We chat to Dave Macgill, head brewer from Tasmanian brewery, Moo Brew

Issue #3 of The Monk Times is OUT NOW! 'Talking Importing' with Jason Plugh The International Beer Collector

"Think local, drink local"

Birbecks - The Merchant Colonial Pale Ale

With Jimmy from 'A Craft Beer Ideot'

Guys it's summer, it's hot out, I'm sweating in all the bad places, and I'm back to talk to you about my personal lord and saviour: Australian craft beer (and hopefully I'll sink a few in the process)

Some folks - probably children and guys with scullets - hanker for an ice-cold, urine-yellow, beer-style beverage on a hot day like today.

They may even timidly request 'something sessionable' if they have been hitting up the hipster beer blogs and a feeling a little adventurous after a shandy or two. I would scoff loudly and obnoxiously at such requests if I was allowed behind a bar, which I'm not, ever again, because remember kids - there is no such thing as strong beer, only weak men. The same antagonistic and overly macho sentiment rings true for the humble drinking sesh, and the old adage states that actually, ALL beer is made for sessioning, but not all men are made to session it.

it's a devil-may-care mantra to live by, and it also makes my doctor chuckle whenever I bring it up durning my weekly kidney dialysis sessions.

Anyway my rambling has segued nicely into today's subject; big session beer. Jared Birbeck is a wildly successful brewer straight outta the SA brewing scene, and he has popped out of the blocks with a really interesting lineup of crafty beers.

His branding is pretty slick and has a little Viking longboat up on the sticker (so I'm sold) and he exclusively plays scandinavian black metal and Abba during his brew sessions (untrue but would be cool).

The Merchant is an IPA brewed the old fashioned way. In fact the recipe style harks back to the 1800s when literally hundreds of thousands of sailors hilariously plunged to their deaths as a result of operating heavy machinery whilst drinking such ales, so in honour of those sorry souls, we at the Blind Monk are pouring Birbecks The Merchant Colonial Pale right now!

At 7.2% it's a doozy, old school hop forward brew with layers of malt complexity that will really get you thinking about ordering another. The good news is your wife called and she said you're allowed to stick around for the arvo session. Also, you're sleeping on the couch.

We talked to Jared Birbeck about his great new beers, the challenges of contract brewing, nailing a lower ABV beer, and the temptation of getting into the odd test batch!

BM: What made you decide to start jump in and start your own brewery.. in other words are you mad?

JB: I had been home brewing for some time and wanted to be able to share some of those beers with a wider audience. It was also an enticing option to avoid the 9-5 job and do something fun with beer...yes I am mad.

BM: When you first brewed The Merchant did you stumble across this amazing recipe or did you start with an end taste in mind?

JB: When I first brewed the Merchant it was a desire to create an older style beer. I was reading Mitch Steele's IPA Brewing Techniques and it inspired the development of the beer. I wanted to recreate that old style English IPA, full of English hop character and rich malt.

Our other beers I worked hard on the underlying recipe to get the right flavour profile. I had a clear vision of what I wanted to achieve.

BM: Are you like most of us a functioning alcoholic or do you manage to keep yourself under control even tho you are surrounded by beer daily?

JB: I have my moments. definitely have succumbed to the temptation of having beer that I love around me all the time, whether it is a test batch or just quality control. But its also part of the reason for the Captain, a full flavoured great beer at a lower alcohol...enjoy a bit more.

BM: What has been the biggest challenge with your brewing?

JB: The biggest challenge is getting brew slots to meet demand as a contract brewer and getting the right beers done at the right time and into the right spots. I think I have missed more often than not.

BM: Where do you see the craft beer industry going?

JB: Growing, and growing big fast at this stage.

BM:Are you a lover of just beer or do other beverages really get you going as well?

JB: Lover of beer first and foremost. Wine has its place but its place is usually in the back of the fridge (white wine) for a very rare occasion. Special occasions deserve beer.

BM: You are consistently brewing the same beers now, do you still love to get in and invent a new one?

JB: There are a couple of core beers but my passion is for new beers. in 10 years of homebrewing I only brewed the same beer twice. everything else was unique.

BM: There is talk of cans coming back in... your thoughts - bottles or cans?

JB: cans...love cans. Even before I started on the craft beer road it was all cans for me.

BM: Favourite beer other than your own? (I know it's hard)

JB: Different beers for different occasions. Little creatures single batch American Brown ale still ranks among the best beers I've had and an easy drinker and I have always loved Beard & Brau Red Tail. I am a huge fan of a well made IPA but they are a rare breed and its not always IPA time. The Holgate Millennium Falcon is the best I've had in a long time.

BM: Your own favourite beer?

JB: The Captain is far and away my favourite beer. big flavour, lower alcohol. great for any occasion and with young kids around I need that!

If you think about it (and I mean really think, not just not just google on your smart telephone) two of the four best things mankind has ever invented - wrestling and chilli sauce - both originated in Mexico (the other two things - being pizza and crossbows - originated somewhere else, possibly Russia, i'm not sure). Aside from great chow and martial arts you may have seen or experienced a Mexican beer or two, and I know that the type of person that's reading this blog right now ain't got no Corona or Sol on thir top ten beers list!

Those Central Americans just aren't as renowned for their ale-smithing prowess as they are for their flying choke-slams. Nope, it looks like if you want a MexiBeer done right you have to get it done by two Chicas in old Melbourne town - a place very similar to Mexico, but with (slightly) less graffiti and more fixed gear bicycles. 'Taco' is a hoppy wheat beer with added lime and coriander, sounds interesting right? It's difficult to spot the wheatiness here but it's there, hiding under a citra punch and paired with the coriander it comes off tasting a lot like a corn chip dipped in guac. But that could just be my drunken brain playing tricks on me. It's a terrific arvo ale and seems like it was designed specifically to calm the burn of a chilli taco or two. The only downside I've found is that it's almost impossible to drink this stuff through my luchador mask, which I bought especially for this tasting - very disappointing and messy (don’t worry I'll leave the eBay seller sternly worded negative feedback). Two Birds Brewing seem to be a pretty fun bunch and this particular beer shows that they most certainly know how to get creative in the brewery whilst keeping their excellent core range of brews consistent and delicious. I think it's safe to say that no 'Juan' loves Taco as much as we do (sorry, I had to) so we caught up with Jayne, Co-owner and Brewer at two birds, to find out a thing or two about her loco new brew. BM: What made you decide to start jump in and start a brewery.. in other words are you mad?

Jayne: I've been brewing for 10 years for companies like Little Creatures, Matilda Bay and Mountain Goat and when we started Two Birds, the end game was always to own our own stainless steel. It’s

madness, but it's a dream come true for us!BM: When you started brewing the .Taco beer, did you stumble across this amazing recipe or did you start with an end taste in mind? Jayne: The Taco is a beer that Danielle and I dreamt up after a trip to San Diego, where we enjoyed stacks of craft beer and tacos. We decided to use the fresh flavours of corn, coriander leaf and lime peel in the beer, with a heathy dose of American Citra and Amarillo hops, to echo the citrusy notes. We knew what we wanted the end product to taste like and I worked back from there. We never did any trial brewing of Taco, just jumped straight in and brewed 2500L and we haven't changed a thing with the recipe since the 1st brew.BM: Are you like most of us, a functioning alcoholic or do you manage to keep yourself under control even tho you are surrounded by beer daily? Jayne: Making beer is serious business and there's a lot of heavy machinery involved, so we keep our tastings to a minimum during the day. We do love a good beer once the hard work is done though!BM: What has been the biggest challenge with your brewing?Jayne: The planning phase of the brewery, dealing with the various regulatory bodies, utilities companies etc, was one of the most challenging things that I've ever had to do. Everything takes longer than you expect and it can be very frustrating. Brewing beer is the easy part!BM: Where do you see the craft beer industry going?Jayne: Even in the last 5 years, I have seen a massive upturn in the acceptance of craft beer. There are new breweries entering the market all the time and while beer quality remains high, the industry will go from strength to strength. The biggest threat to the craft beer industry is poor quality beer in the marketplace. BM: Do you mainly drink beer or do other beverages really get you going as well? Jayne: I love beer, but I'm also partial to wine, gin and tea. I don't discriminate.BM: You are consistently brewing the same beers now, Do you still love to get in and invent a new one? To me, brewing consistent beer on a daily basis is the sign of a great brewer and we love trying to make our core beers, the best that they can be. We have been making a lot more one-off beers since the installation of the brewery and it's always good fun and a chance to let our imaginations run wild. It's a collaborative process, as Danielle and I will often discuss the idea for the beer and then Wilson (our brewer) and I will work together to write the recipe and brew the beer.BM: There is talk of cans coming back in... your thoughts - bottles or cans?? Jayne: The craft can market in the US is booming and there are a number of Australian breweries who are canning their beers now, with great success. I believe they both have their place, but there will be a lot of growth in craft cans over the next couple of years.BM:Favourite beer you have brewed?Jayne: I have a love/hate relationship with Taco. I really love drinking it, but it's a very involved beer to make, with lots of limes to peel and coriander leaf to wash, so I hate it a little bit too.BM: Finally, When can we get you into The Blind Monk for a session?Jayne: Hopefully soon, I'm overdue for a visit!

check out more of Jimmys words on his instagram @a_craft_beer_ideot and Facebook dot com

Did we ever mention that we really like supporting Australian breweries here at the Blind Monk? Drinking beer brewed down the road takes us back to a simpler time, a time when men flew spitfires to work and a house with a toilet inside was considered futuristic.

All that those old timers had to drink was humble local ales and possibly illegal moonshine brewed in that same dunny - how times have changed!

Where 'drinking local' used to be the only option, now we seem to have a million choices of beers from all around planet earth; why only the other day I saw a beer made from meteorite dust, and another one brewed with weasel shit - Is it any wonder people get a bit overwhelmed/disgusted when picking their next cold one?!

Well it seems to us that sometimes keeping it simple with the local stuff is the best option, take for example Rocks Brewing from Sydney.

These boys have made a real name for themselves not only in old Sydney town, but across Australia and the world (possibly not WA yet, they don't get stuff 'til about ten years after it comes out).

They started back in ’08 and originally rocked the taps at Harts Pub in the Rocks, fittingly. Now you can find their brews all over the place, in bottles and on tap, and you won’t find a drop of weasel turd in any of them.

To prove that they really are ruling the craft beer scene at the moment they have recently opened a beautiful new brewing facility in Alexandria, with heaps of computers/robots that allow for next-gen craft brewing and incredible drinking. Don’t believe me? Read what the MFCEO Mark and Scotty the head brewer have to say on the subject, then get down to the Blind Monk for a cheeky Hangman Pale.

BM: What made you decide to start jump in and start a brewery... in other words are you mad?

Mark: I spent a lot of time in the US in the mid 90’s and this was when craft beer was going crazy. I always knew in the back of my mind one day that it would also happen here in Australia. I came back and worked in Television and Advertising for a long time until there was the opportunity to take the plunge. Plus making, selling and drinking beer is a great career option.

Scotty: I think I have called Mark worse than that, others have. 7 years later we still keep on ticking.

BM: When designing a beer do you stumble across your amazing recipes or do you start with an end taste in mind?

Scotty: If we look at the Red Ale, Mark gave me a brief and I worked from there. Main aspect was something that was not a light lager, Mark liked Red Ales he drank in the US and it was a point of difference. Most of the beers go through the test brewery, the Spec beers are a bit looser.

For the Red I did a bunch of test beers and we put it out to Marks mates for comments.

Mark: Looking at the market and what was missing was a Red or Brown ale. It would have been stupid to start the beer company with an American style pale ale or Lager and try and compete with all of the majors. Finding a gap in the market was what we tried to do. I think we did 16 different versions of the Red Ale when we first started. Each time we had a lot of my mates, family and friends to score each of the beers and give us feedback. Scotty would then take the beer that did the best for each round and develop more from there.

BM: Are you like most of us, a functioning alcoholic or do you manage to keep yourself under control even tho you are surrounded by beer daily?

Scotty: Next question

Mark: “the only difference between me and an alcoholic is that I wear a clean shirt everyday”, quote from my father. I find it hard to say no if someone asks me to have a beer. Not sure about Scotty and the brewers…. They start early and seem to be hungover by lunch time.

BM: What has been the biggest challenge with your brewing?

Scotty: Always challenges, we have gone from being on Contract (at one time we were in 5 plants in a month) to getting our brewery built and coping with the growth of our beer. Our sales reps are doing a great job keeping us busy, and our customers are enjoying more of our beer.

Mark: Staying in business for 7 years and actually looking like we might actually make some money soon. I think you will see over the next couple of years a lot of new craft beer companies open up but you will also see a lot fail.

BM: Where do you see the craft beer industry going?

Scotty: 10 years ago would you have expected expresso coffee grow to such huge numbers? Craft beer is no different in my opinion.

Mark: It is an exciting time in craft beer right now and the next 10-20 years are going to be amazing. I like to always look back at the US and see what they are trending. They are wanting to be at 20% penetration by 2020… Australia is not even at 5%. There is so much growth potential in Australia it will be crazy. It’s just the perception of beer in Australia that needs to change, that will only come over time.

BM: Do you mainly drink beer or do other beverages really get you going as well?

Scotty: I am not proud, except for RTD’s…

Mark: Love my Red wine and always looking for a good aged dark rum.

BM: You are consistently brewing the same beers now, Do you still love to get in and invent a new one?

Scotty: I reckon it’s the preserve of all brewers to muck around. I do not think brewing is art, but there are some folks who ply a deal of imagination to things. We have plenty of different things on the go at the moment, whether new to us or to the world. A 100% non-malt fruit Wheat beer is one of those things.

Mark: Rocks Brewing has not even started to experiment with different beers yet. Scotty and the brewers will not give away anything but if you look on the white board at the back of the brewery you will see some pretty cool beers that they are wanting to make. We are about to get 5 more tanks delivered and installed. One of these will be for the brewing team to fill twice a month with whatever they like.

BM: There is talk of cans coming back in... your thoughts - bottles or cans??

Scotty: we currently use cans, it’s a bigger size … a 50l keg. Not sure why the argument polarises some folks.

Mark: Again, in Australia it is the perception of value that the general public has. A can is the best vessel for a beer to be in but the mind set and block that the typical Australian beer drinker has will not change. If they are paying $60 for a case of beer in cans they will question their purchase. Right now we put everything in bottles but they may not always be the way. I would love to do cans and it is considerably cheaper to install a canning line then a bottling line that would pump out the same volume.

BM: Favourite beer you have brewed?

Scotty: a 10% barley wine I kept for 5 years, should have brewed a lot more.

BM: Finally, when can we get you into The Blind Monk for a session?

Mark: Just give us a date and we will be there. Might even drag Scotty away from his

brewery for a couple. Drink the Beer, Spread the Word, Show your Conviction!

Want more beer related nonsense? cool, then i’ll see you on instagram - Jimmy - @a_craft_beer_ideot

This may be difficult for you to believe but I'm not a man that knows his grape wine, crazy I know! For all my refined class and subtleties you'd think I was some kind of french sommelier, but nope, I leave all the crab-savs and what-not to the rich dudes and the Merewether mummies.

One thing I do know is a good beer, and lemme tell you there's a good one on tap right now at the Blind Monk! Endeavour Reserve Red 2014 Sounds like a damn wine because was brewed by experienced wine makers and they design thier ales like they would a good wine, choosing hops and malt from a specific season, this is a pretty innovative approach to brewing, and it gives each beer a unique flavour that differs depending on the annum.

The Red ale is full bodied with deep red colour, light earthy and spicy hops with lovely sweet toasty malt flavours. This really is a super winter beer, perfect for washing down $1 oysters at TBM on a sunday.

I'm not sure if Endevour factor-in number one hits when selecting their ingredients, but guys if you're reading this I'd love a late 90s Limp Bizkit inspired beer with subtle Shania Twain notes. Actually that would probably be a malt liquor so forget it.

We caught up with Andy Stewart, the brewer at Endeavour, and grilled him on his brewing philosophy.

BM: What made you decide to start jump in and start a brewery.. in other words are you mad?

AS: The short answer is yes…. The three of us that started the business all have a passion for beer and the more we learnt of the industry the more we wanted to be involved in it. There are very good people in craft beer in Australia.

BM: When you started brewing the Red Ale, did you stumble across this amazing recipe or did you start with an end taste in mind?

AS: I always start with the end point, and it is not built on specs. I never say I want to brew a 6%, 55 IBU, 70EBC beer. I always start with malt and build the recipe from there. I know if I use X amount of malt I need to balance it with X amount of bitterness and then have to factor in alcohol sweetness. Aromatic hops are the greatest challenge - how do you use them without making the beer one dimensional. For me its all about balancing all the elements so that the final beer is complex and complete, but at the same time a pleasure to drink. The Red Ale

didn’t take too many tweaks from my original pilot brew to the final result but the changes I made were important.

BM: Are you like most of us, a functioning alcoholic or do you manage to keep yourself under control even tho you are surrounded by beer daily?

AS: I do “try” to keep myself under control. 2 kids under 3 are a pretty good reminder of how painful a hangover can be the morning after!

BM: What has been the biggest challenge with your brewing?

AS: Excise! Its amazing that you can be taxed on something before you have sold it. Its a common theme in our industry and forces a lot of good breweries to close the doors. It would be nice to get some assistance as an industry to help us grow and be more competitive against the 2 behemoths.

BM: Where do you see the craft beer industry going?

AS: Onwards and upwards. There is so much potential in Australia and the beer, food and wine revolution is only just beginning. The public are demanding better quality and better flavour. They want to know what goes into their beer and where its from. I think its moving away from just being a beverage to being an experience.

BM: Do you mainly drink beer or do other beverages really get you going as well?

AS: My background is in winemaking so I do drink my fair share of wine as well. I am also fond of cider, more the Normandy style than the sweet expressions that are gracing the Aussie market at the moment. I am also fond of good whisky - there are some pretty exciting Tassie whiskys on the market now. I would say that it is important to look across all these different categories as it gives you a good insight into balance and complexity. It is amazing how complex a cider at 3% alcohol can be. One common theme across them all is the ingredients are the most important element - whether it is grain, grape or apples. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

BM: You are consistently brewing the same beers now, Do you still love to get in and invent a new one?

AS: We only brew consistently throughout the year, our recipes change every year depending on the harvest. We work closely with our hop and grain growers to gain insight into the performance of our ingredients and how best they can be expressed within the house styles that we make. I get to do 2 seasonals each year which gives me an opportunity to work outside those house styles and be creative.

BM: There is talk of cans coming back in... your thoughts - bottles or cans??

AS: I like the idea of cans but they are challenging on the canning line. I have seen some disasters with cans. From a consumer perspective I think we have a way to go to convince them but it is growing.

BM: Favourite beer you have brewed?

AS: No doubt - The Red Ale 2014.

BM: Finally, When can we get you into The Blind Monk for a session?

AS: I am free now……?

if you want more of Jimmys beer writings go follow @a_craft_beer_ideot on instagram and Facebook dot com

Ok, you will need to get in quick for this one....This weeks feature craft beer is one that we have been waiting for at The Blind Monk and I must say we are as happy as a pig mud to have it on tap but I can't see it lasting long.

This beer is not for the faint of heart, At a wopping 7.5% I have just taken down 2 schooners of this delightful stuff and certainly wouldnt risk it with the boys in blue driving home. So looks like the car is sleeping on Beaumont St (yet again!)

As for the beer.... In the Glass it looks almost like a syrup, nice small head and icy cold, This beer has been named perfectly as you can almost taste the word Vintage in it, you certainly need to sit back and enjoy this one as its no skulling beer but it still has a smoothness too it with a nice sweet and malty aftertaste.

Overall, This is a good quality craft beer and goes perfectly with our new Winter Lamb Shanks, I don't think I could drink too many of these but hey, stranger things have happend.

Get in quick, this beer will not last long on tap!

Rating - 4/5