Water & Hops & Malt & Yeast

Good Beer Week is a series of events held in Melbourne to celebrate and promote craft beer. In 2012, around 100 events were held across the city in all manner of venues. We made the trip to Melbourne to write a little about what we found.

It could be thought that ants from the Congo are amongst the most efficient creatures at consuming an entire animal – a single colony can reduce a full carcass to a clean pile of bones overnight. As impressive as that may seem, we got the distinct impression that a room full of beer lovers at Josie Bones could do the same job in just a few hours.

The Melbourne restaurant is famous for its ‘nose-to-tail’ attitude towards cooking, where every part of an animal is used. Indeed, they seem to revel in the odds and offcuts that many others won’t, or at least don’t, touch. There is therefore a necessity to enter this place fully prepared to consume tongues, trotters, skin, cheeks, testicles or whatever else may be put in front of you. In this environment, you are reminded of meat’s importance every time you look towards the bar and are confronted by a towering image of a stripped carcass posing like a life drawing model. If you’re an easily offended vegetarian, it may not be the place for you – the lust for meat is inescapable. But if you do have a carnivorous side, it’s a different story. And if you’re partial to a quality beer to wash down your protein hit, you may well find this place a slightly perverse version of heaven.

Quite simply, the beer list is where Josie Bones excels most. There are probably only a handful of dining venues in Australia which can boast such a comprehensive range. In physical terms, the beer list is an imposing tome, requiring what seems like half a ream of A4 paper to cover the domestic and international beer selections on offer.

This unique combination means it is a place held in some high regard. As the Holy Land is to religious types, so is Josie Bones to craft beer and food lovers. From far and wide they come on their pilgrimage, to drink the nectar of the gods and partake of the sacrificial lamb. So when Josie Bones organised a lunch to help celebrate Good Beer Week, you got the distinct impression that it would be something quite special. Six courses of food and beer. Six rounds of gastronomic delight.

And there were some extra surprises thrown in for guests that day. On this unique occasion, a brewer or representative from each of the six breweries on show was present to speak to the audience and introduce their beer. This fine list of breweries consisted of Mornington Peninsula, Temple and HopDog BeerWorks from Australia, Nøgne Ø from Norway, Renaissance from New Zealand and Brooklyn Brewery from the USA. It is a testament to the appeal of Josie Bones, and of the Good Beer Week concept, that such an international cast could be assembled.

It would be fair to say that, despite any trepidation at what might appear on your plate, the menu on this particular occasion was not designed to stray too far into the realms of the unusual. Instead, it perhaps offered a peek into more mysterious territory without upsetting the balance between the strange and the familiar: duck neck sausage and hop smoked ox tongue were equal partners to quail and beef ribs. The food, of course, needed to be relatively bold and in your face (indeed, at Josie Bones there is always a chance the food may actually be part of a face), but it had to be complimentary to the beer.  This was Good Beer Week after all.

And as for the beer, none of it pulled any punches. All the brews selected for this lunch were packing something interesting or slightly out of the ordinary. They rode the spectrum from Temple’s Orange Blossom Honey induced Saison de Miele and HopDog BeerWorks’ Sticky Figgy Belgian Brown Ale  – where figs were used in the hop back – through to the impenetrable darkness of Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Ops Bourbon Barrel aged, and exceedingly rare, Imperial Stout.

The incremental shifts in flavour of both the food and beer did not leave you full in the manner of a buffet, but full in a way where you know you’ve had a sensory workout. There were excesses, for sure, but they were perhaps more of principle than sheer consumption. For example, there can be few greater representations of man’s pursuit of gluttony than being served an animal cooked inside another animal. This is especially true when those animals really have no business being together at all, as in this case where pork belly had been stuffed inside the mantle of a squid. Yet, here, fuelled by great beer and a tremendous sense of occasion, it seemed entirely apt.

To say the lunch was well received would be a huge understatement. For first time guests, it was truly a special experience. But even the bar staff, who are no strangers to witnessing this type of dining experience, were visibly impressed by the standards being set that day.

Josie Bones seems to be on the edge of two growing movements: craft beer and ‘extreme’ dining. There are many places you can go to get one or the other, but perhaps they have realised earlier than most that you should not be forced to choose. As their menu says: ‘Good beer deserves good food’.

After all else has passed, only the bones remain.
Josie’s bones are signed by brewers and displayed in the restaurant.

Cheers!
W&H&M&Y

Good Beer Week is a series of events held in Melbourne to celebrate and promote craft beer. In 2012, around 100 events were held across the city in all manner of venues. We made the trip to Melbourne for the first time to check out what was on offer and, if we survived, write a little about what we found along the way.

There is a battle raging in Melbourne this Good Beer Week. It is being played out in the manner of the enlightened preaching to the unconverted. It is between those that love and support craft beer and those that have not yet seen the light. And, for a few hours, The Botanical in Melbourne represented the frontline.

The event was labelled The Colonial Beer Dinner at The Botanical. The Colonial refers to the brewery from Western Australia’s Margaret River and The Botanical is a well-respected fine dining restaurant located opposite the Botanical Gardens in South Yarra. These two, from opposite sides of the continent, conspired to produce an evening that showcased and complimented the very best of their respective produce.

The audience in attendance was not your usual mix of craft beer enthusiasts. To be sure, The Botanical does stock craft beer, but its extensive wine and cocktail list, live jazz and general ambience lends itself towards a slightly different crowd. The bearded hipsters so synonymous with Melbourne’s burgeoning craft beer scene were few and far between. What you predominantly had was a room of people whose predications lay towards fine wine and fine dining. This was their scene. This was their turf. Beer was the stranger in the room.

To be able to hold court in such an environment over an entire evening requires a certain character. Fortunately, from beer’s perspective, Mal Secourable from Colonial Brewing Company was an ideal candidate: eloquent, articulate and knowledgeable. In a former life he was an academic and here he used those skills to channel his current craft. Through this narration, a roomful of relative novices was given a unique insight into some of the beauty and tradition that beer holds.

As is the case with so many craft beers, Colonial’s come with a back story - though theirs may be more uncommon than most. This is mainly due to a pilgrimage of sorts that Mal made to Germany, pursuing knowledge of the ancient regional beers of Köln and Düsseldorf. Investigation into the famed regions’ respective beer styles, Kölsch and Altbier, begged the question of what happened, or what was being drunk, before these beers - what was their legacy? This turned into a search for ‘forgotten’ beer styles – the ones that had only been kept alive in the literature of academics and beer geeks.

From this pursuit, Colonial added some quite distinct styles to their existing repertoire. Mumme, for example, has a case to be known as the first beer to use hops with some regularity and Keuterbier could be considered a prototype to Kölsch. With a range that now included the likes of Kölsch, Altbier, Mumme and Keuterbier, Colonial established a mini-theme of producing highly traditional German styles with a contemporary influence. The slight modern adjustment is a necessity in order to appeal to the palate of the modern drinker who would be unlikely to find much enjoyment in exact replicas of beverages consumed in the beer halls of medieval Europe. The end result is a range of beer that is not designed to blow your senses away, but rather to produce beers full of subtle delicacy and immaculately suited to pairing with food. And it was that food element which represented the point at which the worlds would collide.

Cheong Liew is the Executive Chef at The Botanical. He is the holder of an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) for his services to Australian gastronomy and has a reputation partly forged on a desire for freshness, quality and a desire to experiment with different cuisines to achieve perfect balance. The comparisons between his methods and those of Colonial are striking, so this was an opportunity to explore how the two could complement each other.

The ensuing feast was one of extraordinary range, medieval proportions and modern tastes. The table saw an array of cured cod, charcuterie, pomegranates, pig trotters, beetroot, saltwater duck, gourmet fries, mushrooms, pork, olives, capers, apples, cheese and so much more. And while nearly every part of your palate took a hit, nothing ever strayed too far from being perfectly complimentary to the beer. It was a lesson in subtlety, executed to perfection.

As the meal progressed, diners were encouraged to deconstruct the beer. They were asked to concentrate on particular elements and taste, for example, how a beer changes as it warms towards room temperature. Much success was gained in this method through comparisons to wine, where the parlance can be so easily transferred to describe a beer. But the discussion went beyond just the taste and got into the ingredients and the methods of production, stemming from comments from the audience such as “I’m a wine drinker but I don’t understand at all how a beer is made” or “does beer have a vintage like wine?”

That these types of questions were being asked is a positive sign. It shows that, given the right circumstances, in an environment where the aim is an overall experience rather than simply preaching, those who do not drink beer can be swayed to begin exploring it. By giving people a sound understanding of the methods and characters of craft beer, it reduces it from being a vast quaffing liquid into something that sits equally with the gourmet food and wine which society lavishes so much praise upon.

It would be untrue to say that every single person who entered The Botanical that evening left it as a craft beer convert. Despite all that is on offer, craft beer is never going to be for every person and that is a part of the battle that perhaps  cannot be won. But, at the very least, this event provided a wonderful opportunity to take beer to an audience that may otherwise have never shown an interest. What should be focused upon are those that did leave the building with a newfound respect for craft beer – that part of the battle represents a resounding victory. Much credit should be given to The Botanical, The Colonial and especially the non-beer drinkers for making this possible through an event full of class.

Cheers!
W&H&M&Y

New Zealanders will be familiar with the story. It’s the one about the beer brand that uses an iconic New Zealand bird as its logo and brand name. Ever since their first billboards went up, they’ve been the source of some controversy. At first glance, the advertising appears a bit of harmless fun - just short statements about something topical, often a bit controversial. But some have taken offence in the past, citing that already marginalised groups needn’t be the source of more mirth. If, as has happened, the advertising is deemed to have crossed the line and is making headlines for the wrong reasons, the company will usually offer an apology, remove the advertising and get on with planning the next campaign. Wash, rinse, repeat. From a business perspective, those billboards surely pay themselves off many times over, especially when they do generate controversy. For a relatively small outlay in a world cluttered with advertisers competing for your attention, the amount of exposure can be significant. Which is probably why it’s such a useful marketing tool. You could argue that the campaign in general has been so successful that the majority of the general population would know them for their advertising rather than the beer.

But that’s enough about Tui.

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In many ways, coffee is a good indicator of the pathway craft beer could follow into the public consciousness. After all, it wasn’t so many years ago that Instant was the only option. But, gradually, the artisan roasters and baristas got their word and their product out to a public which had suddenly woken up to all the possibilities: out went Instant, in came Lattes, Long Blacks and Organic-Skinny-Soy-Mocha-Decaf-anything-you-want. Nowadays, if a cafe tried to offer Instant, the business would probably be broke within a week due to lack of custom and the owner hustled out of town by an angry caffeine-fuelled pitchfork-wielding mob. That a coffee bean excreted by a weasel can be served to you as an expensive beverage just proves how well these coffee folks have got it sorted.

There’s no reason that craft beer won’t follow the same trend, though perhaps without the involvement of the weasels. Then again, the boundaries are being pushed and you never know what strange flavours might come out of a hop that’s come out of something else? There’s a People’s Pint idea worth submitting - if only for the image of Temple Brewing trying to force-feed hops to a weasel. But, we’re digressing more than a little…

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If you’re anything like us, you’ll have had moments of sheer genius where you’d imagined the best beer the world would ever have known. Everything was a lesson in perfection; the colour alone would inspire artists for generations, the aroma would be so intense that you could smell it before you’d opened the bottle, and the taste - oh, the taste! It would be like the Gods of every religion had collaborated on one magical brew and just one sip would bring about peace on earth.

Then you realised you have no idea how to make a beer.

Well, fear not crazed inventor because your time has arrived! The People’s Pint is giving everyone the opportunity to submit a beer idea - any idea - the best of which will be commercially brewed by a proper craft brewer who knows how to turn your beery dreams into wonderful reality. Then it’ll be released during Good Beer Week where you’ll bask in your newfound glory.

So, if you’ve always thought there was room on the beer market for a Golden Ale infused with Gucci leather handbag, a Flanders Trippel l’escargot or a Strawberry Lager with live Goldfish swimming in it, now is your time to shine. The key thing to remember is that you are submitting an idea and not a recipe which, frankly, makes it a hell of a lot easier as you don’t have to do any of the hard work.

We should emphasise that this sort of opportunity almost never comes around for ordinary folk so you’d be advised to take the chance while you can. For more details, just click here.

Not that you’ll beat our Black Bean, Pepper & Soba noodle Stout though…

Cheers!
W&H&M&Y

Not many people get to meet their hero. And we don’t mean local heroes like ‘my dad’, false idols like Paris Hilton or even champions of political change like Lech Wałęsa. No, we’re talking about genuine superstars; the rock gods, Olympic champions and daredevil stuntmen of this world. They are the sorts of people who are in very short supply but very high demand. It’s often only the most serendipitous circumstance that allows a person to meet their hero. The scarcity of such meetings somehow makes it that much more significant when it does happen, especially as time goes by. We happened to have the pleasure of being in the midst of a hero meet-up on Wednesday, when one of Australia’s best craft brewers met one of the world’s most legendary pipeline surfers.

So the story goes, Murray Howe, as in the Murray of Murray’s Craft Brewing in Port Stephens, grew up on the beaches of Northern New South Wales where he rode the waves as a young goofy-footed grommet. For non-surfers, that just means he was into surfing, but he did it standing the other way around from most people. Kind of like being left-handed in a right-handed world. The price for being different was, naturally, that he was hassled mercilessly by his mates.

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“Is anybody driving tonight?” was the opening line to the February Ale Stars at the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst. “Not any more!” comes the reply. Probably a wise decision considering the way the evening played out. For those who’ve never been to an Ale Stars event, allow us to attempt briefly to explain what the fuss is about:

In terms of a concept, Ale Stars is a bit like a wine tasting, only far more interesting, interactive and with fewer pretentious wankers (note: this may seem harsh - especially to our wine-loving friends - but if you’ve ever worked in a cellar door, feel free to nod in approval). Each of the monthly events focuses on a particular theme and is accompanied by relevant beers for tasting. For example, the theme for January was ‘Saisons’ so the audience tasted interpretations of that beer style from Belgium, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Under the guidance of owner-MC’s Guy Greenstone or Steve Jeffares (like any limited-release beer, they’re subject to availability) the audience gets to digest a range of beers while Doc - the mastermind behind Doctor’s Orders Brewing - deconstructs the brews, giving a running history to the style and helpful expert analysis. Questions and comments from the audience are widely encouraged, whether it be “What strain of yeast do you think they use in this?” to “What’s a Hop?”. Nothing is out of bounds. And to prove it, there is The Bell: a weapon of power wielded by the audience and aimed at keeping the geeks in line with the rest. As we all know, enthusiasts of any subject are prone to getting carried away and tend to drop all sorts of technical terms into a conversation, terms the ordinary person would mistake for, say, part of the Swahili dialect. Thus, The Bell acts as a break in play and impromtu dictionary. Here is an example:

Doc: “So, the IBU’s on this beer are said to be around 75 and … “
Audience: DING! “What’s an IBU?”

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Somewhat disappointingly, our previous attempts at critical analysis showed that we clearly lack the ability to properly judge a beer. We put this down to the dulling of our senses caused by excessive consumption of a strange Japanese brew called ‘Master Superior’ during our University days which, thinking back, may not have even been manufactured for human consumption. Couple that with the ‘instant gratification’ conditioning of the internet where you don’t necessarily need to think about why you like something - you just ‘Like’ it and move on - and we’re approaching something bordering inept when it comes to reviews.

However, after the Local Taphouse Hottest 100 Australian Craft Beer list was announced on Australia Day, we figured the very least we could do was revisit those at the top of the pile to try and figure out why they did as well as they did. Our conclusions below are based entirely on well-established pillars of qualitative research including overheard conversations, hear-say and pub banter so are therefore entirely accurate. We also drank the beer.

1. Stone and Wood Brewing Co - Pacific Ale

Tastes like: Success

If nothing else, this beer being voted number one proves that you don’t have to be the most in-your-face, outrageous or borderline offensive beer to make an impact. Certainly that can help, but sometimes getting caught up in the pursuit of extreme tastes can make you forget how amazingly enjoyable beer can be. No chance with this. We’re so confident that everyone - even children - will love this beer that we’re actually considering writing to the Australian government demanding that they run this directly to all households through the water mains. And they have cool t-shirts. Really, what’s not to like?

In the distant future, when ultra-highly-hopped IPA’s have become passé and sour beers have become the new ‘thing’, people will still be drinking the Pacific Ale. Why? Because it’s awesome.

2. Little Creatures - Pale Ale

Tastes like: Quintessential ‘strayan craft beer

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If debate is healthy, then breweries on both sides of the Tasman should be breakdancing around the room. ‘What is a craft beer?’ is a question that has been doing the rounds on forums for months, yet shows absolutely no sign of being properly answered. But while that’s going on, we wondered: “Do beer drinkers actually care?” In a heated debate of our own, eventually stopped short by the ringing of the bell for ‘last call’, we diplomatically agreed that “some do, some don’t - it depends on the individual”.  So then, how much do you care for beer?

Classic women’s mag format: record the letter corresponding with your answer, tally them up and whatever you have the most of is an entirely accurate reflection of you. 

Q1: When planning a holiday, do you:

(a) go anywhere, as long as it’s a change of scene
(b) go anywhere, as long as the consumption of alcohol is legal
(c) travel mainly to countries famous for their beer
(d) plan around the seasonal releases from your favourite breweries

Q2: While travelling by plane you find that there is no craft beer offered in-flight. Do you:

(a) drink whatever beer is available
(b) drink something other than beer
(c) grumble throughout the flight and email the airline later to offer suggestions
(d) open one of the bottles you’ve smuggled through customs

Q3: When collecting souvenirs from a brewery tour, do you:

(a) take coasters
(b) buy some beer
(c) get a photo with the brewer
(d) steal small samples of yeast cultures for personal use

Q4: For Christmas, is your family more likely to get you:

(a) a novelty beer glass
(b) a limited edition bottle of beer
(c) a homebrew kit
(d) a hop plantation

Q5: When on a first date, you are impressed by:

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“… hops are as different to each other as a hot dog is to a sushi roll.”

For the budding beer enthusiast, the recently released Keller Door ‘Single Hop Series’ by 4 Pines Brewing Company in Sydney is a delightfully tasty opportunity to begin understanding the role hops play in flavouring a beer. (By the way, ‘Keller’ isn’t intimidating beer slang – it’s just the German word for ‘cellar’, as in ‘beer cellar’).

Basically, what the folks at 4 Pines have done is brew four beers to the same base recipe - an American Pale Ale style - except for the hops which are all of a different variety. The intention is to highlight the unique characteristics an individual hop variety can impart on a beer; essentially the fruity aromas and bitterness.

To use a simple example, it’s like adding different toppings to a pizza. Say you’re making four pizzas: you use the same dough base, the same tomato paste and the same cheese. But the next ingredient you add will change the overall flavour of the dish entirely. Do you add basil? A sprinkling of ham? Garlic? Some mushrooms perhaps? Whatever it might be, the topping you use will completely differentiate one pizza from the next. And so it is with hops and beer.

So, which hop topping to use? The most recent statistical information places the unofficial number of hop varieties in the world as ‘heaps’. Many brewing nations grow several of their own varieties of hops and new ones are continually being developed to meet consumer taste changes, as well as the direction brewers wish to take their craft. With so much choice out there, the Single Hop Series has opted for an international range: Amarillo from the USA, Galaxy from Australia, Aramis from France and Sorachi from Japan. In keeping with the purpose of the exercise, the wide geographical origins mean the hops are as different to each other as a hot dog is to a sushi roll.

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