Written by Vic Crossland

Three new ales from New South Wales prove that WA is not alone in linking craft brewing with wineries. Two of the beers come from a new brewing enterprise, the other from an established brewery owned by well-known wine family. 

   Endeavour was set up after viticulturalist Andy Stewart, with 13 years experience, and two wine-industry friends decided during a pub chat that beer could be improved by using winemaking principals to express variations in ingredients from year to year. Mr Stewart learned how to brew, the friends pitched in with marketing and accounting skills and the first vintage Endeavour Reserve beers have just been released – Pale Ale and Amber Ale.

The pale ale uses early season Super Alpha hops complemented by Amarillo and Galaxy hops and late season pilsner, Munich and crystal malted barley. Endeavour Reserve Amber Ale, with dark crystal, choc and pale malts, is hopped with Australia’s own Pride of Ringwood variety from this year’s harvest.

  Labels on Endeavour’s bottles list not only the hops used but the grains and even the water, all with line-drawn illustrations. Endeavour Reserve ales sell for $18 per four-pack of 330ml bottles, ready for drinking now but also designed to evolve complexity over two years or so of careful cellaring.

  William Bull brewery was set up by the de Bortoli winemaking family in the NSW Riverina and as soon as it started operating in 2008 made an impact with Red Angus pilsener. Only now has it released its second beer, William’s Pale Ale, bearing a likeness of the wing-collared founder on the label and cap.

  It’s styled somewhere between Australian pale ale and German kolsch for easy drinking. William’s Ale is produced “with minimal intervention”, it is sterile filtered. It comes in 330ml brown bottles priced about $57 per carton and $16 for a handy basket-style six-pack.

 Ask at your local liquor store or contact De Bortoli Wines Perth office on 9474 7400 for the nearest stockist.

  As for WA brewing, Palmyra’s Gage Roads is about to release a new pale ale called Atomic. Meanwhile its Pils has had an image revamp. Gage Pils 3.5 may look different from the mid-strength beer that’s been around for years, but inside the very-long-necked green, screw-cap bottle the pils is as before.

THE BEERS

ENDEAVOUR RESERVE PALE ALE (4.5 PER CENT)

The ale is conditioned with yeast in the bottle, so it pours lively. The fizzy bubbles quickly disperse to a filmy head atop slightly cloudy, honey-coloured beer. Australian Galaxy and American Amarillo hops combine in a refreshing fragrance – grapefruit, pineapple – and contribute to fresh, mouth-filling, citrus and peach flavours in a long drink made smooth by a dash of wheat in the mash. The role of Super Alpha hops seems confined to balance because there’s little bitterness. 

ENDEAVOUR RESERVE AMBER ALE (5.2 PER CENT)

A good colour – medium-dark with copper tint from dark crystal and chocolate malts – points to the traditional amber ale flavours of caramel and rich fruits. Other tastes, including chocolate and toast, peep from the depths of a satisfyingly chewy, long beer with a touch of spice at the finish. Nice served cool and better as it warms up.   

WILLIAM’S PALE ALE (4.5 PER CENT)

For a beer with the pale yellow appearance of bland lager, this ale presents surprisingly agricultural and robust on the nose. The malt character from all-Australian barley continues rather sweet on the palate, but the beer is light enough in body to evade any cloying. The Australian bittering hops do little bittering, in truth, though they do contribute to a pleasant dryness towards the finish.    

GAGE PILS 3.5 (3.5 PER CENT)

After an initial burst of floral hop fragrance there’s very little to report about the standard pale-gold, thinly white-topped lager. Detectable sweetness resembles Dutch pils rather than German or Czech, perhaps more suitable for summer cooling refreshment in sunny WA.

QUICK ONE

Sydney hosts the sixth Australian Beer Festival on the October 16-17 weekend, featuring New Zealand brews for the first time alongside scores of beers from more than a dozen Aussie breweries. It’s held at the Australian Hotel in The Rocks. More than 12,000 people are expected to attend, 20,000 litres of beer and hundreds of “true blue” pizzas such as croc, roo and emu to be consumed. Pre-booked tickets - including a tasting cup and 10 tasting tickets - cost $15, phone 02 9247 2229 or visit www.australianheritagehotel.com

Written by Vic Crossland

From Fresh, The West Australian, 7^th October