From dreams to mash tuns

In our first article Technical Editor Luke Scott gave an overview of what's involved in setting up a brewery. This edition Mike Spencer and Doug Broughton from Penborn Technical Services get down to brass tacks - or should that be copper kettles - looking at the equipment you will need.

When planning your dream brewery it's very easy for your mind to leap from the decision to do it through to imagining your first brew in bottles and kegs, skipping the serious planning and big decisions that need to be made before you hop your first kettle. In setting up a brewery there is one ingredient more important than the finest malt or the freshest hops and that is planning.

If you're determined to build your own brewery, some serious thought, a little bit of reality check and some good advice at the beginning of your project will save you a lot of time and money and ensure your brewery has the chance to go from dreams to reality - and onto success.

Sizing the Brewery

A brewery is categorised by either the amount of beer it produces per year or the size (brewlength) of each brew produced in its brewhouse. A brewhouse is classified by its brewlength measured in hectolitres - with 1 hectolitre equalling 100 litres. Typical brewhouse sizes are 6, 12, 25 and 50hL - or 600, 1,200 litres etc. Up to 10-million litres per year can be produced with a 50hL brewhouse at high gravity!

Assuming that you will be doing 4 brews a week, a 6hL plant will produce 2,400 litres of beer a week, which is the equivalent of 300 cartons of beer or 50 kegs. These simple calculations will give you a rough basis for your planning.

Before considering equipment, think about how much beer you will want to produce in the first year and your long-term volume targets. Consider the number of brews you are comfortable brewing per day and the cost of labour, as this will have an influence on the level of packaging automation.

The brewhouse is the most important component in the brewery and so investing in a good quality one really pays off. The brewhouse should be sized to meet your maximum envisaged yearly volume and
the maximum number of brews you wish to brew per day.

Consideration should be given to the number of vessels in the brewhouse (two, three, four or five) and the combination of vessels. For example, a small brewery might toss up between a mash/lauter tun
and kettle/whirlpool, or a mash/kettle/whirlpool and separate lauter tun for a two-vessel brewhouse.

Brewhouse suppliers will offer you a steam, gas-fired or electric brewhouse. Electricity is expensive and slow. Gas is common for brewhouses up to 15hL but be prepared for regular burner replacement and possible vessel damage. Steam is more expensive as you require a boiler and piping, but it provides better control for the brewer and therefore a better quality product. If you go with this option however, the steam will be useful elsewhere in your operation such as in sterilising kegs and other equipment.

If you are importing a brewhouse, make sure the supplier does a risk assessment for you, so that it complies with the relevant Australian standards. Simple issues such as the angle of stairs, kick-plates and other small details can easily be overlooked, and can be expensive to retrofit.

Water Treatment and Storage

Most micro-breweries in Australia do not treat the incoming water. However, if possible, the brewing liquor (water) should be filtered to remove chlorine and any particulate matter. A lot will depend on the quality of your water.

In breweries, water usage is measured as a ratio of water used (litres): beer brewed (litres) and can be anywhere from 15-plus for small breweries down to 2.1 litres for Fosters' Yatala Brewery.

Ensure your water supply pipeline is a decent diameter and that the flowrate and pressure are both adequate to meet your brewing requirements, otherwise you will require a water buffer storage tank to
be installed.

Fermentation and Storage

Traditionally, separate fermentation and storage vessels have been employed. In recent times, the introduction of unitanks has been the more cost-effective solution.

Vessel sizes are typically one, two, three or four-brew with 25 per cent headspace to allow for fob build-up during fermentation. A fermenter should be able to be filled in 24 hours.

Fermentation vessels and unitanks are jacketed to allow the refrigerant to cool the brew as required. Storage tanks can be jacketed or single-walled and kept in a coolroom.

In Australia, all pressure tanks must comply with the Australian design standard and be registered. Also ensure that pressure relief valves and anti-vacuum valves meet the appropriate standards.

Small breweries generally use hoses for beer transfer but if you can afford it, consider stainless steel pipework and ‘swing bends' as it will improve quality and reduce beer losses.

Consider a crash chiller to decrease the time taken to chill the beer down between fermentation and storage. The chiller can also be used to chill the beer to -1°C prior to filtration.

Packaging: Bottling and Kegging

Your selection of the most appropriate packaging equipment will be based on the amount to be packaged, the cost of labour, the quality you require and the funds you have available.

Bottling equipment in microbreweries ranges from a simple manual bottle filler up to an automated 20,000 bottle-per-hour bottling line, complete with depalletiser, bottle rinser/filler/crowner, labeller, basket-packer, case packer and palletiser.

Tunnel pasteurisers are generally not recommended these days as they are both energy and water hogs. Consideration should be given to sterile filtration or flash pasteurisation, and placing the filler in a cleanroom.

Ensure that your brewery supplier quotes accumulation tables as part of the conveyor work, it's important!

Be careful when choosing a keg machine. Some will not produce sterile kegs which means that your beer can become infected very quickly. A variety of keg machines are available, from simple one-head keg cleaning machines to automated multi-head keg cleaning and filling machines. If your brewery does not have steam, it is possible to clean and sterilise the kegs with a chemical. Remember that hoses are never sterile, so hard pipe your product tank to your keg machine and sterilise the whole circuit prior to filling kegs.

Utilities

Often not included in the quote for a brewery is the provision of utilities (steam generation and distribution, refrigeration, compressed air, utility water, CO2, electricity). To size the utilities correctly, detailed knowledge of the brewing, cellaring and packaging operations is required. Be careful accepting utilities manufactured overseas as they may not meet the Australian standards.

The compressed air system for a brewery should be dry and totally oil-free to avoid any contamination of the product with oil or oil odours.

Carbon dioxide can either be supplied in cylinders for smaller breweries or delivered in bulk to
a storage tank provided by the gas supplier.

The refrigeration plant needs to be flexible enough to meet future requirements and a skid-mounted system is the way to go. The boiler can also be a skid-mounted unit incorporating boiler water treatment equipment.

Electrical distribution is often overlooked when costing the brewery. Ensure the main supply is sized sufficiently to avoid costly modifications when new electrical loads are put on stream.

Brewery Design, Installation and Commissioning

The design and construction of a brewery is a specialist project and you would be wise to appoint a skilled project manager to oversee the design, installation and commissioning of the brewery, and the training. The cost of this service is typically 15 per cent of the project cost.

Also remember to allow for the tradesmen who will perform the physical, mechanical and electrical installation.

Other costs

Most equipment, apart from the utilities, will be sourced from overseas. Allowance should be made for Customs clearance, import duties and freight costs.

We would advise that you allow an additional amount as a contingency, ‘just in case ...'. This should be 10 per cent of the total cost of the project.

Second-hand equipment

Second-hand kit can be appealing from a purchase price perspective, but can quite often end up being more expensive than new kit when re-furbished, installed and commissioned. Take some advice from a brewery specialist before purchasing anything second-hand. There are always bargains to be had, but there are also lemons out there!

Equipment supplier selection

You are spending a lot of money. How do you choose the supplier(s) for your needs? Basically, you need to do a lot of research. Contact breweries who have used that supplier and find out what they think - would they use that supplier again? Does the supplier really understand what they are selling and do they have good technical knowledge and backup, or are they just salesmen? What is their background in breweries? Where is their equipment sourced and what is the cost and availability of spare parts? Does their equipment meet Australian standards?

Prices

With breweries, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Brewhouses range from $125,000 for a 6hL brewpub through to $250,000 for a 25hL brewery. This is for the brew house alone. Once you allow for the items above such as tanks, utilities, freight, design, installation and commissioning, you can triple the price for a working brewery. And then there's packaging! So, if you're serious about building a brewery, get some good advice.

Penborn Technical Services are brewers and brewery engineers. They design and construct breweries, supply equipment and offer a range of operations management and technical support services.
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Cowaramup Brewing Company

This issue Claire Parker, who together with husband Jeremy Good, founded the Cowaramup Brewery in October 2006, shares what they have learned.

We had been looking to start our own business, but what to do? Jeremy had long been a homebrewer with a passionfor beer and the ambition of owning his own pub, however the lifestyle and long hours with a young child did not have quite so much appeal to me.

However, at the end of 2001 when we married in the Margaret River region the guests included an American brewer and his wife who I had worked with at a microbrewery in Singapore. He speculated on the fantastic opportunity to build a microbrewery in such a beautiful and unique high tourism region. It seemed the perfect combination: Jeremy's passion of all things beer and my business degree. But how to put it into practice with very little money and even less experience?

This is what we have learned as a result of our experience.

Comprehensive Business Plan

The first thing we set out to do was a business plan - we had our business concept, a microbrewery with small café that would be family friendly. Next was to define the mission and values for the business.
The vision of CBC was to create a unique experience in relation to beer production and appreciation. Visitors would be able to learn about the brewing process and be educated in the appreciation of beer in much the same way wineries have succeeded in educating the general public in the appreciation of wine.
Our mission was to provide premium quality ales and lagers through the use of quality processes and ingredients. CBC would be committed to the Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516 and strive for excellence through innovation and quality at the same time respecting the rural environment in which it is located.

We also felt it was important to outline the core values which would determine the quality of our products and services, how we treat our staff and customers, the culture of our organisation and our environmental practices.

From there we felt it was important to conduct an overall market analysis looking at the tourism market in the south west region of WA, the beer market globally and in Australia, the microbrewing industry in Australia as well as current trends and changes in these markets. We looked at the various market segments as well as conducting a comprehensive analysis of our competitors.

As in most business plans we identified our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as well as what sort of business strategy would be used, a description of products and services proposed and a marketing and sales strategy for these products.

Finally the plan included an outline of the operation and company structure along with financials including projections for profit and loss and cash flow. (NB: There are numerous courses, articles, books and journals which can be used as a guide to develop a business plan as well as assistance from government agencies - avail yourself of them).

Budgeting

A proposed budget was formulated in conjunction with the business planning process. This can be very difficult in the event that you are a start up business and to be quite honest it often seems like you are pulling figures out of the air!

Our budget planning process was greatly enhanced by collaboration with other local breweries. Although other organisations in the same industry would traditionally be seen as competitors, the microbrewing sector in WA is small and very collaborative. CBC is indebted to Feral Brewery in the Swan Valley and Bootleg and Bush Shack in the South West for their assistance in providing a myriad of information and figures, which greatly assisted our budgeting process.

A number of other important information sources which assisted in developing possible sales figures included visitor numbers from the local visitor's centre as well as industry benchmarking figures.

Finance

What a nightmare is all we can say! Although we had many banks and financial institutions comment on the quality of our business plan we were unable to secure any business finance for our project. The project was fully funded through house mortgaging.

Planning Approval

We knew we had a great idea - the next step was to get the necessary approval from the local council which at first seemed to be quite a straight forward step. This could not have been further from the truth. The initial application seemed straightforward and was submitted with little effort or consideration on our part - mistake number one! Our planning approval was granted with 37 conditions attached. Some seemed reasonable however others were completely unreasonable and would have seriously affected the viability of the business as a whole.

The Shire imposed conditions including that we could not sell any alcohol other than which we produced on site. This would mean that we would be unable to sell wine with a meal. In addition one condition stated that alcohol could only be served with a meal. This meant that in a region renowned for its wine tourism we could not offer wine but perhaps more crucially it meant people could not taste our beer without having a meal.

We were also conditioned to grow hops! A number of other ridiculous conditions were also imposed and as a result we made an appeal through the then Town Planning Appeals Process.
The appeal process delayed the project significantly and was both intimidating and time consuming - the appeal took almost a year - the outcomes were in our favour and we truly believe the business would not have been viable with the original conditions.

Liquor Licensing

Liquor licensing proved to be another time consuming and money draining journey. The Liquor Licensing laws in Western Australia can be described as somewhat antiquated in comparison with the rest of the country.

To keep it short, to obtain our Special Facilities Liquor Licence it took 11 months, the engagement of a specialist Liquor Licensing Lawyer and in excess of $50,000, but we got there!

Building the Brewery

We were quite meticulous with the building design, lets face it we'd had almost 2 years of delays with various regulatory authorities and therefore time to spend on building design!

Once the building was complete we rolled into the fit out and installation stage. Many tradespeople were onsite including electricians, plumbers, cabinet makers, refrigeration engineers to name just a few. We used local tradespeople and for the electricians and plumbers it was the first brewery they had installed. Although there was a very steep learning curve all work was completed to the highest standard. It is probably worth mentioning that the brewery installation was an area in which we had seriously underestimated the costs and blew the budget big time!!

We have now been open 16 months with things going well. The process has been a long one and there were a couple of times when we almost gave up. The end result is very rewarding and we are now in the process of increasing our product range and progressing towards bottling. We received a gold medal in the Western Australian Tourism Awards in the New Business Development category and Jeremy received a bronze medal in 2007 for his pilsener at the Australian International Beer Awards and a silver this year for his Special Pale Ale. Now we just have to go for gold!

Cowaramup Brewing Company

When planning your next brewery tour, don't forget to consider the Sunshine State. As Beer & Brewer editor Matt Kirkegaard recently discovered, cane toads aren't all that Queensland's good for.

For a long time it had seemed that Australia's craft beer wave was going to bypass South-east Queensland. With so much craft brewing activity in Victoria and Western Australia and hot spots in Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales, Queensland remained a veritable craft beer desert. Local beer lovers have been forced to rely on interstate beer shipments from the larger craft breweries rather than having access to their own home-grown flavour.

Thankfully, a nascent microbrewing industry has started to emerge, encompassing the Gold Coast and hinterland and stretching down to Byron Bay and even west to the Granite Belt in Queensland's wine country.

On a weekend away in the region, Burleigh Brewing on the southern end of the Gold Coast is a great first stop. (If you're planning a weekend of brewery tours you could also stop at Foster's giant Yatala plant - see Brewery Tour, issue 3 - on your way down the Pacific Motorway).

Just over an hour south of Brisbane and south of the Gold Coast glitter strip, Burleigh Brewing is home to the Duke range of beers. Established by Brennan Fielding, formerly of Brisbane's Oxford 152, Burleigh has established a limited distribution model, staking its claim over the region between Coffs Harbour and Hervey Bay, definitely not bent on national beer domination.

Although primarily a production facility, Burleigh Brewing Company also boasts a comfortable brewery lounge, right in the shadow of its shiny new stainless-steel brewhouse. With freshness his mantra, Brennan makes a mission of educating the beer-drinking public about the importance of drinking fresh and properly looking after beer. His unpasteurised beers live in a climate controlled world; from Burleigh's cool room post bottling to bottleshop fridges no more than two hours away and then - Brennan urges - straight to your fridge.

The Burleigh lounge makes a perfect classroom for the school of Drink Local. Enjoy a brew or two around the German drinking table, participate in a tour of the brewery, stand on the brewer's platform and peer into the tanks and learn how traditional beer is made. You can join a class to learn how to judge beer like the pros, or don a blindfold for Brennan's flavour profiling course to see if your nose can identify the aromas that make up beer.

Visitors are welcome at Burleigh Brewing from 10am to 4pm weekdays, with the bar open until 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays 2pm until 6pm.
On weekends the Tanks, Tales and Tastings takes place. Visitors spend 45 minutes with the brewmaster touring the facility and learning about beer and brewing. Enjoy a glass of each of Brennan's three current beers - a mid strength lager, Premium lager and American-style pale ale (with a new brown ale due for release soon) and take your branded tasting glass home with you. Check the website for sessions and other regular activities.

From the coastal plain at Burleigh you can make your way up the hinterland range to Mt Tamborine, sitting up high on the basalt range that that once flowed from the ancient volcano that is now Mount Warning. Here you will find the region's newest brewery, MT Brewery. Owned by businessman Andre Morris, the brewery's visitor areas are still under construction but the beer is already brewing. Under the guiding hand of head brewer (and Beer & Brewer contributing editor) Ian Watson, MT Brewing is planning an eclectic mix of beers designed to excite beer lovers.

Watson, recently of Sunshine Coast Brewery, was enticed down to Tamborine with the promise of food; not just for him but also for his beers. Andre's other current business interest is in the Witches Chase Cheese Company, which makes a range of sensational boutique cheeses. Currently located a couple of kilometres from the brewery, the current extensions to the brewery site will enable the cheese factory to relocate there. With Ian's background as Australia's first professional beer sommelier - and beer and cheese providing one of the food world's great matches - it's a prospect that excites him.

MT Brewing's newly installed 24-hectolitre plant is the original Bluetongue equipment and Ian plans to brew a rotating line of 6-12 beers, with occasional surprises. One of his initial brews is a first for Australia, a hopfer-weisse, or a hefeweizen with high aroma hop additions. Ian says that he only knows of a couple of similar brews in the world, including the legendary Gumballhead American Wheat Beer from Three Floyds in the US.

If you visit the mountain before the cheese factory and shop move in July you will find that it currently sits just next door to Tamborine Mountain Distillery. Australia's smallest pot-still distillery, and one of the few in private hands, it has developed an international reputation since opening in 1998. While producing a range of exotic spirits, the distillery really gained international attention when its Absinthe won Gold at the World Spirits Awards in Austria last year. Five-times distilled from the finest grapes, and made with elderflower, gentian, fennelseed, hyssop and wormwood, the anise-flavoured spirit is undergoing a popular revival. Even for the beer lover it is well worth the stop to discuss spirits with larger-than-life co-owner, Michael Ward.

If you're travelling with your significant other, a great way to score some major brownie points is to stop at the multi award-winning restaurant Songbirds in the Forest. This top-notch noshery recently won the Queensland Restaurant of the Year Award, Queensland's Best Informal Restaurant and Best Modern Australian Cuisine Awards. While primarily focusing on a superb selection of small run wines, Songbirds' young sommelier Mick Armstrong also puts considerable thought into his beers. You can dine on tempura-cooked soft-shell crab on green papaya and mango salad matched to an excellent New Zealand Riesling, or to a Redoak Organic Hefeweizen, which was much more to my liking. Unusually for a serious wine guy Mick also listens when you talk beer and considers what he serves rather than merely stocking a thoughtless selection of Euro-lagers.

To really score points, you can stay overnight in one of the six villas hidden in the rainforest. The accommodation isn't exactly cheap, but it is world class. What's more, Songbirds is a spa retreat so you can book your partner in for an in-room deluxe massage while you head down to sample the region's beers at the soon-to-open Fox & Hound pub.

Awaiting it's licence when B&B visited, the Fox & Hound plans to serve on tap beers only from local breweries includingMT Brewing, Duke and Guinness (yes, Guinness is a local beer in these parts, brewed under licence at the Yatala plant down the mountain!)

Depending on how long you have, once you've sampled the delights of the Gold Coast hinterland you can head another hour-and-a-half south and into northern New South Wales to Byron Bay and another burgeoning brewing hotspot. Alstonville, just south of Byron Bay, is home to Northern Rivers Brewing Co., a multi-award winning brewery turning out some great beers and well worth a visit. They do cellar door sales Monday to Saturday and brewery tours Saturday afternoons.

Byron Bay will soon have another quality brewery with news that Brad Rogers, formerly of Matilda Bay, has signed a lease on a former cordial factory with plans to turn it into the Stone and Wood Brewing Company. Watch this space for details.

While it is still early yet, Queensland's brewing scene is heading in the right direction. So, whether you're a local looking for a weekend getway with a good beer thrown in, or from interstate holidaying on the Gold Coast this is the place to come.

Where to go:

Burleigh Brewing Company
www.burleighbrewing.com
17A Ern Harley Drive, Burleigh Heads
(07) 5593 6000

MT Brewing
Long Road, Eagle Heights
(07) 5545 2032

Tamborine Mountain  Distillery
www.tamborinemountaindistillery.com
87-91 Beacon Road, North Tamborine
(07) 5545 3452

Songbirds in the Forest
www.songbirds.com.au
Tamborine Mountain Road, North Tamborine
(07) 5545 2563

Northern Rivers Brewing Co.
www.nrbrewing.com.au
57 Northcott Crescent, Russellton Industrial Area, Alstonville
(02) 6628 8737

Check out the map online:
snipurl.com/weekendawayseq

The Campaign for Real Ale - better known these days as CAMRA - is one of the world's most active and successful consumer advocacy groups. Graham Reeks looks at the beer lovers who started it all...

If with water you fill up your glasses,
You'll never write anything wise,
For ale is the horse of Parnassus
Which hurries a bard to the skies.
(Thomas Moore)

Once upon a time all beer was local. As a perishable product with a short shelf life, historically beer didn't travel too far from its brewery. In the UK beer was traditionally ale, conditioned in the cask from which it was served.

In 1933 however, a brewing company called Watney introduced a new method of storing and dispensing beer to the UK market. By filtering, pasteurising, adding carbon dioxide and chilling the beer before sealing it in kegs the beer lasted longer and was easier to dispense. It was great for brewers and pub landlords, but many felt that the character of English ales suffered for the convenience. Still, over thirty years this style grew to dominate. Traditional cask beer, neither filtered, pasteurised nor chilled, continued to be brewed in the meantime with breweries often producing both types of beer.  

Easily portable kegs lent themselves perfectly to being sold nationally and large national breweries began to flourish, absorbing many of the small regional breweries in the process. The number of breweries halved between 1940 and 1960 and by the mid-1960s six conglomerates produced most of the beer and owned the majority of the pubs in Britain. Known as the ‘nationals' these huge companies had the economic clout and logistical ability to market keg beer throughout Britain.

By the 1970s much British beer was about as appealing as Adelaide water; the strength was declining, and with it the concept of regional variety and distinctive tastes. But the 1970s were also the decade of mass movements and consumer protest. Enter a bunch of savvy young whippersnappers to kick up a hell of a fuss about the state of their beer!

In 1971 four young men from the north-west of England formed the Campaign for Real Ales - or CAMRA - to protect and preserve their favourite drink.

One of the founders, Michael Hardman, says they were just four men of 25 and under, who knew very little about traditional British beer except that some tasted wonderful and some tasted awful.

"We established the campaign rather jokingly with a wish that every pub should have at least one traditional draught beer available, and blow what else it sold, that's none of our business," he said.

"Out of the woodwork came hundreds of people who had been thinking along our lines for years and knew the answers to a lot of our questions."

The organisation stuttered at first but then grew rapidly. CAMRA was active in recruiting members and campaigning via a central headquarters and regional branches. By its second AGM, in 1973, CAMRA boasted a membership of over 1,000 people. They adopted the term ‘real ale' to describe "traditionally brewed and properly served draught beer."

CAMRA aimed to fend off the standardisation of beer and the monopolisation of the market by large centralised brewing companies. They did this by celebrating, promoting and encouraging decentralisation, specialisation and regional diversity in the brewing industry. Their methods were ingenious, and sometimes downright cheeky.

In the spirit of the era there were lots of marches, such as the protest against the closure of Joules brewery (founded in the 12th century, but owned then by Bass Charrington, one of the big six conglomerates). Over 600 members turned out to drink, protest and attend a meeting held in the local cinema. The event was well covered by radio and the BBC's prime-time Nationwide television program. It was a popular way for members from around the country to meet (and drink) whilst simultaneously spreading the real ale message to a wider audience, and frustrating the big six brewing companies.

Other approaches got right into the big breweries' nerve centres. The monthly newsletter What's Brewing organised CAMRA members to team up to buy shares in large brewing companies so they could vote against the closures of small breweries at shareholders' meetings, and ask tricky questions.

Chris Holmes was President of CAMRA in 1975 and has since gone on to run a chain of pubs in the East Midlands. Chris said that one of his favourite campaigns involved Mansfield brewery, an independent brewery but one that didn't produce any real ale.

"We organised a survey in the streets of Mansfield. We asked Mansfield Bitter drinkers whether they thought the beer was better, worse or the same as it was two years ago when Mansfield Bitter was real ale," Chris said. "The vast majority said it was worse."

"We gave these results to the press and we got loads of coverage. Mansfield Brewery were livid. Livid!"

Chris later asked questions related to this exercise at the breweries AGM. Success was not immediate, but within two years Mansfield had begun to brew ‘real ale' again.    

Literature was another important driver of the real ale movement. What's Brewing arrived on the scene in June 1972 and CAMRA's indispensable annual Good Beer Guide came out in 1974 with a county by county, pub by pub breakdown of where to find the best beer.

But other beer writers were also on the case independently of CAMRA.

To write 1973's The Beer Drinker's Companion author Frank Baillie must have had a wonderful time. He visited every brewery in the country to find out what the difference really was between keg beer and cask beer.

His book provided a detailed explanation of brewing processes, methods of dispensing beer, appropriate temperatures for serving, the flavours and strength, and changes and trends in the brewing industry. He also later presented a gazetteer of all the breweries in Britain, differentiating between "The Regional (Independent) Brewers" and "The National Brewers".

The Companion was written and presented in an unpretentious style; with little of the wine-snob prose we endure today. The entry for George Bateman & Sons Ltd shows how Baillie used simple language for his depictions. "Bitter. Malty-flavoured with above-average hopping rate." Still, he held back from being too critical of the breweries and beers he
didn't like for fear of legal action.

On the other hand Chris Hutt's The Death of the English Pub, also published in 1973, reads more like a call to arms for the beer-drinking Briton. Hutt pushed, pulled and pleaded with beer drinkers using his skills of rhetoric to persuade them by interspersing the facts with his own opinionated narrative. His book was artfully presented with a symbolic front cover and moody black and white photography.

The Death openly sought to expose how the "objectives of the big brewers are to banish quality", and the individual is overlooked in deference to company profits. The targets of his polemical arrows were clear and names were not withheld.

Hutt provided economic justification for his judgement that the alcoholic content of many beers had declined in recent years. He explained how some beers were weak enough to have been sold in the United States prohibition era. The gradual decline in strength was associated with the increasing profits of brewers. Hutt estimated the saving made in duty and raw materials between 1964 and 1970 at £11M. A price "paid by the beer drinker, because the brewers do not tell us when they weaken their products, and they do not lower their prices accordingly."

A journalist by the name of Richard Boston cottoned on to the groundswell of discontented drinkers and wrote a regular column - Boston on Beer - that ran in the Saturday Guardian from 1973 to 1975. He says that it arose because he'd been abroad for some time.

"I came back and I was horrified by what they were doing to the pubs and friends said, ‘they've fucked up the beer as well, not just the architecture'."

In 1976 Boston published a compilation of his column entitled Beer & Skittles. The book blended the characteristics of both Baillie and Hutt's work, but came further from the left and developed its own quite different arguments. It overflows with references far and wide, including Hardy, Hogarth, Dickens, Sassoon, Orwell and Graham Greene and economists such as J K Galbraith and E F Schumacher.

Boston injected an added element of wit that had been lacking, intermingling fact and opinion with amusing anecdotes. He recounted the story of a German civil servant who shot 13 of his barbeque guests when they complained that the beer he had served was warm. On home brewing he said, "This will fill your house with a delicious aroma. If your spouse dislikes it, change your spouse."

But, according to Michael Hardman, the most significant single contribution to the publicity of CAMRA was an article by a prestigious architectural writer. Ian Nairn's journalism was noted for its criticism of public agencies' design, planning and works and its effects on the urban environment of England, but he also commented on the architecture and interior design of English pubs.

In a 1974 article in the Weekly Review of the Sunday Times Nairn confessed his membership to CAMRA and summed up their concerns. He did not refer to design or architecture, but rather to breweries and beer, using wine as a frame of reference to help explain his argument.

"True draught bitter in Britain is in its way as good as the best of claret or hock - without the snobbery or the expense. And unlike good wine, it doesn't exist anywhere else," he wrote.

Nairn combined the arguments from The Companion and The Death, which he believed "dovetailed beautifully", and he reinforced this with a discussion of his favourite brewers, their beers, and the pubs he knew that served the beers he recommended. He saw two points as standing out. "One is keg versus draught beer; the second is the arbitrary extinction of local flavours in favour of a ‘national brew'."

Baillie wrote his book unaware of CAMRA. After it was published he read about the organisation in his local paper and joined up. In contrast, by the time The Death was published Hutt had become its second chairman.

Richard Boston maintained a surprising distance from the organisation. Before his death he told me that when he was writing his column he found CAMRA a "bit boring", although his writing led some people to believe that he had founded CAMRA. Although his book made many points sympathetic to the organisation's stance, he also criticised them for their inflexibility.

"It has been said that some of their members would drink castor oil if it came from a hand pump, and would reject nectar if it had no more than looked at carbon dioxide," he wrote.

Regardless of any allegiance with the campaign, all of these writers did a great service to the British beer drinker and to the industry. Together CAMRA and the beer writers fuelled a remarkable consumer-led resistance to standardised beer. Ordinary small breweries with low status and restricted local markets have been reincarnated (sometimes literally) as specialist artisan breweries. This provided a superb example to beer drinkers the world over. People began to take beer - and beer drinkers - seriously and craft brewing and microbreweries followed on.

Despite their success, the brewing industry is a constant battle between the craft of the brewer and the realities imposed by business. CAMRA is a monument to how consumers banding together can ensure that the celebration of the craft is good business.

It's hard to believe but some Australians are more interested in what's on the outside of the can rather than the inside, as Ian Kingham discovers... 

For the essence of Australia look no further. No academic document can better reflect the framework of Australian social infrastructure than the humble beer can.

To really get a feel for the events that shaped the recent past visit a beer can collector and let them take you through
their collection. They will share with you cans that highlight times of turmoil, times of jubilation and times of plain bewilderment. One thing for sure is that the collection will give you a view of unwavering times and capture the honest, earthly values of Australia that only a beer can can. Of all the recorded packaging used to store beer from open-topped, earthenware pots to pewter jugs, wooden barrels to aluminium stubbies, the beer can has captured consumers imagination more than any other.

I was recently asked while attending the Hobart Beer Festival whether or not I thought the beer can was an endangered species. While it is true that there is a new wave of consumers who prefer to drink premium beers with quirky labels and abstract names, there is still an army of 500ml cans just waiting to let loose, not to mention the trend in Europe and the United States toward five-litre can consumption.

Strengthening my confidence in the survival of the beer can is a dedicated subculture creating a demand all of their own by trawling the shelves of retailers across Australia in the quest for just one more new can. I refer of course to the "beer can collector", our modern day social anthropologists who have more insight into Australia's cultural history than any other body of people. 

Did you know in Australia today there are over 800 registered beer can collectors? It is also estimated that for every registered can collector, there are 100 others who continue to hoard beer cans above their bars, on bedroom shelves and on every available surface in their garages. Why? It's because an eclectic collection of good times, great people and fond memories has replaced the space in the can where the beer used to be. To throw the can away would be to risk having to live a life of far less pleasure.

Having spoken to beer can collectors from Europe, the America's, New Zealand, and Australia, there seems to be two key reasons for collecting beer cans: nostalgia and art. It is true when you walk along a displayed collection of cans you get a great sense of social history and vibrant colour, a true insight into Australia and its beer drinking culture.

As a museum captures changes in time, a good beer can collection similarly evolves and bends through localised events. So if you have a few cans at home, congratulations, in my opinion you have something far more valuable than a McCubbin or a Pro Hart - you have a piece of real Australian identity. And who knows, you may have a significant piece
of history as well?

Beer is the foundation stone of Australian social culture and the beer can is the iconic symbol we rally behind when we look for those deep Australian values, the larrikin, the good bloke, the mate, and the belief in a fair go. The Aussie beer can represents our fathers, standing in the back yard as the world's worst dressed men. It highlights our growing concern for the environment with its great recyclable qualities (even if the plastic that holds it together lets us down a little). It reminds us of a time where we could throw things in the crowd at the cricket and know that the more we drank the less damage it would do!  
The beer can has the added benefits of being able to float in our sinking fishing boats and can be crushed and stored in our utes and saved for the 60 cents a kilo refund at specially constructed "Cash-a-Can" centres across the nation.  

Maybe you have the odd can you've collected, or maybe you can remember humbly drinking one with a friend that
still acts as a touchstone to what makes you who you are today. To give you some insight into what I'm talking about, below is a range of cans that showcase some key Aussie events and remind us of a bygone era.

Aviation 

Tooth KB celebrated Dick Smith's inaugural flight to Antarctica and the launch of the TAA airbus, Tooth LA celebrated Qantas' first direct flight to Los Angeles (LA) in 1982 and Foster's celebrated 50 years of Ansett in 1986.

Music

Commemorative Courage Crest cans were at the Sunbury music festival of 1975.

Cooper's Draught and Toohey's Extra Dry have been introducing us to bands through the Big Day Out rock concerts since the festival's inception.

Sport

Cooper's Grand Prix Lager of 1985 - 1992 reminds us that once upon a time Adelaide had a Grand Prix; Foster's commemorative Grand Prix cans remind us every year that people from overseas still have an interest in our forgotten iconic brand. Swan Export Lager takes us back to America's Cup 1983, when Alan Bond was a national hero. The Tooheys Draught St Kilda premiership can (produced and recalled in 1997) highlights just how much of an upset that Adelaide vs. St Kilda AFL grand final really was.

The XXXX Bitter Commonwealth Games can of 1982 still depicts a controversial Australian map that forgot to attach a little island called Tasmania to the bottom. A can of Tooheys Pilsener from the late 70s depicts a cricket test match between Australia and England with no crowd, and then later reproduced with a crowd! Australia even boasts the longest running collector series of cans in the world, (30 years 1977 - 2007), where every year a can of Cascade is produced, showing the winner of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race.

Arts

In cultural circles we have beer cans commemorating everything from the Glendi Greek Festival, to festivals of Bougainvilleas and Jacaranda trees.

Anniversaries

The humble can commemorated the anniversaries of 75 years of the harbour bridge, 10 years of the Geelong Beer & Beef Club, 125 years of Perth, 50 years service of Noel Eastment and 50 years since the campaigns of our military forces in the Guadalcanal.

Icons

Phar Lap, Roy Cazaly, Qantas and David Boon have not escaped the attention of the can, nor has Bert Newton, Ian Healy, Wally Lewis or even David Hookes.

Events

Birdsville Races, Kalgoorlie Cup, Broome Cup and Australian Beach Cricket all have a place on a can.

Industry

Santos mines, Australian National Shipping and the Tasman Ferry all get a mention on a can.

Entertainment

From the movie "Patriot Games" with Harrison Ford to Michael Douglas in "The Game", the list goes on, including the famous Duff cans from the TV show "The Simpsons", (while only worth about five dollars a can, Duff can still be found on
eBay for $2,500 per can).

There are even cans whose artwork explains how to open the very can itself.

Careers have been wrecked by the beer can, including the marketing manager of Tooths KB (market leading beer in NSW 1978) who changed the well publicised and acclaimed "Cold Gold" can to a white one.

Then there was the brand manager of Carlton Premium Dry who produced Australia's first slim line can believing that it would appeal to the female market, even though 80 per cent of can drinkers are men.

The brilliant James Breheny, Carlton Draught's brand manager in the late eighties, still shares with me his bewilderment at how one pack change to a can helped throw in jeopardy three years of his tireless work. James had built a campaign called "Brewery Fresh" designed to bring customers back into hotel bars on the notion that the best way to enjoy a Carlton Draught was fresh on tap. After spending thousands of hours and dollars before finally watching his strategy working, one bright marketeer chose to label the Carlton Draught can as being as fresh as any beer from the brewery.

Careers have also been made by beer cans, including the marketeer in the UK who decided to put images of women on Tennent's cans in the 60s, and the genius from Guinness who invented the widget.

So much history and now the beer can enters the global market and computer age. An entire industry has been formed dedicated to collecting cans and beer memorabilia. Personalised eBay accounts, web site addresses and foreign contacts are now part and parcel of the can collector's network to achieve the impossible... collect every can of beer ever made!

All of this passion, all of this tension, all of this wonderful framework of Australian social history spun into cylinders and filled with beer. So I tell you, next time you are in a bottle shop, support the industry that has supported years of archived Australian history: buy just one can, consume it and place on your shelf.

In signing off I would like to make special mention of a great mate, Mr. Gary McNair (Victorian Division of the Australian Beer Can Collector's Association), for all his passion and support of collectors in Australia and abroad.

Should you wish to join one of Australia's most passionate beer clubs, the Australian Beer Can Collector's Association have a committee in every state of Australia. Join one, you know you can.

The Temple of Can

Neal Cameron stumbles upon a collection of 16,000 beer cans in Echuca, Northern Victoria, with a shed to match.

hob·by - noun: an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.

ob·ses·sion - noun: the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

Beer. It's a pretty easy subject to get obsessed about, but you can't get away from the fact that there is more to the hold that beer has over us than simply alcohol. Our willingness to shell out ever-larger sums of money for specialist beers and the fact that Michael Jackson sold millions of books of what was essentially beer porn settles this without question.
Bearing all this in mind, entering the Great Aussie beer shed in Eucha, a pretty river port in north western Victoria, seems less like entering an obsessive's world. Instead, it allows you to simply marvel at the fact that another beer lover has allowed a hobby to grow unchecked and has consummated his love affair by building a shed, sorry, a Great Shed, to house his objects of desire.

No amount of pre-amble prepares you for walking into a 5,000 sq foot shed, and seeing 16,000 cans of beer lining the wall. It's overwhelming but the collection rewards a careful look with some of the earliest cans made dating back to 1934.
The rarest can, one of only six left in the world, is a can made to commemorate King George VI's coronation. You can rush up to date with a 1972 series of cans depicting AFL stars and enjoy the penguin shaped can made in Japan so as not to appeal to children. All drinkers with a little drinking history under their downward pointing belts will find a pang of nostalgia for some of the cans on show, no matter what their nationality.

Neil Thompson who has amassed this collection over the course of 30 years is a man at the top of his game when it comes to beer cans. He is the national president of those persons who collect beer cans, of which it would appear there are many. He has the wherewithal and energy to build an environment that showcases his collection well. For those with a broader interest in Australian history, there is no shortage of breweriana and Australiana on show as well. But it is the beer cans that make the journey worthwhile.

Neil will answer all your questions with the enthusiasm of someone that has not been asked the very same question a thousand times before. Yes, the cans are all empty, and no, he did not drink them all. One suspects, however, that a man with this much character must get his inspiration from somewhere?

Great Aussie Beer Shed
377 Mary Ann Road, Echuca
www.greataussiebeershed.com.au
(03) 5480 6904

Not Just Cans

Sometimes a can collector's fair isn't the place to secure the good stuff. Rabbie Dudgeon got out and got his hands dirty to find this prize.

Rabbie has been collecting old beer bottles on and off for 20 years and his collection currently stands at about 1,200, about 60 per cent of which are old Victorian "King Browns"  (1910 to 1950). He says they're a great long necked bottle, perfect for pouring. Some of his bottles even date back to the 1880s but he still uses them all for his home brewing.

Rabbie and a friend were in the Shepparton area and were directed to an old sawmill about 3 kilometres off the Shepparton - Euroa Road.

"We found the mill and after a while we found the sawdust pit where any empty bottles would have been chucked," he said.

"I used a steel probe about 1.5 metres long to push into the sawdust and see what could be found, after about 2 hours of probing and digging I had found 6 or 7 king browns.

"I was having a probe in another part of the pit when I found this bottle which to my amazement was full with the label intact.

Since I found it in about 1992 it has been in my brew shed and over the last couple of years I have tried to trace the brewery in England to get some idea of how it got to Australia and ended up where I found it."

Rabbie has so far been unsuccessful in his quest.

Hard To Put A Label On

by Tim Baker
When scanning a bottleshop's shelves to decide on a new beer to try there is no doubt that an eye catching label goes a long way. But for enthusiasts such as Rob Greenaway labels go much further than that.

Rob has been an employee of Carlton & United for over 40 years and has been president of the Victorian Beer Label Collectors Society for more than a decade.

Meeting once every two months the society boasts around 200 members, 60 per cent of those come from across Australia.

"There can be a whole range of reasons why you'd collect labels," says Rob. "But in my particular case I enjoy beer, I enjoy the different styles and I'm interested in brewing history."

Rob is predominantly attracted to Australian brewers, the history behind them and the development of the industry. For others pre-metric, international or specific microbrewery labels are highly sought after.

"Some will only collect labels from beer they've consumed," explains Rob. "There's some that only collect microbrewery labels and are interested in the emergence of the different breweries."

Rob maintains a vast collection of labels reaching into the thousands and keeps most in mint-condition. To do so, Rob says you must heat the bottle internally with boiling water thereby softening the label and making it easy to peel off.

As with anything collectible some labels have been known to become quite valuable over years especially those dating back almost 100 years.

"Some of them are quite expensive, particularly pre-war labels but it goes on rarity," Rob says. "They can be of some value ranging from one dollar to a couple of hundred dollars."

The society also receives support from the brewing industry by issuing new labels to members and in turn develops catalogues and provides historical facts that may have been previously overlooked.

"We can link into bottle collectors or label collectors and provide them with historical information that may be important to label design or legal type issues," adds Rob.

The Victorian society also runs a Label of the Year competition as voted by members of the society. Each year one major and one microbrewery is awarded, receiving a certificate with the winning label attached.
So, what characteristics does a label need to become Label of the Year?

"Artistic design, the novel approach by the brewer but that's more the micro side of things. In the major side the closer to an incoagulable design the better."

"Jamieson Brewery in North East Victoria make some magnificent labels. The other one is Beechworth Brewers with its Ned Kelly label that comes up very, very well. Boag's have done very well with their Honey Porter and Strong Arm over the years too."

Membership to the VBLCS is $20 a year with a $5 joining fee. Newsletters with 30-40 current labels from the main Australian breweries, Australian micros and a few overseas labels are distributed every two months between meetings.

For more information or to join check out www.vblcs.com . 

Barossa Valley Brewing - Bee Sting

5.0% abv 330ml

A new entrant in the world of Honey Wheat Beers a style certainly domesticated and dominated by the likes of Beez Neez from the Matilda Bay Brewery. Bee Sting, brewed in the Barossa Valley known for its fine wines, has little hop character which is certainly ideal for those with a sweeter palate. Complexity is gained through bottle conditioning and the use of tartness of the malted wheat.

Matilda Bay - Barking Duck

5.5% abv 750ml

Another one of the specialty flock from Matilda Bay, this Barking Duck is certainly unusual. Inspiration for this brew comes from the European farmhouse ale. The beer is pale golden, cloudy and pours with an exuberant effervescence. The aroma is fruity and spicy but the real surprise is in the taste. The beer's predominant taste is sourness which might sound like a bit of brewing quackery, however the beer has just enough of a sour edge to be refreshing. It is brewed with wheat, oats and barley and is flavoured with a blend of spices including cassia bark. This would be a great beer to cut through a a pasta carbonara or a béchamel smothered crab lasagne.

Coopers - Vintage Ale 2007

7.5% abv 375ml

Coopers have been releasing this beer for around a decade, and many beer lovers wait for it with great expectation. From its initial release last year to this point, Vintage Ale has already undergone remarkable change from exuberance to grace. An aroma of refined caramels, dried fruit and spirit welcomes the nose before the beer hits the mouth to display a deft balance between sweet malt, acidity, bitterness and complex meaty yeast flavours. Coopers recommended cellaring this beer for up to 5 years, I think it is drinking great right now and recommend the sampling of some of your stash. Perhaps with a little side of blue cheese and muscatels.

Billabong - Blonde

4.5% abv 330ml

This beer is from WA and is produced in a brew on premises facility that has now acquired a producers licence. The Blonde is described as gluten free low-carb beer. Ingredients include specialty grains and malts, noble hops and curacao orange peel. The beer is pale golden in colour and slightly cloudy. It has a delicate floral aroma. The beer has a medium body and a low bitterness with a clean slight tart aftertaste. The foam on this beer collapses in the glass leaving a slightly sticky dense meringue-like feature as if tetra hop is used. This beer would go well with crispy battered flathead, garfish or whiting.

Gage Roads - IPA

5.1% abv 330ml

IPA was the style that helped build an empire. Keep the troops with beer and the nation is yours. Gage Roads IPA is perhaps not as aggressive as some but manages to convey a real sense of the style. It has a brilliant copper orange colour that sits beneath a white foam cap that is the nucleation point for an earthy and citric (marmalade) hop aroma. Malt shows itself in the form of anzac biscuits and toast. Hop resins are felt in the mouth bringing in a moderate lick of bitterness that is lightly balanced by the toasty malt. Best consumed fresh from a tumbler style glass along side pappadums and chutney.

Guinness - Draught (nitro can)

4.1% abv 440ml

Perhaps the most famous beer of all, and one that every reader is sure to have consumed at some point. But how long has it been for you? The head on this beer is definitely its most talked about feature, perched abnormally dense on top of this black beer thanks to the nitrogen loaded widget in the can. The nose is touched with notes of milk chocolate whilst the body is light and carries simple touches of bitter, roasted coffee with a minerally seabrine touch, perhaps a reason it has so often been paired with oysters. A classic brand.

Guinness Extra Stout

6% abv 750ml

We always think we know this beer but can never be quite sure, this version is the bigger brother to the nitro-can version that most are more familiar with. It pours a very deep brown colour that borders on being pitch black and is capped by a rich tan head with the appearance of whipped batter. The nose attacks much more than the canned ‘dry stout' and displays an aroma of bitter coffee and dusty chocolate cake batter. The initial mouthfeel is soft before a bitter dryness takes over leading to a sharp finish that is slightly reminiscent of scorched coffee and sugar. It's Guinness alright, but maybe not as you know it. Try it alongside BBQ ribs.

Bluetongue Premium Light

2.7% abv 330ml

This beer is the little brother of the original Bluetongue Pilsener. The beer has a mid golden colour and pours with a dense white foam. The aroma is mild with a floral hint to it.The low body of this light beer is noticeable. The taste is initially malty, there is a faint hoppiness and then a moderate afterbitterness to the finish. Such light beer is a good option when you prefer to moderate your alcohol intake. This benefit means you will probably drink the beer with any food but it would be better suited to the lighter more delicate food tastes particularly fish. It would go very well with a selection of sushi.

Barons Lemon Myrtle Witbier

4.5% abv 330ml

Sherbet, lemon sorbet, cloves very good aromatics. Tucked away behind this is wheat beer yeastiness. Nose evolves into a freshly chopped ginger. A very interesting combination on the nose. Palate maybe a little skinny, lacks real weight, but with a mouth cleansing phenolic. Finishes with a slightly muddy yeastiness that worked for some but not for others. Would be a winner with beer battered fish and chips.

Bridge Road Brewers Celtic Red Ale

5.2% abv 330ml

The Celtic Red Ale is especially brewed for the local Beechworth Annual Celtic Festival and has initial malt sweetness with some good toffee caramel characters. A deep reddish hue that has a rounded mouthfeel aided by bottle conditioning, true to style and an ideal Autumn beer.

Bluetongue Ginger Beer

4.0% abv 330ml

This relatively new product on the market has as inviting fresh ginger character on the nose supported by a distinct ginger palate making it a delightful drink on a hot summer afternoon. It would also drink very well with a dessert or even with an entree with a clean, slightly thin flavour. It is surprising how ginger beer is not drunk more as a thirst quencher in Australia as it does the job very effectively as long as it is not too sweet.

Bright Blowhard Pale Ale

5% abv 330ml

This American Pale Ale has an Australiana influence, using locally grown bittering hops from the Bright region and American Cascade hops on aroma. A novel attempt to combine the popularity of American pale ales with the sessionability of Australian ales. Pours hazy pale amber with big fluffy white head that lasts well. The aroma is very nice - floral hoppy with touch of citrus. Palate is very fizzy with a medium body. Flavour starts with a refreshing floral / citrus taste moving into some malty sweetness and finishes with a strong bitter finish.

Duke Pale Ale

4.8% abv 330ml

The Burleigh Brewing Company is the new baby of former Oxford 152 brewer Brennan Fielding. Brennan is fastidious about his beer's freshness and has limited the borders of "Duke Land" to a couple of hours north and south of the brewery to minmise time spent in transport. Duke Pale Ale pours with a tight white head that caps a beer of a hazy (unfiltered) orange hue. The nose is one of dense citric (cumquat) hops and in the mouth it displays a solid bitterness that is held in check by a touch of biscuity malt. Very more-ish and would pair well with spicy chicken dishes.

Bridge Road Brewers Bling India Pale Ale

4.8% abv 330ml

The Beechworth Brewery has been under the stewardship of Ben Kraus since 2005.The Bling India Pale Ale is a beautiful deep rich copper colour with a dense cream coloured foam. It has a floral hoppy aroma and a bold bitter aftertaste that lingers on the palate. The body is on the light side and gives the beer a rather moreish drinking quality. The combination of colour, aroma and bold taste aid the overall enjoyment of this beer. This would be an ideal beer for an appropriate English meal --a curry.

Bridge Road Brewers Bavarian Wheat

5.0% abv 330ml

In an effort to replicate a Bavarian character the label says the beer is made from German malt hops and yeast. The aroma is mild with little of the clove character that could have been expected. The taste is slightly fruity and sweet with a mild bitterness in the background. The flavour did not conjur up images of a bier garten in summertime Munich. This is a unique rather than a typical German wheat beer. In Bavaria they serve these beers in tall half litre glasses but in Australia a tall widemouth glass would be just as good. The sweet fruitiness of this beer would be a good partner to chicken schnitzel or cheesecake.

Billabong Pale Ale

5.5% abv 330ml

A good white head and slightly cloudy appearance, followed by an initial pronounced and unusual hop character which is interesting. The beer flavour is slightly oxidised and the bitterness is a little astringent. The slight aged character detracted from this sample which is not indicative of the normally fresh, clean beers from this brewery. This new entry to the WA craft brewery scene is producing some very different and interesting beers.

Coopers Extra Stout

6.3% abv 375ml

A favourite amongst many stout lovers and with good reason. This stout will never disappoint on appearance with its deep ruby black colour and a head that is almost mousse like. The aroma rises quickly and makes its presence felt with notes of deep dark chocolate and lots of fruity esters of figs and currants. This is followed by a big body that carries a coffee'ish roast bitterness that sits beside a touch of sweetness that reminds me a bit of molasses. Lightly oily but still somehow dry. A great Australian ‘Foreign Stout'. Oysters ... uh, yeah! But how about some mud cake too?

Bridge Road Brewers Chevalier Saison

6% abv 750ml

The third release from Bridge Road under the Chevalier label and presented in the same 750ml Champagne-style bottle. Poured into a tulip style glass the beer displays a very hazy straw colour with a high carbonation that pushes up and supports a very large and rocky head that domes over the rim of the glass. The aroma is one of yeast, spice, pear and grass with a rustic bread undertone. The mouth is rewarded with a sharp acidity that tingles along with spicy lemon and hop flavours. An excellent farmhouse-style beer it's truly refreshing. Pairs well with blue brie or Thai spiced seafoods.

St Arnou Pilsner

4.5% abv 330ml

Originating as a brewpub in Auckland, Master Brewer Brian Watson moved operations to Australia in 2001 and focussed on the emerging premium beer draught market. St Arnou is the Patron Saint of Brewers and this Pilsner is packaged in an impressive original shaped bottle. The beer has all the characteristics of a premium beer, clean and refreshing on the plate slight hints of Czech Saaz hops. An easy step across from domestic beer.

Wicked Elf Pale Ale

5.4% abv 330ml

Cascade hops, roasted potatoes and solid Tokay characters - slightly fish oilly - these characters on the nose are very positive. Creamy, vegemitey, malted milk (as in milk bars in the old days). Fresh bread dough. A complex beer that really works and is well liked, but probably a ‘1 bottle' beer (as opposed to a session beer).

Duke Premium Lager

4.8% abv 330ml

This is the second full strength release from the Burleigh Brewing Company. Poured into a pilsner glass this beer is a light gold colour with a tight foam supported by a strong bead of carbonation. The aroma is fine and spicy with fresh floral highlights that hint at a European pedigree. Warm bready notes fill the mouth before a welcome smack of bitterness. Very quenching on a warm Queensland afternoon and great with a fresh prawn sandwhich.

Bridge Road Brewers Chevalier Hefeweizen

4.6% abv 750ml

The initial pour is typical for the style with a big pillowing head and strong carbonation, but that is where normality ends. The colour is a light tan, an indicator to the chocolate liquor nose that follows. The classic banana and bubblegum notes are there, but are certainly not the caricature that some hefes become. In the mouth there is lots of wholemeal and rye bread and the beer continues its rustic feel.

Bennett's Belgium Strong

7.2% abv 330ml

This beer poured slightly cloudy with a good head initially. High carbonation and a relatively low bitterness make it an excellent palate cleanser at the end of a meal. It is very deceptive as it is very drinkable and belies its strength at 7.2% v/v alcohol. Overall a beer that needs to be drunk with caution but, none-the-less, is very enjoyable and, again, would be excellent at the end of an evening with friends.

Wanaka Beerworks Tall Black

4.8% abv 330ml

This well established New Zealand microbrewery located in picturesque Wanaka produces 3 core beer brands. Tall Black is their dark beer, ideal for the colder winter months on the South Island, has a toasted malt flavour, with coffee and a little bit of chocolate. The hop presence is subtle with a slightly smoky finish. Perfect after a day on the slopes at one of the great ski fields that surround the Wanaka area.

Renaissance Brewing Discovery American Pale Ale

4.5% abv 500ml

Located in the iconic Marlborough wine region in New Zealand, this beer is brewed to emulate the Sauvignon Blanc flavours the region is world famous for. It has hints of passionfruit and tangy citrus hop aromas imparted from American hop varieties grown nearby in the Nelson region. Renaissance Brewing with a goal to reinvigorate English Real ale in New Zealand certainly impart that passion into the beer with a smooth English malt character. On the lower end of hoppyness for an American Pale Ale although not detracting from the beer.

Monteith's Original Ale

4.0% abv 330ml

Monteith's Original Ale has been brewed to the same recipe since 1868 to produce a full rounded flavour and a velvety smooth mouthfeel. Rich copper brown in colour this ale has a robust maltiness with notes of burnt sugar and caramel. It's well hopped with Pacific Gem hops and the yeast from the fermentation provides fruity/berry aromas. A good balance of sweetness and bitterness, while the mouthfeel is exceptionally round and smooth with a pleasant lingering finish. Serve with NZ whitebait, spit roast lamb, or enjoy it by itself in a pint glass at around 10°C.

Tuatara London Porter

5% abv 330ml

Hailing from Reikorangi, Wellington. Chocolate lovers beware! This brown porter is big on delivering all the wonderful flavours as promised in the aroma. You won't be disappointed - Chocolate, roasty/toasty aromas, fruity esters and hoppy notes are wrapped in silky sweet caramel and treacle. Medium to strong bitterness provides sturdy balance to the sweet smooth full body. Creamy and bittersweet. Rich and smooth. Lovely Porter. Tuatara's London Porter is a handsome example of the porter style.

Emerson's American Pale Ale

6.0% abv 500ml

This APA is bottle conditioned and very carbonated. The beer froths exuberantly in the glass on pouring. The aroma is not as intense as expected but gives hints of stonefruit, pine, melon and citrus. The beer is full bodied with a biscuity mid-palate from a blend of malts. The maltiness gives way to rich lingering hoppy notes on the palate before fading slowly. This is a beer for sipping and savouring and benefits from being served at around 5°C in a large goblet to fully appreciate the aromas and tastes unfolding. This beer goes well with rich flavours. A steak and kidney pie would be a good match as would a red Thai curry.

Epic Pale Ale

5.4% abv 330ml

Golden colour, very intense grassy hoppiness on both nose and palate. Burnt apple strudel (lots of sultanas, pastry and stewed apples). Quite bitter, coarse and full bodied. One for the bitterness lovers.

Limburg Hopsmacker

5.0% abv 330ml

This brew comes for Hawkes Bay in New Zealand. It has a deep amber colour and poured with a dense pillowy foam that subsequently laced well. The aroma was pungent hoppiness, fresh and vibrant. This ale has a medium body, a rounded balanced maltiness that supports the hoppy bitterness on the palate. The afterbitterness is pronounced but not harsh. The presentation, aroma and taste are all in harmony and make this beer a joy to drink. Serve this beer in a large widemouth glass at a temperature of 4 or 5°C to help release the full flavour. This flavoursome ale would go well with peppered loin of lamb or a beef rendang.

Ambar 1900 Pale Ale

4.8% abv 330ml

The Spanish brewery which makes this beer has been operating since 1900 and is a large, by Spanish standards, regional brewery. This pale ale does not follow the English tradition of dark rich malts. This beer is very pale golden, like a lager. It has a very mild aroma. The taste as expected from the light malt is rather subdued in character. It has a balanced medium body and a surprising robust bitterness. The afterbitterness lingers fading slowly and cleanly. This gives a satisfying and refreshing quality. This would be great beer to have with the famous Jamon Iberica ham that is served in the local tapas bars or even a Paella.

Ambar

5.2% abv 330ml

This Spanish lager originates from La Zaragonzana Brewey. Solid all round malt flavour balanced with typical nobel Eurpean hops and a light amber colour. With good carbonation it's a beer to be enjoyed after a siesta in the sun. No offensive aromas, a simple European lager which has sessionablilty and cerveza written all over it.

1906 Cerveza Extra

6.5% abv 330ml

This beer has a creamy, dense head with a slight haze with distinct flocks suggesting a little age or poor storage/travel conditions. It displays a smooth malty presence on the palate with a well balanced bitterness. The nose is slightly oxidised but also indicates the alcohol level. This beer would be an excellent drink before dinner but, with this alcohol level, beware of drinking it as a thirst quencher.

Peroni Nastro Azurro

5.1% abv 330ml

This sample was of dubious freshness but everyone knows the beer quite well, so we looked through that....good slugger/cleanser, very subtle bitterness that is strangely witlof or radiccio lettuce. A bit simple but a real lubriucant for anchovy pizza and salty food.

Westmalle Dubbel

7% abv 330ml

This beer is as much as a Belgian icon as chips in cone shaped bags, truffles or rich creamy chocolates. This Trappist beer has lucious flavours and is a beautiful chestnut brown colour, is hazy and crowned with a beige head. Slightly herb and fruity estery nose. Balanced sweetness and soft maltiness turning into a dry, hoppy finish. A classic and Moorish beer.

Sinha Stout

8% abv 330ml

Sri Lanka is not as famous as Ireland or London for stout or porter, but with examples like this perhaps it should be. A near black colour and large tan head are the initial greeting, but it is the aroma depth that will truly captivate. Musty cocoa is followed by stewed prunes and rummy alcohol notes with a wiff of tar. The mouthfeel is deep and oily with woody chocolate notes and maybe a dash of old smoke. The ABV is bigish and familiarity tells that this beer holds well against time and treatment, although fresh is still best. A classic Foreign Stout? ... surely a contender. Drink cool from a balloon shaped glass, great with roast beef.

Phoenix Beer

5% abv 330ml

Frank Zappa once said that to be a real country you must have a beer. Mauritius must surely then be a real country with its Phoenix beer. The bottle opens with a small hiss and pours out a hazy pale yellow colour with a smallish white head. A light aroma of sulphur rides atop of a faint yet pleasant touch of pear that is followed in the mouth by a light body that supports a flavour of white bread and asparagus. On a hot Mauritian beach this beer served ice cold might be the one to make you feel like a local.

Unibroue Ephemere

5.5% abv 355ml

This is brewed as an ale with apple must as part of the recipe and it is spiced with coriander and curacao. So it could possibly be described as a Belgian ale/cider hybrid. This innovative brew is a Summer speciality from Unibroue of Chambly, Quebec. The aroma is dominated by green apples with just a hint of spice in the background. It has a mid golden cloudy appearance with a good foam. It has a full body and a slightly sweet mid-palate. The aftertaste is again driven by apples with a slight tartness. This brew would go well with a sharp cheddar cheese or more appropriately for Quebec, a French onion soup.

Meantime London Porter

6.5% abv 750ml

Meantime is a fitting name for a brewery based in Greenwhich and porter, being the most London of styles, is a great start to their range. The beer is presented in an ornately labelled 750ml cork stopped bottle and when poured into a brewery branded ‘snifter' style glass displays a deep brown colour with woody red highlights. The aroma is full of nutty coffee and chocolate backed up by a touch of caramel sugars. Smooth and rich malt notes build up big in the mouth before being balanced by some acidity and bitterness. Excellent lacing is left on the glass. An exceptional beer. Pair with crispy skin salmon, shellfish, or sirloin with a rich jus.

Sidra Cider

5.0% abv 330ml

This example imported from Spain had an initial head of large bubbles which rapidly dissipated. It is very full bodied and clean with a very bright, straw yellow colour. A strong SO2 on aroma and flavour masks some of the apple and ester characters - and, at these levels, it should really carry a warning on the label. There is some astringency and acidity to the after-taste despite the sweetness.

Pipsqueak Best Cider

5.2% abv 330ml

This WA brew is an elegant and refined cider. The emphasis is on subtlety and finesse. It has a pale straw colour and a mild aroma of freshly diced apple pieces. The taste is light, spritzig and with a refreshing clean apple aftertaste. Of course there is no foam despite the vibrant carbonation. This seems to be a drink that fits well between beer and sparkling white wine with a moderate alcohol and a fresh clean taste. It would go well with a cheddar cheese and crackers or a loin of pork with apple sauce. You could serve this cider in a flute or white wine glass and it would not look out of place.

Whisky

Talisker

45.8% abv 700ml

Despite my many trips to Scotland and the number of distilleries I have visited there over the years Talisker has somehow eluded me thus far. Perhaps I'm trying to keep the best till last? Recently lauded as the world's greatest Scotch whisky for its 18yr old by Whisky Magazine, Talisker is one of the true classic Scottish malt whiskies. Founded in 1830 by the MacAskill brothers on the Isle of Skye, one of the most scenic islands on the west coast of Scotland. They named the whisky after the Talisker estate, a remote location on the coast four miles west of Carbost where the distillery is located. However, the MacAskill's were better at sheep farming than whisky distilling and the bank took back the distillery in 1848. Since then the distillery has changed hands many times, yet managing to develop a distinctive taste loved by whisky connoisseurs everywhere. Talisker is well known for its high peat content and slightly spicy and salty character as well as its distinctive black pepper finish. Although Talisker is the only distillery on Skye, the island has often been referred to as its own style of whisky, perhaps most famously so by the famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson who, in his 1880 poem The Scotsman's Return from Abroad, referred to Talisker as "The King o' Drinks". Although the distillery has some modern fixtures and has been rebuilt a couple of times (once due to a blazing fire that burned the distillery to the ground in 1960), Talisker remains an ‘old school' whisky. It is one of only a handful of distilleries that still uses a worm tub for the condensation of its spirit as they believe this is an integral part of what gives Talisker its unique, robust and peppery taste. Although there are a number of expressions of Talisker available at the distillery and internationally you're most likely only find its superb 10yr old whisky here in Australia. Look out for Talisker 18yr old when you're shopping Duty Free!

What's hot off the dock

This edition we are excited to see two very famous English breweries landing their wares on our shores. First of all we have the Samuel Smith range. As luck would have it, Jamie Cook included the Samuel Smith's in this edition's Top 100 article (page 45). The Old Brewery at Tadcaster was founded in 1758 and is Yorkshire's oldest brewery. Samuel Smith is one of the few remaining independent breweries in England and is the last to utilize the classic Yorkshire Square system of fermentation solely in stone squares. For those of you who love their beer, but love animals even more, you're in luck. All Samuel Smith beers are vegan products. Already available in WA, Samuel Smith beers will also soon be available in the East via BID. Trade enquiries: Steve Leopold, Lionel Samson - Liquor Manager. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

From Yorkshire's oldest, to a more modern classic. Founded in 2000 by brewmaster Alistair Hook, Meantime has quickly established an outstanding reputation and is already the second-biggest independent brewery in London behind Fullers. Situated on the banks of the Thames at Greenwich - hence the name - the brewery produces a range of outstanding beers. Brewer Hook fears that English beer has lost its soul and complains that when he studied brewing at Heriot-Watt University beer was treated as an industrial product. His enthusiasm for brewing was reignited in Munich and America and his beers have a decidedly American character. This is the first line to be imported by distributor Innspire, but the "purveyors of finest quality imported beers" have exciting plans so stay tuned. More information www.innspire.com.au.