Beer and Brewer Magazine

Colonial Brewing Company's Dean McLeod has a dream to raise the taste bar and then drench this country with beery pleasure.

COLONISATION. Ah yes, visions of brave men taking on the unknown, venturing into uncharted lands, carving an existence in harsh climates for the betterment of their own kind.

With that in mind, it only seems appropriate that in the world of beer, one brewer has stepped away from the pack, travelled into unfamiliar environs and created award-winning produce, all for the betterment of the beer enthusiast's palate. Further, it's only just that this man is the governor of the Colonial Brewing Company.

Dean McLeod is a man who has influenced gazillions of taste buds during his 10 years of craft beer brewing. From east to the west in this wide, brown land, he's gained heady praise from anyone who's ever tilted a pint of hopsy goodness down their gullet.

Beginning his trade at Sydney's esteemed Lord Nelson Hotel in Sydney, he then upped sticks to cut his professional teeth under the watchful eye of "the most passionate beer advocate there is" - Malt Shovel's Chuck Hahn.

After five years as part of the team who took the James Squire brand from humble beginnings to its present status, McLeod felt he needed to spread his wings. So in 2005 he headed to Colonial in West Oz, where his tenure has so far captured Australia's Champion Small Brewery Award at the Australian International Beer Awards in 2006 and 2007.

McLeod baulks at suggestions that he is a revolutionary, attributing Colonial's success simply to the implementation of quality professional beer practices, all learnt while he was on the tools at Malt Shovel.

"My really big break came in 2000 when I began at Malt Shovel Brewery, just when it was starting out," McLeod says. "That was such an interesting time because I was a part of it when the brand was really starting to develop and grow. And that was where my brewing skills received a big boost, working with Chuck Hahn, Doug Donelan and Rob Freshwater and the like.

"When I arrived at Colonial I just changed things around a bit as the previous brewer hadn't come from a professional brewing background and there was a lot of poor practice.

"It didn't take too much; after the little things were fixed we got on track quite quickly. I guess the beers are speaking for themselves!"

Like Hahn, McLeod is a driven man, dedicated to producing not merely a great-tasting brew but also to fashioning a soul-lifting drinking experience.

"At the end of the day, I just really love drinking beer. I can't get enough of it!" he says. "Beer must be visually appealing, smell great and all the flavours must be harmonious - it can't be out of balance on the hops or the malt and there can't be anything prickly about it. It's all about synergy. That makes a really good beer drinking experiencw; you just love to have another one. It's more difficult to achieve than you think."

With a love of anything out of the ordinary - "I love Belgian beers because they're so bizarre and out there" - and with a flair for venturing out of the square, McLeod is keen to suggest that the pot of liquid gold at the end of the Colonial rainbow will soon start to expand and become more accessible to drinkers.

"Colonial has just changed hands," he says. "Under the old owners the styles were set in stone. But under the new ownership [Empire Beer Group] I'm going to have a bit more latitude to do more interesting and creative things, and start dropping the less popular beers off the list. I also don't see the point in making beers seasonal; I think good beer should be available all year 'round.

"One of our goals is to get the products into capital cities. Empire has recently bought a pub in East Perth and we're hoping that the pub will have Colonial products in place.

"We're also hoping to build a much bigger brewery nearer to metro Perth somewhere towards the end of this year, probably down Fremantle way. You may start to see Colonials popping up all over the place!"

But will mass production of this kind hinder the overall quality of the products?

"No, not as long as we stick strictly to the procedures and processes we've implemented here," says McLeod. He insists he is dedicated to brewing perfection.

"Our model is not to build a single brewery and then distribute the product en masse. We intend to build craft breweries in populated areas.

"I'll still manage the procedure but each brewery will have its own brewer, and while there will be standard Colonial beers on offer, each individual brewer will have their own creative control and flexibility, and will be able to introduce beers of their own preferred style.

"We may even have the most popular beer from each brewer on offer at other Colonial pubs if that is economically viable. But at the end of the day the principles of creating quality beer will be applied to all the facilities and hopefully that will be reflected in the popularity of the venues."

Hear, hear! The day when we can pop out for a quiet one - or more - of Colonial's finest can't come too soon!

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