How much wood would six breweries, two cider makers and six distilleries chuck at a Good Beer Week event if they could chuck wood? Answer: Rather a lot, and in a northerly trajectory while they’re at it.
Woods of the North is Good Beer Week’s
showpiece event for all things barrel-aged, hosted by Thornbury’s 3 Ravens
Brewery. It is one among a handful of
events that showcase the top tier of Australia’s brewing (and burgeoning
distilling) industry without the pomp, ceremony and
Campino / strawberry milkshake beers of the
big festivals.^
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| Sailors Grave's showcase beers, drawn from 50L casks. |
Down Under, looking up.
In 2018 Australia’s brewing profile is looking hotter than
ever, along with the nation’s distilling game; with gin, whiskey and artisanal spirit
makers making their mark both home and abroad. Starward whiskey can now be
found as far away as the USA, while Australian names such as Adelaide Hills
Distillery and Manly Spirits Co joined Starward in picking up Gold medals at
the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in recent years. Clearly there is
plenty of proof in Australia’s boozy pudding.
Starward wasn’t the only distiller
represented on the day. Craig Westwood’s Cedar Fox gin, meanwhile, is as gritty
as it gets, especially his North Coburg distillery itself, which was entirely
built from scratch. One could be forgiven for thinking such an artisanal set-up
is indicative of limited pedigree, but in fact Westwood’s CV includes an
on-going brewing role with Melbourne’s Mountain Goat Brewery.
The Appalachian Mountains of North America
might seem half a world away from South Melbourne, but the indigenous,
illegally distilled beverage of the home of morose folk music has made its way
down under thanks to Melbourne Moonshine.
The cider and brandy folks from Willie Smith’s,
sister brandy distillery Charles Oates; and Co-op Pear Cider Brandy were on
hand to showcase the leading edge of Australia’s cider making prowess as well.
On the beer front, Australian breweries and
drinkers have taken to sour beer in a big way. This can be attributed as much
to the country’s warm climate as its broadening collective palate.
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| Five Cougars, Thanks! |
Moreover, though many breweries are happy to,
quite rightly, avoid the very real risk of contaminating the brewhouse with
Brettanomyces by sticking to “kettle sour” brewing, a handful have opened or
are set to open the doors to their own fully-fledged barrel rooms (whether or
not spontaneous fermentation is performed). Boatrocker Brewers &
Distillers, La Sirรจne and Feral Brewing were indeed among the originals.
Sydney’s Wildflower Brewing & Blending
has gone one step beyond simply brewing and barrel-ageing sour beer by
harnessing native yeasts from rural New South Wales for the purposes of
fermenting its beers, though as owner/brewer Topher Boehm will tell you, beers
at the Marrickville barrel room are not spontaneously fermented due to the
facility’s location directly beneath a busy commercial flight path.
Nevertheless, Wildflower stood tall as a truly worthy inclusion among the Woods
of the North bill. Expect to see more from this innovative pioneer in years to
come.
The Legacy.
Every festival deserves an appearance by a
pioneer of legendary status. Glastonbury had Metallica and no Ibiza season
would be complete without Sven Vath doing his thing at Cocoon. So it was that
Goose Island headed up the monumental Woods of the North festival line-up.
Fact is, Woods of The North; along with the
complex, relatively new relationship between beer, wood and spirits as a we
know it; might not have come about were it not for the creation of Goose Island’s
Bourbon County Bourbon barrel-aged stout.
Prior to the first incarnation of “BCS” in
1995, few beers outside Flanders or the Lambeek regions of Belgium were aged in
wood. One must look back to the days before stainless steel to find wood used
as a storage vessel, and then the wood underwent rigorous treatment so as to
impart as little flavour as possible. Not to mention ridding it of bugs like
pediococcus (bacteria known to add to aforementioned sour beer’s tart
character). Indeed the advent of wood being used to impart flavour into beer is
as recent as the Britpop era, though it remains far more relevant today.
3 Ravens, Boatrocker and Hop Nation are but
three Australian breweries who have built upon the Bourbon / whiskey
barrel-aged tradition as pioneered by Goose Island’s Bourbon County stout. Only
the Mona Centre could fit this many trail blazers under the one roof.
A wonder through the woods.
A veritable mecca of barrels greeted guests
upon alighting the shuttle bus from Thornbury train station. They were not
there for show either, for each 50L cask contained an individual beer, ageing
and conditioning in what had previously provided Starward whiskey with its much
needed beauty sleep. Guests were provided with a helpful list of the beers on
show, which would later become especially useful when checking in as yet
unheard of beers into Untappd.
It seemed fitting the beer that started it
all should be the first pour for yours truly, and so it was Bourbon County
Stout got the day underway. This legendary beer, known for its deep roast, dark
fruit and luscious, almost spirituous character first landed in Australia in
2017 - scarcely six months prior. Regardless of who owns who, a chance to
sample such a landmark beer should not be passed up, especially when no such
opportunity has ever arrived at Australia’s doorstep.
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| 3 Ravens Whiskey Barrel-aged Imperial stout, building on the legacy of Bourbon County Stout. |
Also not to be missed, even if it was a
revisitation, was Goose Island and Boatrocker’s October Beer collaboration, a
Bourbon barrel-aged modern take on a long forgotten historic beer style. With
its parallels to barleywine, October beer is so named for being brewed prior to
the onset of winter, a specialist brew of historic estates and much lauded for
its incredible depth of flavour. Needless to say Boatrocker X Goose Island’s
interpretation went down a treat.
Orbost-based sour beer specialists Sailors Grave
provided much needed refreshment with their carrot-infused Queen Anne’s Lace,
while much needed sustenance came by way of smoked barbecue meat rolls. The
collision of aromatics wafting around 3 Ravens’ shed-like abode was enough to
send many into a shuddering state of wanderlust.
The wondrous walk through the woods whisked
me to Wildflower, whose Table beer I had never previously sampled. Was I being
seduced by the Wicked Witch of the West (Sydney suburb of Marrickville)? Best
sample an Amber blend, whose nuanced flavour screamed of sub tropical forest
terroir, just to be sure.
3 Ravens’ own magical mystical potions were
not to be missed either. Australian readers may remember the “Five Cougars,
Thanks!” ad campaign (brilliant advertisement, unspeakably horrible drink). The
Bourbon and Cola RTD was resurrected, incongruously and deliciously, in beer
form as a sour cola ale. A sample of the host’s 12% whisky barrel-aged imperial
stout seemed like a good idea too, not least because its bold coffee and whiskey
flavours brought proceedings full circle prior to hitting up the distillers’ table.
Admittedly I do not like most wine or sherry
cask whiskies but I could not help but warm to Starward’s balanced offering.
Solera too was nuanced; the 10th Anniversary an amazing showpiece of just how
far Australian spirits have come in a relatively short period of time; and the
Old Fashioned bottled cocktail was, predictably, a thing of beauty.
Things get a touch blufry from here. I
remember sampling Cedar Fox’s flagship gin, its oaked and navy-strength
brethren; and I was assured later these would be mighty fine in a classic
G&T. Hippocampus’s The Spirit Soon to be Known as Rum very nearly saw my
ship and crew go down in a fiery blaze of glory, before Hop Nation’s superbly
well balanced oatmeal brown ale arrived once more to steady proceedings.
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| Boatrocker's amazing bottled Old Fashioned | cocktail |
I must confess time did not permit me to
sample the wares of Melbourne Moonshine, Charles Oates, Co-Op Cider or Willie
Smith’s (the latter whose products for whom I have recently acquired a real
taste), but the five hours were well spent enjoying some of the best fermented
goodness this great country has to offer. Suffice it to say the company and
chatting to the makers was equally great.
A massive thanks must go out to 3 Ravens
Brewery; the participating breweries, distilleries and cideries; and Good Beer
Week for staging such an epic showcase event. Blind Taste Test is counting down
the days until the next one.
3 Ravens X Boatrocker X Hop Nation X
Wildflower X Sailors Grave: Woods of the North: The Collaboration Sour Ale.
Who would have thunk it? One of suburban Melbourne’s oldest craft breweries 3 Ravens
was once known for its solid range of European-inspired beers, including Dark
(raiuchbier-style lager), White (Belgian wit) and English (ESB) among others,
previously brewed solely for nearby pubs. But magic started happening when
Brendan O’Sullivan took over as head brewer and WA’s Mash Brewing joined forces
to brew its specialty beers for the Melbourne market. In so doing 3 Ravens was
saved from financial oblivion.
Though the Mash / 3 Ravens partnership is no
more, the pairing helped kick off Australia’s sour beer love affair with Wizz
Fizz Berliner-weisse. (Australian readers may already know the playful
reference to another lolly-themed sour beer in Feral’s Watermelon Warhead which
preceded it). There has been no looking back for O’Sullivan and the 3 Ravens
team. The brewery has since launched a well regarded Wild Ravens sour beer
series, including a take on the Flanders red style and an Industrial Farmhouse
Ale, to name but two.
In the spirit of the occasion and the
collaborative creative engine that is beer brewing, attendees took home with
them a commemorative bottle of Woods of the North beer. All five Australian
brewers who made the Woods of the North event the wonderful event it was all
lent a hand in its creation, and my what an amazing concoction it was.
Pouring an attractive (more-so than the photo
I took - sorry!) pale orange-amber with an at first firm white head that left
behind fine lacing, Woods of the North could be mistaken for an unblended
lambic were not for its carbonation. (Certainly its head was too subtle to
resemble that of a blended gueuze).
On the nose, perfumed nuance, apricot and springtime
garden aromas leapt from the glass. The ensuing flavour one could imagine being
equally assertive, however it was anything but. Delicate, complex, floral,
beautiful - with more than a touch of apricot and tropical fruit flavours.
One might be forgiven for thinking the yeast
used came by way of Wildflower, for there was more than a hint of the brewery’s
house character on display here. And although the beer was more than a sum of
its parts, each brewery’s own single creative influence within the blend was in
there somewhere.
Indeed blending is often an overlooked aspect
of brewing. It takes place not only in Belgium’s lambic brewhouses, but in many
major commercial breweries too. It is a practice that ensures beer tastes as
wonderful and consistent as can be: Edges are smoothed out, imperfections
masked and flavour harmonies created. The end result of this five-way
collaboration was in the end sensational to say the least.
Watch this space for an updated tasting of
the same beer following one year’s worth of ageing!
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| Woods of the North: The beer! |
*Don’t get me wrong, I loe the pomp, ceremony
and especially Campino flavoured beers of the big festivals!
The full list of Woods of the North breweries,
cideries and
distilleries:
3 Ravens
Boatrocker Brewers & Distillers
Goose Island
Hop Nation
Sailors Grave
Wildflower
Willie Smith’s
Melbourne Moonshine
Starward
Hippocampus
Charles Oates
Cedar Fox
Co-Op Pear Cider Brandy
Graham Frizzell was a guest at Woods of the
North 2018.
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