Cowtown beers go on tap

From Fresh, The West Australian, December 7

By Vic Crossland

Cowaramup Brewery opens tomorrow, after almost five years of red tape, bringing more craft beer to the South-West wine region. The first three beers were brewed by joint owner Jeremy Good in late November with the help of Brendan Varis of Feral Brewing and Michael Brookes from nearby Bootleg.

It was an exhausting weekend, with only four hours sleep between brews, but the fermenter storage tanks are now full – that’s more than 3600 litres of beer ready to serve on tap.

The Cowaramup beers are: Special Pale Ale, fermented with English ale yeast and using Britain’s renowned Maris Otter barley as the base malt and prime English hops East Kent Goldings, Fuggle and Challenger; Bavarian-style unfiltered Hefeweizen (wheat beer) with German wheat giving a light golden colour and off-white head; and Pilsner, a pale gold lager with hoppy aroma and moderately bitter finish. Mr Good intends adding a decidedly hoppy and fairly strong India Pale Ale before Christmas. Seasonal and specialty beers are also planned. The two English-style ales will soon be dispensed by traditional handpumps, rare in Australia.

“The brewing went really well and I reckon the beer’s excellent,” Brendan Varis said. He rates the 800-litre brewhouse, custom-made in Canada. “I’m envious of the space the brewer has to work in,” he said.

The rig is designed so Mr Good can “dry hop” ales for extra fragrance. “I’ll be able to use some of the nine varieties of hop flowers we grow on the property,” he said. The direct gas-fired kettle is another Australian rarity, good for precise temperature control during the important boil.

Teething problems with new breweries are inevitable and one - absence of a paddle to mash in with – was solved by using a standard garden rake to stir the grain. “It worked brilliantly,” Mr Varis said. “It was better than my malt paddle and, tell you what, I’m getting a garden rake for my brews.”

Mr Good and partner Claire Parker plan a party to thank the trades people who worked on the brewery over the past 21 months.

The rammed earth building, next to the Treeton Estate winery, is licensed for up to 200 bar and restaurant customers. A bouncy castle will keep children amused during December and January.

Chef Cain Humberstone, a former South Australia Apprentice of the Year who has worked at Leeuwin Estate, puts the food focus on gourmet pizzas and platters intended to complement the beer styles. The brewery will also serve local wines including Treeton Estate Shiraz and Tassell Park Sauvignon Blanc.. Cowaramup Brewery will open 10am- 6pm seven days a week. Phone: 9755 5822.

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It’s well said that brewing is a brotherhood, and the way brewers including local rivals Dean McLeod of Colonial and Bootleg’s Michael Brookes clustered round to help the new Cowaramup brewery proves it. But this was not the only current example of co-operation.

Richard Moroney has the run of the superb German-built Last Drop brewhouse at Armadale to hone his beers for the upcoming Mad Monk enterprise in Fremantle. John Stallwood brews the Jarrah Jack’s range at Pemberton, and is allowed to work on his new Nail Ale beers for a planned revival. Peter Nolin and Bill Hoedemaker of Gage Roads often advise and lend technical help to less experienced small-batch brewers.

Perhaps this brotherliness is one reason why David Cryer – whose NZ-based company supplies 85 per cent of WA breweries with specialist malts –says the State “is in the forefront of microbrewing not only in Australia but in Australasia”.

Mr Cryer’s three-monthly visits bring the brewers together socially, swapping ideas, sources and even recipes with the malt man very much an integral part.

At Clancy’s Fish Pub in Fremantle, he caught up on what’s happening and shared news as well as drinks with about a dozen brewers. “No matter how hard you try to keep up with customers and brewing development by distance communication, you have to meet people face to face to do it properly,” he said.

And the favourite place for David Cryer Malts has to be WA . “It’s left NZ in the dust,” he said .

QUICK ONES

Feral White has changed its livery. Swan Valley craft brewer Brendan Varis ordered the label’s facelift to mark what he considers perfection of batches specially brewed for bottling and the increase in sales of his Belgian-style cloudy wheat beer around WA. “Entering the main beer season I’m flat out keeping up with demand,” Mr Varis said.

The first Perth Royal Beer Show is to go ahead at the Claremont Showgrounds next year. The Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia has announced the beer show’s introduction, with judging to start on March 26 and exhibitor tasting and awards presentation on March 30. The competition is open to commercial, non-commercial and home brewers.

Coopers Vintage Ale won Tesco’s 2007 Best Import award - along with an order for 2500 cases from the major British supermarket chain. But with fewer than 500 cases of the 2006 Vintage left since its July release, Coopers chairman and marketing director Glenn Cooper said: “The Tesco order is for the next Vintage Ale we release.” He said the Adelaide brewery could bring out a 2007 vintage, one year earlier than scheduled.