Australian Hotel and Brewery - Beer in Cans

The Australian Hotel and Brewery have come to terms with ALH and Woolies liquor to stock their soon to be released canned beers. Based on the Red Bull can shape, the cans feel quite small in the hand but are actually 355ml - meaning they hold slightly more than most bottled craft beers (330ml) and will be sold in 16 packs.

I cannot bring you pictures of the artwork for the cans, but you will soon see them on another on line beer reporting blog.  I can say; if you check out the logos on the taps when you buy your next Steam Ale you will get a fairly good idea as to what they will look like.

Talking with Neal Cameron (head brewer) as to why cans and not bottles?  Turns out there are many good reasons.

Firstly, canned craft beer is making big inroads in the US markets "with more than 200 craft brewers  canning 600 different beers this year, Craftcans.com says. And last year, nearly 53 percent of beer consumed in the U.S. was served in an aluminium can, according to the Beer Institute. " (Consumer Nation 29 Aug  2012).

There is a large niche market here for canned craft beer, and no-one else in Australia is offering it.

Then; there is a growing export market for Australian craft beer in China and Japan. Cans ship with less risk and cost than glass.

Now add this: according to Neal it's cheaper to set up a canning line than a bottling line.  Sweet.

So all that's left to say is good luck,  and we will be keeping an eye out for the cans in the next few months.

Brew Mountains Beer and Cider Festival

Gold Medal for Our Bilge Pump Saison

We just got the results for the NSW Amateur Brewing Championships 2012, and our Bilge Pump Saison got a gold medal...finishing second to a Fruit Lambic.

Unfortunately this has caused all sorts problems, as we had run out of Bilge Pump Saison!  And with entries needing to be in Melbourne by the 13th of October - we needed to get cracking brewing another batch. An emergency trip to Peakhurst was made - and -  as I refused to waste the starter I had already made for this weeks brew, our Escape To Saftey Hefeweizen, it meant brewing twice in one day.  Not something I want to do every day.  But we have prevailed, and I am about to pitch the yeast in both the Saison and the Hefeweizen  - and call it a day.

Illawarra Brewing Co

Refurbished and re-launched in 2010, the Illawarra Brewing Co ( formerly Five Islands Brewing ) has hit the ground running. Winning a silver medal at the Australian International Beer Awards 2011, 1 gold  and 4 bronze at the Australian International Beer Awards 2012, and 2 gold medals at the Royal Sydney Beer Awards 2012.

We met up with the guys behind this success; Shaun, Ashur and Dave at the brewery in north Wollongong to talk about beer and breweries. With no formal brewing qualifications behind him, Shaun has shown just how successful you can be when you have the passion and the opportunity to live your dreams.

In their new brewery the guys have 8 - 2500L fermenters, fed from a 1250L boiler and mash tun which are heated with a 1979 steam generator of which the guys are justly proud. With demand for their beers at a record high and contract brewing for some of the biggest names in the craft beer industry as well as some of the newest, the guys are kept pretty busy brewing upwards of 6 batches a week. Think of these blokes when you are having one of their beers, as all the grain is hand carried from the crusher to the mash tun - about 200kg per batch - and hand stirred.  Not much fun there...and even less when shovelling it out again. ( The spent grain is sent to a beef farmer )

Ashur (left) and Shaun

Upstairs from the brewery the tasting room is being finalised ( they hope within the next 2 months ). With 8 taps and a growler filling station, it will be the perfect place to learn about these beers. Currently the only way to buy them is on tap through the bar under the WIN Entertainment Centre, or from the brewery you can pick up a 19L keg for about $100. If your having a party you can hire a 50L keg with tapcoupler, gas and magic box for about $250 - $280.


The next seasonal coming up will be a Spiced Pumpkin Ale ( possibly called Smashing Rumpkins ), which is fermented normally and then aged in ex - rum oak barrels.

From the brewery we made our way to the WIN Entertainment Centre for more beer and some lunch.  We were pleased to see that all seven of the Illawarra Beers were available on tap, and as a bonus, a Mountain Goat and a HopDog for good measure. We met up with Zak the bar manager, who has a passion for craft beer and knowledge of how they are crafted.

So thanks to Shaun, Ashur, Dave and Zak for an excellent time with Illawarra Brewing.

Mead Glorious Mead

We have been experimenting for some time now with various different honeys, trying to perfect our Meads.

We have used many different honeys, ranging from commercial Beechworth honey to single source regional honeys. These include Iron Bark, Stringy Bark and Yellow Box from the gum family, and most recently Orange Blossom, Clover, Salvation Jane ( Pattersons Curse ) and Leatherwood honeys.

Now while the 3 are still brewing we have received some interesting interim results and feedback.

We put together ( well I say we, it was really one of my sisters with her contacts in the medieval society ) a, ( for want of a better word ) "focus group",  with the idea of getting outside opinions about our Meads.

Some of the results were -

Honey from gum trees, which is very fermentable, generally produced 12 - 14.5% alcochol in our batch sizes.  They will need a long maturation time ( over a year ), to let the sharpness from the alcohol and the honey taste itself mellow.

Stringy Bark honey can give you Vegemite aromas. Who'd have thought that?

Orange Blossom honey is not very fermentable, generally producing 6 - 7.5% alcohol in our batch's. This makes it quite sweet but also very drinkable straight after bottling.

We tried several recipes as well -

Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, is a bugger to do in 5L carboys.  You have to cut the oranges up really small and you get a lot less out due to all the leftover yeast / fruit, not to mention the extra sharpness from the orange peel.

Blueberry Melomel, with 500gm of blueberrys - needed a lot more fruit as the taste was a bit washed out.

Sweet Mead needs a really long maturation time, as to make it you need to take the yeast to it's alcohol limit, making it very strong.

So all of this has given us lots of ideas to work with and changes to make.

We would like to thank our "focus group", and especially my sister for putting it all together and being such a great hostess. 

Craft Beer - Definition

                                           Craft Beer.

                          Beer made by a brewer. Not an advertising agency.
                          They’re small. Not like Mark Zuckerberg’s bank balance.
                          Independent.  Not like your local politician.
                          Traditional. Like the Norwegian hammer dance.

                          By Todd  from Sydney Craft Beer Week