Ballarat Beer Festival hosts Two Birds, Young Henry’s and other craft brewers
“WE love beer festivals,” says Jayne Lewis of Two Birds brewery in Spotswood, in Melbourne’s west.
Brewer, Jayne Lewis ( Photo: LinkedIn)
“We’ve based almost our whole business plan around exhibiting at festivals since we started in 2011. They’re great places to gain exposure with future customers: putting our beer into people’s hands, engaging with them, telling them why we do what we do, sharing the passion.”
Two Birds is one of 30 breweries and 10 cidermakers exhibiting at the Ballarat Beer Festival next weekend. Ballarat and Geelong’s Great Australian Beer Festival, which takes place next month, are two of the largest of many similar events to have sprung up across the country over the past decade, coinciding with our seemingly unquenchable thirst for craft beer. Far from just catering to the hophead, though, these events are more like family-friendly rock festivals crossed with food fairs: as well as the booze, Ballarat will feature celebrity chefs, masterclasses, live music, kids’ areas — even a special chartered vintage diesel train running direct from Southern Cross station for the day.
“There are so many of these festivals, the hard part is choosing which one to be involved with,” says Lewis. “For the first two years of Two Birds, Danielle [Allen, business partner] and I did almost every single one — every weekend almost. It was tiring but it really helped establish the brand.”
Festivals are not only good for business; they’re also a great way for beer lovers to discover new brews and brew news. What are the trends in craft beer? What will festival-goers find when they rock up to Ballarat next weekend and when they browse the craft beer aisles or visit their favourite bar over the next 12 months?
“Cans,” says Richard Adamson of Young Henry’s brewery in Newtown, Sydney. “You’re going to see more craft brewers like us putting their core range of beers in cans this year. It’s huge in the US and it’s getting bigger here. And lager seems to be taking off in the craft scene. That’s a trend: craft brewers getting into making more drinkable beers. Not blowing people away with massive, extreme hoppy brews; making tasty but lighter drinks like lagers. And sour beers: we did a sour passionfruit beer last year that was very popular. The tartness in sour ales suits our climate. They’ll never be mainstream; they’re not to everyone’s taste. But definitely a slow burner.”
The biggest trend this year “will be more sessionable beers”, agrees Matt Kirkegaard of online magazine Australian Brews News. “Craft beers in the 4 to 4.8 per cent alcohol range. Up to now, a lot of craft beer has been really full flavoured and strong because it’s been a reaction against bland mainstream beer. But people who’ve been around craft beer for a while now longer are looking for flavour and complexity without the heaviness. That’s why Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale is the cleverest craft beer in Australia: it delivers the flavour people want at just 4.4 per cent alcohol.”
“Mate, for us the biggest thing about this year will be just trying to keep up with demand,” says Stone & Wood’s Brad Rogers. “We’re really under the pump at both breweries — in Byron Bay and at the new one we opened at Murwillumbah last year. And it’s not just us: the whole craft industry is going gangbusters. That’s the big trend: people are just very excited about being able to taste lots of different styles of beer. When I started brewing in the late 1990s craft was maybe half a per cent of the total beer market in Australia. Fifteen years on we’re sitting on 3.5 to 4 per cent. That may not sound like much, but it’s actually massive. And the roller-coaster is showing no sign of slowing down.”
“We’re getting back to where Australian beer was 100 years ago,” says James Smith, publisher of online beer magazine The Crafty Pint and co-organiser of October’s Good Beer Week. “It’s normal now for Australians to drink a wide range of styles of beer rather than just the ubiquitous lager. There’s a market for everything from crazy dark IPAs [India pale ales] at 11 per cent alcohol that you can’t drink more than one of, to low-alcohol sour beers at 3.5 per cent alcohol. Personally, I’m really pleased to see so many Saisons being made — beers inspired by the farmhouse style ales of France and Belgium. I’ve thought for a number of years that this is a style perfect for Australia — spicy, fresh, food-friendly beers with complexity and subtlety.”
Back in Spotswood at The Nest — aka the Two Birds brewery and tasting room — Jayne Lewis also names cans, sour ales, lower alcohols and just keeping up with demand as the biggest trends in craft beer.
“Oh, and Taco,” she says, referring to the ale she brews from barley, wheat, flaked corn, fragrant hops, coriander leaves and lime peel.
“It was meant to be a one-off special batch, but Taco is now our biggest seller. It doesn’t seem to matter what occasion — whether it’s the footy, spring racing, blowing a gale — people can’t get enough of it. Matter of fact, I might have one now.”
To keep abreast of what’s happening in the Australian craft beer scene:
craftypint.com brewsnews.com.au
Source : The Australian Max Allen January 17th 2015
