WA’s beer revolution has been fuelled mainly by craft breweries serving their wares on tap at their own bars, but all that has changed. Bottling of small-batch brews means bottle shops run by keen management now bring them to a wider market. A prime example is Cellarbrations at Carlisle.

Manager Adam O’Brien, with assistant Joel Beresford, has been building up the shop’s beer range since installing a new cool -room a year ago. Currently he stocks 156 beers ranging from Europe’s Trappist ales, pilseners and wheat beers to top tastes from Asia, New Zealand and the US. Microbrews from the eastern States include Saltram’s Pepperjack wine-beer, unique Red Oak and the Lord Nelson range. But increasingly, the emphasis is on WA craft brews.

“We went to the South and South-West to see the microbreweries and came back beer-obsessed,” Mr O’Brien said. The result is a line-up from Bootleg, Jarrah Jack’s and Tanglehead as well as Perth beers Billabong, Gage Roads, Nail Ale, Feral, Mash, Little Creatures and Matso’s from Broome.

“We find WA beers sell better than imports – probably on price. It’s easier for people who want to try something different but don’t know all the beers. It’s great when customers come back satisfied and ready for more suggestions,” Adam O’Brien said.

“This has been a family-run shop for 22 years. My Dad (owner Murray O’Brien) is into fine wine, but he’s happy that fine beer is having an impact, too.

“I’m happy: I taste them all before buying them in and some local beers rate very highly.”

Where: Cellarbrations at Carlisle, cnr Orrong Road and Wright Street, Kewdale.

Phone 9361 1434

www.cellarbrations.com.au

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Top 10

(Cellarbrations at Carlisle)

1. McChouffe (Belg.)

2. Emerson’s IPA (NZ)

3. 3 Monts (Fr)

4. Coopers’ Vintage Ale (Aus.)

5. Alpha Pale Ale (Aus.)

6. Sam Smith Imperial Stout (UK)

7. Knappstein Lager (Aus.)

8. Lord Nelson Three Sheets (Aus.)

9. Red Angus Pilsner (Aus.)

10. Gage Roads London Best (Aus.)

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Crafty Christmas ideas

Two of WA’s microbreweries have released festive brews in very different styles. Tanglehead Brewery’s Christmas Ale – a niche success last year – reappears with added zing in a robust 750ml bottle. This 7.5 per cent, fruity, raisiny brown ale from Albany is designed not so much for al fresco quaffing as for meditive sipping – perhaps with the plum pudding or as a nightcap. Malt complexity and special yeast and spices give sweetness up front followed by flavours evocative of mulled wine and fruit mince pie.

In contrast, the Last Drop brewery has launched five-litre party kegs of its summery Wheat Beer and Pilsner for the Christmas season. Brewer Jan Bruckner admits that the internationally marketed Heineken mini-keg inspired the decision, though the self-contained valve-and-tap serving system is different.

“Party kegs are still a novelty in Australia compared with Europe, and I’m pleased these two beers represent Last Drop on Perth’s packaged market,” he said.

Last Drop beer usually is on tap only, in the brewery’s own pubs and some independent bars.

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