sweetness, typical of this style of beer. The end result is a crisp, full-flavoured taste with a smooth, satisfying finish, brewed just for you.

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

The famous new (Australian brewed) beer of Russia is here

I received a sample of the new Baltika No. 3 this week. Baltika is the former Russian State-owned brewery, part of the Carlsberg Group since April 2008. It takes the unusual branding route of numbering its beers rather than giving them a more distinctive name or style reference. Baltika No.3 Classic is a pale Euro lager. It is brewed under licence at Independent Breweries Australia. While the label clearly indicates its local provenance, the marketing information is seems confused, referring to it as an international premium beer. I don’t mean to raise the import/brewed-under-licence debate (pasteurised lagers of this type don’t travel well; when brewed here the ingredients and techniques are high quality; given the processes it goes through, source water barely matters anymore – and if you enjoy it it really doesn’t matter where it comes from) but just because a brand is international, doesn’t make the beer international. No one would claim McDonalds an international dining experience. Still watch for it to join Stella, Becks, Heineken, Carlsberg and Kirin under “imported beers” on the beer list at any pub or restaurant that stocks it. So far as taste goes, it is as you would expect of a reasonable quality Euro lager of the type. Nicely balanced, if a little thin (“refreshing and sessionable” in the marketing speak) this is certainly a good beer to drink thoughtlessly around a barbeque or watching the footy. Though, with nothing particularly distinctive about it apart from its label, I’m not sure what would make it stand out on bottleshop shelves groaning under the weight of similar Euro-style lagers…but that is the skill of the marketers.

MEDIA RELEASE

The Famous Beer of Russia is here

Monday 22^nd June

Russia’s number one beer brand, Baltika, is being launched in Australia with the introduction of Baltika Classic 3.

A product of the new emerging Russia, Baltika is modern, sophisticated and internationally recognised on the global beer stage. Virtually unheard of in Australia, Baltika is the number one beer brand in Russia and has recently overtaken Heineken as the number one beer brand in Europe°. It is also the 15th most valuable beer brand globally*.

Baltika 3 Classic, a traditional European lager, is the most famous of the Baltika range of which there are ten. Baltika is the largest brewer in Eastern Europe and is headquartered in St Petersburg, Russia.

The decision to launch Baltika in Australia comes at an opportune time for the Russian beer company – the interest and subsequent sales in international premium beers continues to increase in the Australian market. Additionally, much of this growth is contingent upon new, interesting and clearly differentiated entrants for consumers to discover.

The launch will be supported by an investment of $200,000. A suite of marketing activity will include print and radio advertising, sponsorship of the Russian Film Festival in major cities, a national public relations campaign, seeding activity as well as trade engagement and point of sale materials.

Pale straw in colour, it has a creamy white head characteristic of lager style of beer. Gentle hop aromas are followed on the palate by pleasant malt characters and temperate bitterness. A refreshing and sessionable beer, it pairs well with spicy Asian foods, cuts through rich creamy pasta sauces or complements a quality steak, making it an incredibly versatile accompaniment to a variety of dishes.

Baltika 3 Classic is being produced under licence by Independent Breweries.

Baltika Classic 3 is being made under license by Independent Breweries and is available from select retailers and bars nationally. RRP $54.99 per case; $15.99 per 6 pack. ABV: 4.8% Standard drinks: 1.2 per 330 ml bottle.

° Canadean, Wisdom, October 2008, including WE & EU

*2008 Millward Brown Optimer Report

Crown Ambassador Reserve 2009

I haven’t had the chance to try it yet, but I am looking forward to grabbing a bottle of the 2009 Crown Ambassador Reserve to join last year’s vintage in my cellar (and one to drink now, of course). I’m not sure how well it does in reflecting its glory on the regular Crown, but the Ambassador Reserve is a pretty good beer and Fosters do a sensational job of packaging it to be the ideal gift.

I was fortunate to try a bottle of the 2009 Jacobsen no. 2 from Carlsberg, which at the time that I tried it was worth a shade under $500 a stubby after allowing for the conversion from its 2009 Kroner RRP. With his more forensic palate Ian Watson was reasonable impressed with the Jacobsen; me, I didn’t get it and saw it as a beer that was solely about making headlines as the World’s Most Expensive Beer. I generally defer to Ian's superior palate with these things, but beer is something that you have to be able to enjoy on some level. I couldn't with the Carlsberg. The Crown Ambassador Reserve on the other hand is a beer that you can enjoy and you can see where the value goes (including a fair whack into the packaging). I do look forward to trying it again after the recommended 5 years to see how it ages.

Walter and I spoke with brewer John Cozens on the Beer Show last Sunday night. You can hear what John said here: [audio http://beermatt.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/john-cozens-interview-26-july-2009.mp3]

If you want to see what sort of hyperbole the Fosters marketers and PRs have to say about it, the media release is below…watch to see how many times you see these words crop up unedited in the media over the next few weeks…

There’s a funny thing about when Fosters, or any other big brewery for that matter, create a good beer. Their regular advertising blurbs are generally so heavy into the brand speak and oversell for things that are pretty plain that they just have to go into overdrive when they do something that is special. As to how special something like “krausening” is to a beer, you can gauge that yourself given that Budweiser (the US one, not the Czech one) boast about krausening ‘The Great American Lager’.

Anyway, hyperbole or not, based on last year’s, I expect this to be a good beer and well worth its $70…will let you know when I try it.

Crown Ambassador Reserve provides limited-edition luxury with the arrival of its second annual vintage this August

The second vintage of Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager launches this August, in what has become an eagerly anticipated annual event amongst beer and fine living connoisseurs.

Crown Ambassador Reserve defines luxury beer in the Australian market, after pioneering the category when it was first launched in 2008. Testament to the evolving Australian palate and new appreciation for more refined products, 6,000 individually numbered, exquisitely packaged champagne-style bottles of the limited-edition 2009 vintage will be available at selected quality retailers, restaurants and bars.

Crown Ambassador Reserve is one of the most expensive Australian beers available. Befitting the liquid inside, the price tag reflects the handcrafted and personalised approach to brewing, quality ingredients and impeccable presentation, where each bottle is individually wax-sealed and numbered. Crown Ambassador Reserve is suited to beer, wine and fine food appreciators; those who enjoy life’s luxuries and for gifting to mark special occasions.

John Cozens, Crown Ambassador Reserve Master Brewer comments on the success of the first release, “The majority of the 2008 vintage sold out within weeks, much quicker than we anticipated, with requests coming in from around the world long after the brew had sold out. The handcrafted nature of Crown Ambassador Reserve, along with its ability to be cellared, its finite run, and the fact that it’s released only once a year, made this a very appealing beer and collector’s item.”

Cozens and a small team of dedicated brewers combined their expertise to brew the beer and oversee each step. Right from selecting and hand-picking the green Galaxy hops, which are a unique ingredient of the brew (these green Galaxy hops are added fresh to the kettle, a unique approach as most hops are added to the brew once dried and pelletted), to some of the more unusual and interesting brewing techniques, everything about the process is carefully planned and executed to ensure the end result is the finest quality.

Meticulous care is taken to ensure only the first runnings of the beer’s wort (pronounced wert) run off are used, these are the highest concentrated extraction of malt sugars, which provide a richer mouth-feel in the finished beer. Other techniques such as ‘krausening’, a longer in-tank maturation compared to regular beers (eight weeks before it’s bottled and then four weeks in bottle before release) and bottle conditioning all combine to create a wonderfully complex, unique and layered lager.

While the 2009 edition is instantly recognisable as Crown Ambassador Reserve, it has its own individual ‘vintage profile’ due to the addition of sweet crystallised malt and additional fresh Galaxy hops. The crystallised malt gives the lager a deeper amber hue and a more toffee-like malt character, while the extra fresh hops enhance the signature bitter-sweet hop notes.

Crown Ambassador Reserve is designed to mature and develop with age, similar to a fine wine. It should be enjoyed in a Shiraz glass to allow the flavours and aromas to be released and appreciated. If cellared correctly (at or below 15 degrees celsius) it can be kept for up to ten years. Cozens does however recommend patience will be best rewarded after around five years, when the flavours and aromas will have reached their peak.

Crown Ambassador Reserve was established to honour the heritage and traditions that underpin the original Crown Lager. In doing so, the same base ingredients are used in the brew, including the best malted barley, Crown Lager yeast strain and Pride of Ringwood hops.

Crown Lager has a longstanding history, which dates back 90 years. It was first brewed in 1919 then reserved only for visiting and travelling ambassadors and dignitaries until Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made her first visit to Australia as Queen in 1954 when it was released to the public. In a tribute to history, the number one bottle of the new 2009 vintage will be sent to The Queen on the 2nd of June, marking the anniversary of her coronation in 1953. It’s expected this bottle will join the number one bottle of the inaugural 2008 vintage in her royal cellars.

Crown Ambassador Reserve is best enjoyed alongside rich and decadent food flavours, including prime meats, strong flavoured vintage cheeses and winter root vegetables.

John Cozens explains that the 2009 vintage is superb; “The rich lager has a velvety smooth taste with

a warming sensation that fills the mouth. Sweet caramelised malt characters are balanced with

traces of vanilla and curry leaf; the aroma is of vibrant fresh fruit, with a hint of honey and

passionfruit undertones.” With excitement and anticipation high around the 2009 release, interested parties should act quickly to ensure they don’t miss the extremely exclusive and scarce second vintage.

Crown Ambassador Reserve 2009 is available in 750ml bottles at selected quality restaurants, bars and liquor stores throughout Australia from the 3rd August 2009, RRP is $69.99 per bottle. Each bottle contains 6 standard drinks and 10.2% ABV. For more information please visit:

www.crownbeverages.com.au or call 1800 007 282 for stockist information. Quantities are limited to 6,000 bottles only.

Coopers Vintage Ale

I finally had the opportunity to try the much anticipated (by me at any rate) 2008 Coopers Vintage Ale when Glenn Cooper came to town to launch it today.

I'm a big fan of the Coopers brand of limited edition release and generally buy a carton of each and do my best to keep enough stored to compare side by side with successive vintages. I find they generally mellow out over a year or two with the up front hop flavours easing up and the malt profile developing nicely. That said, it will be really interesting to see how the 2008 ages as this year's vintage doesn't have a very sharp hop flavour to begin with. We were cautioned that the beer was still a bit "new" and would improve with a little more aging. If that's correct, it is going to be a cracker as it was sensational as is. The hop character wasn't immediate, but provides a long, lingering bitterness that is well wrapped in the malt. The malt flavour is beautiful: Toffeeish and treacly with the signature Coopers yeast characters very prominent. I will have to find out the IBUs...they are probably quite high, but very well balanced by the malt.

I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend it.

Ian Watson and I have done lunches featuring the Vintage and Ian has matched it to a seared rib fillet with blue cheese butter...I can't wait to get my hands on some of this year's to give that a try again.

I know this post sounds a bit gushing, but it really was a great beer.

Coopers Vintage Ale 375ml 7.5% abv Limited release, available nationally

POSTSCRIPT(Three days later...): Just tried another 2008 Vintage Ale and was surprised to find that the bitterness was much more apparent the second time. It was interesting...and maybe due to the fact that this was drunk without food or other beers first. The first time I'd tried it I had been drinking Coopers Pale Ale and eating first. It's really interesting how perceived flavour are very much affected by what else you are eating and drinking andthis is a good example. It's still a great beer, just don't be surprised that the bitterness is a little more aggressive than I wrote above.

Rogue Ales

Brisbane quality beer importer Innspire will soon be landing its first shipment of beers from US microbrewer Rogue.

With America being fairly regarded as the engine room for craft beer development globally, coupled with some old fashioned hype and the scarcity of US craft beers in Australia, this is seen as huge news for the beer geek set. I was fortunate to sit down with Dave Andrews from Innspire recently and try a few, together with some of his other prospective imports, and I have to say, while they're good they're not GREAT.

Now, I haven't tried these beers in the US and beer is never at it's best after a undergoing a 11000 kilometre boat ride so my comments are given in that light, and maybe with US beers so hyped I was expecting the equivalent of liquid gold. But, as is often the case when you have such high expectations, I was a little underwhelmed. I sampled the American Amber Ale, Juniper Pale Ale and Mom Hefeweizen - nothing blew me away. I was even a little disappointed by the hefe - but then again I prefer my wheat beers Bavarian - big on banana and clove - rather than American, which I find a little plain.

I don't mean to burst any balloons with these comments - they are definitely good beers. If you see them in the shops come October give them a try. More than anything it will give you a good idea of how good our best craft brewers are. Just approach them as you would any other beer and don't get caught up in the excitement.

(All that said, while I was sampling the Rogues with Dave I also got to try a couple from Nøgne Ø, Norway's largest brewer of bottle conditioned ales and they were outstanding. Their Brown Ale (4.5% and their India Pale Ale 7.5%) were excellent beers, balanced, flavourful and incredibly moreish...in a responsible drinking way. These are beers that are definitely worth looking out for and worth a bit of a rave.)

New seasonal from Matilda Bay

Matilda Bay is about to release their new occasional reserve beer with the launch of Sebastian Reserve. The new release is in the style of Matilda Bay's earlier limited release vintages, MB21 and Grayston Reserve,  being a dunkelweizen. I didn't taste the MB21, but well enjoyed the Grayston Reserve and have a bottle saved from that release to sample side-by-side with the 2008.

The media material from Matilda Bay says Sebastian "is brewed with five different malts and two noble hops - Hersbrucker and Tettnang - and fermented using classic Redback yeast. It has distinctive chocolate and banana aromas followed by subtle hints of clove and spice. The palate is characterised by a smooth, round malty body with warming alcohol balanced by low bitterness from the German hops." (For those interested in the name of the beer, it was named after a three-year-old Indian Runner duck - you can read the full media release here)

The brewery suggests the beer will age well over a number of years, though I note a number of reviewers on Beeradvocate doubt its cellaring potential. I'll make up my mind when I try them side by side this weekend.

The rise of the seasonal and reserve beer is an exciting development for beer in Australia. In the US, seasonal release beers are the highest selling category of craft beer, even surpassing the mighty American Pale Ale. Their Brewers Association has even launched a website dedicated to seasonal beers.

As our own craft beer industry goes from strength to strength, seasonal and special releases are increasingly being offered, from the nationally available examples such as Sebastian Reserve and James Squires' Pepperberry Winter Ale, but also the smaller regional brewers such as the excellent Migration Dark Ale from Northern Rivers Brewery at Alstonville.

With our climate south east Queensland may not enjoy four seasons a year, but we are certainly enjoying some great seasonals...

Matilda Bay Sebastian Reserve Releasing 1 October 2008 750ml 6% abv Available nationally for a limited time. RRP 18.99 Available on draught at select venues in Qld (and Vic, NSW, WA and SA). Breakky Creek is one that I know will have it

Things of Stone & Wood

A quick heads up about a new brewery soon to open in Byron Bay. Stone & Wood is the latest venture by Brad Rogers who was Matilda Bay's head brewer until March this year. Brad has brewed at Sanctuary Cove and Fiji for CUB and this will be his first independent project. He is a top notch brewer who showed that craft brewing was possible even in a huge operation like Fosters.

He is joined by Ross Jurasich, also formerly of Matilda Bay where he was responsible for sales in Queensland, and also Jamie Cook from DIG Marketing in Melbourne - also with an impressive resume in beer and beer marketing. All-in-all it's a brewery start-up  with an impressive provenance.

The guys aren't giving too much away about the beers to expect as yet, but they are focusing on draught beer for on-premise sales. The new custom-built brewery is still on a ship headed for our shores, due for installation early September - so all going to plan Brad reckons we'll be able to try the beers by about late October.

I'll keep you posted, in the meantime you can keep up to date on the Stone & Wood blog here.

Incidentally, this is Byron Bay's only brewery. The Byron Bay Ale that you may have tried isn't brewed in Byron Bay, rather is a contract-brewed beer brewed at Australian Independent Brewers. Not that this should concern you. There's nothing wrong with contract-brewed beers, in fact there are some very good ones. The fact that they're not based in Byron Bay does concern some though.

Perhaps more confusing is that Byron Bay Ale is a lager...even winning a Bronze Medal at this year's Sydney Royal Show's beer competition in the Golden Lager class.

Anyway, enough digression from Stone & Wood...looking forward to trying some real Byron Bay beers soon.

Burleigh Hefeweizen

Burleigh Brewing Company, brewers of the Duke range, have just launched the first of their new Limited Release series. The Burleigh Hefeweizen is a German-style wheat beer. And, unlike the three regular beers in the Duke range, this one is going to be allowed to travel to bottle shops beyond 'Duke Land'.*

Already available at selected outlets on tap, look out for the packaged product to reach the shelves in mid-late August.

Hefeweizens are traditionally a summer beer and, according to the Burleigh Brewing crew, the Burleigh Hefeweizen is about as close as you will ever get to finding summer in a bottle.

Road tested at the recent International Brewers Day event in Brisbane, the hefeweizen was very well received and was one of the most popular of the night.

If you're having trouble getting your hands on a Burleigh Hefeweizen, contact the brewery at info@burleighbrewing.com or on 07 5593 6000 and they'll steer you in the right direction.

*Burleigh is a bit of an anomaly for a brewery of their size. They have set a limited distribution area for their beer with brewer Brennan Fielding wanting to ensure that his beer is delivered as fresh as possible. Brennan won't deliver further north than Hervey Bay or further south than Coffs Harbour and ensures that so long as it is in his control the beer stays refrigerated, not warehoused.