Canberra Brewers

IPA is Dead? I think not

By David Gilks

You either love or hate the Scottish brewery Brewdog.  They deliberately create controversy, breaking the British brewing mainstream and producing ridiculous beers like Tactical Nuclear Penguin, their 32% ice-distilled Imperial Stout.  That said, they also make some quality beer, and are one of the few breweries we get in Australia that produce a commendable American IPA.

Brewdog recently release a series of four single hopped American IPAs called IPA is Dead.  Using four of their favourite hops, Bramling X (UK), Citra (USA), Sorachi Ace (Japan) and Nelson Sauvin (NZ), Brewdog sought to highlight the features of these hops in a 7.5% single-hop IPA.  All four beers use the same malt backbone and the same late hopping schedule, with the only difference being the amount of bittering hops used to get the beer to its 75 IBU.

Debacle's Czech Beer Degustation

By Patrick Baggoley

Debacle in Braddon is keen to become known as a high-quality beer destination and at the forefront of this noble aim are its beer degustation nights.

The Czech Beer Degustation on March 4 was Debacle’s third in what hopefully becomes a long tradition. While I didn’t attend the first, a German night, I was lucky enough to attend the Belgian night and based on that alone I’ll be doing whatever I can to make it to more.

The Czech night cost $85 per person which included five courses and five matching beers. And we’re talking decent serves of both.

Review: Primator Polotmavy 13%

By Sam Highley

Before Czechoslovakia gave us cake, they gave us beer. The little town of Náchod in the Czech Republic has a long history of brewing beer, with the townsfolk themselves brewing beer in their homes up until 1872, when the town council founded a local brewery. The Náchod brewery — now known as Primator — produces about a dozen different beers including a weizenbier, English pale ale and a stout. It was owned by the town itself until last year when it was sold to an investment fund which also owns another couple of Czech breweries in Svijany and Rohozec. Part of the condition of sale was that the new owners had experience in beer, and that a guarantee was made to continue the brand for a period of at least five years.