Canberra Brewers

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.

The Thirsty Crow

By Stephen Norrie

On ANZAC day weekend this year, my wife and I were in the Hunter region for a wedding. We decided to stop in at the Potters Brewery in Nulkaba, for the Sunday night, for a spot of two-up and a look around the brewery.

Craig Wealands, one of the brewers at Potters, showed me around and also kindly shared some samples of Potters beers, including their Kolsch, Pale Ale and their excellent Porter.

It turns out that Craig is soon moving back to his home town of Wagga Wagga, to open the towns first craft brewery, The Thirsty Crow, at 31 Kincaid St. The Brewery has just received its 500 litre brewery and the development application has been approved, with the doors to open around July this year.

The Thirsty Crow’s line up will include a Red Light Ale, Kolsch, American Pale Ale, an ESB, Robust Porter, Batlow Apple Cider, a Hefeweizen (which I was lucky enough to sample) and some seasonals. You can follow the progress of the Thirsty Crow on Facebook.

A White Christmas in Scotland

By Stuart Whytcross

Scotland has a rich beer history with evidence of brewing dating back to 3000 years ago. The Celtic tradition of using bittering herbs remained in Scotland longer than the rest of Europe, and although they soon followed the rest of the brewing world, a recent revival of bittering with herbs is re-emerging amongst many brewers in Scotland.

Traditionally in Scotland, brewing was done by the "broustaris", or alewives, and monasteries. Records show that in 1509 Aberdeen had over 150 brewers – all women!

By the mid 19th century Edinburgh had forty breweries and was "acknowledged as one of the foremost brewing centres in the world", the success of Scotland’s brewing industry was partly due to the fact that Tax on beer was held at a lower amount than the rest of the United Kingdom, there was no tax on malt in Scotland…and I’m guessing their beers must have tasted alright as well!

Building of the Spruce Moose brew stand

By Patrick Baggoley

Having not brewed for about five years, when I finally got the last couple of pieces of gear together to try my first all grain batch in January 2009, I decided to get back into it with a vengeance. 

As most do, I spent my few couple of batches propping up various vessels on milk crates, benches and saw horses, and each time I’d end up trying a different configuration. I’d trip over things, misplace mash paddles and thermometers and generally get very confused. This meant it was hard to get parts of the process such as mash-in, recirculating and sparging properly co-ordinated and consistent.

Disco Stu's European beer adventure — part 1

By Stuart Whytcross

Nederland’s and Heineken

On my travels, I reckon you can get a pretty good feel for a city in terms of the beers offered in the hotels mini-bar. Upon opening the fridge in our hotel in the Red Light District in Amsterdam, I was greeted by a selection of Grimbergen and Leffe bottles. It was at this stage I was really regretting not researching Amsterdam and its breweries and pubs. Not that these were Dutch beers, but any country that recognizes good beers surely possesses a great beer culture?

Amsterdam wasn’t on my Beer Travels at all, but it had been recommended by several other travelers we met as a ‘must.’ Needless to say I was overwhelmed and excited at the beer culture of the city. In terms of beer culture, Amsterdam is thriving. Obviously they cater for their market (loads of male pom’s on bucks parties and footy trips) by offering Amstel and Heineken on tap in many small sports style bars. But you won’t have to walk far to discover some terrific outlets with some fantastic Belgian and trappist beers, and of course a good selection of local Dutch beers available both on tap and in bottles, and here is a selection of the most noteworthy.

Sargent Arms Bar and Brewery

By Steve Sargent (aka Sarge)

February 2009 marked the start of construction of the “Sargent Arms Bar and Brewery”. Twelve months in the making, it is a purpose built, 24 square metre ‘shed’ in the backyard. It also includes a 15 square metre deck. Footings are 600 mm deep, with stirrups concreted into the holes. 100 X 100 mm treated pine posts support the treated pine bearers and floor joists. There are 16 posts in all, supporting four bearers, plus another bearer that is dyna-bolted to the double brick wall at the rear. The floor is ‘yellow tongue’ particle board. The frames are standard structural pine and the rafters are 4.6 metre long treated pine and span the 4 metre wide floor space with a 600 mm eave. The whole thing is clad with corrugated iron and both walls and roof are insulated. It has two second-hand sliding cedar doors, 1 X 1.8 metre and 1 X 2.4 metre, courtesy of my cousin,  giving a total of 4.2 metres of glass over the 6 metre length. The decking is new timber but was weathered, so I picked it up for $2 per metre.

Disco Stu's European beer adventure

Stuart Whytcross

Hi, my name is Stuart Whytcross (disco stu) from Griffith NSW. I have been all-grain brewing for about two years now. In October last year I was introduced to the Canberra Brewers Club by Dicko at the Nationals. I was amazed to find so many other people as passionate about brewing as myself, and so the next day I became a member of the National Champions!

Being 350kms from Canberra, I have yet to attend my first Canberra Brewers meeting, but I still manage to get to Canberra quite regularly. Since joining the Club my brewing has dramatically improved as well as my enjoyment of the hobby. The friendship and knowledge I have gained from members on visits to Canberra, the forum, ‘The Ferm’ and competitions has been extraordinary to say the least.