Ramblings of Beer Travelers
“Oz Beer Adventure, Part I” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.
In the first of three episodes from our two week Australian beer adventure, we quickly explore the area around Victoria’s capital. Beginning in Melbourne, we completed a loop in four days around Port Phillip Bay, finishing up back in Melbourne for an Urban Beer Hike.
So enjoy our latest beer adventures in Australia…
For all the episodes of One Pint at a Time go to beergeekTV.
Merideth and I found it hard to believe that we had reached the end of our second Australian beer adventure. We had only one more day in Western Australia before returning to Melbourne and our flight back to California. We were feeling a bit blue because we had such a great time on this trip. Luckily, we had a few more breweries to visit to help that end of trip melancholy.
For our final leg of our two week journey, we based ourselves in the market town of Guilford, east of Perth. Only a few miles from Perth Airport, Guilford was also our gateway to another one of Australia’s well-known wine regions, the Swan Valley.
From Guilford, it was a short ten minute drive to Henley Brook. As we are apt to do, Merideth and I indulged ourselves in our tendency to be Germanophiles at our first stop of the day. Elmar’s in the Valley, not only offered us German-style beer, but also a menu of imported German food delights to match.
While we tried the brews on our sample paddle, we checked out the brewing kit. After visiting over 700 breweries, it’s somewhat hard to fathom that Merideth and I had a “first” at Elmar’s — a glass brew kettle, the likes of which we had never seen before. The largest of the kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the glass “enhance(s) the flavours and purity of the beers.” Maybe the most beautiful piece of brewing equipment we have ever seen, unfortunately, we didn’t get to watch it in action.
There were four beers on the paddle including another first of the trip, an excellent Bock beer. However, Merideth and I kept the form we had all trip. Merideth really liked the Ein Stein Pilsener, while my star of the paddle was Kick Back Weizen.
The imported German sausages were very tasty, too. Merideth went with the regular Bratwurst while I had the smoked version. It seems silly to travel all the way to Australia to eat German food. But I guess that’s what it means to be a Germanophile.
Only a short way up the road was our second stop of the day, Mash Brewing. It was another scorching hot and humid day and Mash was not air conditioned. Plus, they were brewing! If we were going to sample beers in a sauna, we might as well be comfortable, so Merideth and I chose to sit in some comfy chairs near the bar.
Mash didn’t have a sample paddle, rather they had a “tiny” size pour to go along with the half pint and pint. We ordered six of these beers. Starting with Freo Doctor, a Pale Lager, Merideth and I worked through their lineup of brews. Rye the Hop Not and Cascadian Brown Ale both were wonderful hopped brews but hard to appreciate given the conditions. Our consensus favorite beer was West Coast Wheat, another deliciously refreshing traditional Hefeweizen.
We really liked Mash and it would have been a nice place to spend the “arvo” (Aussie for “afternoon”) playing Scrabble. However, it was just too darn hot in there.
German for lunch, German for dinner. After a short break recovering from the sauna at Mash, we finished up our day at the Swan Valley location of Duckstein, the poshest brewery we had visited in Margaret River. The original Duckstein location was much more, for lack of a better word, normal. There as no reflecting pool with heroic horse or massive deck overlooking a lake. There was just a quaint beer garden and the same great beer. However, the moving puppet chef band, especially the one on the right who looked like an infamous terrorist, was really creepy.
Merideth and I grabbed a seat out in their beer garden under the misters and out of sight of the chef band. While we enjoyed our Duckstein beers, Hefeweizen for myself, Pilsner for Merideth, we tried to play our last Scrabble game of the trip. But we were just too distracted as we had started to fall into full “about to go home” mode. When the game became a blowout, we quickly lost interest and packed the game away.
Instead, Merideth and I split a huge Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle), Merideth’s favorite German dish. As we devoured the succulent pork and drank our beers, we looked back on what a great two weeks we’d had in Australia. More important, however, we started talking about our next trip Down Under…
Besides drinking great beer and having a wonderful time, the goal for Merideth and I on our Australian trip was to reach the 700 brewery milestone. As we ticked off breweries early in the trip, we kept thoughts of 700 in the background. But once we passed 695, we started talking about where each of our milestones would be.
My 700th came out of left field. While at Little Creatures during our Urban Beer Hike, our friend Todd came up with the idea that we needed to tour Swan Brewery, or the “mothership” as he called it. Knowing one of the brewers there, Justin, Todd immediately got on his douchephone and arranged a visit for Merideth and me. Thus, my 700th brewery was ordained.
Known for beers such as Emu Bitter and Export Lager, Swan Brewery was founded in 1837. From 1879, Swan was housed in a beautiful brick building on the outskirts of Perth along the Swan River. Today, the building houses offices and posh restaurants including a brewpub, the Old Brewery.
In the late 1970s, a fully automated brewery was built in nearby Canning Vale. Located in the industrial part of town, our visit began at the guard gate where Merideth and I were issued visitor passes and orange vests. On to the reception area, we met Justin for the first time.
Justin, formerly a brewer at the Monk in Fremantle, showed us around the sprawling complex from the grain silos to the packaging line. Modern when it was built, walking around the Swan Brewery, we almost felt like we were in a museum.
We finished up in the brewery bar where Justin cracked open a couple of bottles of Swan Draught, a light-bodied Pale Lager. Taking a big swig, 700 was officially in the books. Merideth and I also tried Emu Bitter, another Pale Lager. Both brews had a similar flavor profile, but I preferred the Emu Bitter as it had a bit more of a hop bite.
My 700th might have not been the epic brewery that I envisioned for such a milestone, but it was a special experience nonetheless. We got a personal tour of Australian beer history and on top of that, Merideth and I increased our circle of Australian beer friends. Thanks to Justin taking time to show us around and to Todd for insisting we visit the mothership.
After a night in Perth, our Western Australian travels continued in nearby Fremantle. Known as “Freo” in Aussie-speak, the city played an important part in Australian craft beer history. With its walkabilty and number of craft beer establishments, Freo seemed ideal for an Urban Beer Hike.
We had planned on four stops on our Urban Beer Hike but the weather, temperatures approaching 100°F and humid, forced us to be cautious and eliminate the one outlying brewpub. The remaining three stops were all located in historic, central Fremantle. In the end, it was a stretch to call it a “hike,” though we did walk a mile each way from our accommodations.
Fittingly, our first stop was arguably the birthplace of the Australian craft beer movement, Sail & Anchor. Established in 1984, the brewpub’s corporate parents unfortunately decided to cease brewing in 2010. The house beers are now contract-brewed and Sail & Anchor has morphed into a beer bar.
We grabbed a high table by one of the big open windows. It afforded us not only a view of the bustling street action but we also got to enjoy what little breeze there was in the stifling air. While we waited for the arrival of Todd from beermen.tv, Merideth and I each enjoyed a pint of beer.
Merideth went with the refreshing Feral White, while I enjoyed my first draft Bridge Road/Nøgne Ø India Saison, one of my favorite beers of the trip. Once Todd arrived, we downed a few pints of Feral Hop Hog, another “Beer of the Trip” candidate, before moving on.
Our second stop was The Monk Brewery & Kitchen. The four-year old brewpub has won a number of Australian International Beer Awards and it is also well known for its USA Craft Beer Week. We didn’t have far to walk as the Monk was literally across the street from Sail & Anchor. Merideth, Todd and I survived the short crossing and grabbed a table near the bar.
At Monk, there was the familiar Wheat, Kölsch, Pale Ale, Porter lineup that we had seen throughout our Australian travels. But to this they added the Rauch, a smoked beer. I have to say that I really wasn’t in the mood for a smoked beer, but it was well-crafted. The runaway star for me was The Chief, a 75 IBU American-style IPA brewed with Cascade and Citra. It tasted like home!
We were having a grand time at Monk until Todd mistakenly asked our Canadian waitress whether she was an American. It was clearly time to move on.
The longest leg of the day was a five minute walk to our final stop: Little Creatures. Walking across the Esplanade, we could hear a din of noise coming from the former cannery buildings that house the brewery and restaurant. Little Creatures was clearly the place to be.
Todd, Merideth and I waded through the thick crowd inside and made our way out to the back patio along the Inner Harbour. Somewhat to our surprise, the three of us easily found seats to enjoy a few pints in the sunshine.
One of the joys of beer travel is drinking beers only available at the source. So when Little Creatures didn’t have any beers available besides their regular lineup, I was admittedly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Little Creatures regular beers are excellent. My beer of choice (all during our stay as we would go to Little Creatures every day during our time in Freo) was the Pilsner while Merideth favored the Bright Ale, an all Australian hopped brew.
One of the more charming aspects of the Australian beer scene was its family friendliness. This usually manifested itself with a small playground where the wee-ones could entertain themselves while mom and dad had a few beers.
While Todd, Merideth and I were enjoying our Little Creatures pints, we noticed a large number of rug rats scurrying about. Turns out, one of the wee-ones was having her birthday party. I’m not sure the birthday girl chose Little Creatures for her celebration but I got a little pink cupcake out of it, so it was fine with me.
The following day, despite it being warmer, we embarked on a six mile round trip walk to visit the one outlying brewery we chose to skip on the previous day’s Urban Beer Hike. Our walk took Merideth and I through Fremantle to the less than scenic docks of its port. But just beyond the docks, we found our oasis, Salt on the Beach, home of Blacksalt Brewery.
After the three mile walk in the searing heat we were quite parched. The house-brewed beer was a very welcome sight. There were two beers on, their Weisse and Vienna Lager. I drank the German-style Wheat and would have thought it quite good except for a odd tinge on the finish. Despite this, the beer was greatly appreciated.
We had completed the task that we began the day before, but I couldn’t help thinking that we had somewhat missed out on a really fun Urban Beer Hike. Before heading back to Fremantle, we took a quick wade in the water to cool off before the scorching walk back. Maybe next trip, we’ll have weather more suited for a beer hike.
Thanks to Augusta Margaret River Tourism for
the help and support on this portion of our trip.
During our first day in the Margaret River area, Merideth and I fell in love with its scenery, beer and food. We regretted having only one more day to experience the charm of the area. But, that is the life of the beer traveler. Western Australia had other regions to explore with more breweries to visit.
We were on the road relatively early, heading south from Margaret River towards Augusta. Our first stop day of the day was Cape Leeuwin at the southwest corner of the Australian continent. Where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, Cape Leeuwin was often the first landfall for many European ships in the days of sail. Given its importance to seafaring, the main attraction of the cape was it’s lighthouse built in 1896.
But before our lighthouse tour, we decided to check out the two oceans a couple of hundred yards apart. Walking down to the Southern Ocean along a rock strewn trail, I must have stepped on a small snake. Merideth had to wait a minute or so for the writhing reptile to slither under a rock. Relating the story to our lighthouse tour guide later, he remarked that the snake was highly venomous. Oops!
As we climbed the 176 steps to the top, we learned the history and workings of the lighthouse, plus some of the local lore. At the top, we were treated to an amazing panoramic view of both oceans and the surrounding countryside. Several hundred yards offshore, we could even see where the two oceans met, a surge of whitewater marking waves from each ocean colliding. At least on this day, it looked like the Indian Ocean was winning.
One of the hidden geographical features of the Margaret River region is several caves. Driving north back on the aptly named Caves Rd., we passed both Jewel and Lake Caves on the way to Mammoth Cave. We chose Mammoth as its self-guided tour fit better into our hectic schedule.
Discovered around 1850 but not mapped until 1895, Mammoth lived up to its name. Walking the 500 meter length, we passed through a number of massive chambers, all adorned with rock formations hanging from the ceiling or projecting from the cave floor. The most impressive of these was the Mammoth Shawl, with it’s red/orange ribbons.
With our outdoor and underground activities done for the day, it was time our first beer stop of the day, Colonial Brewing back in Margaret River.
Colonial was another modern, open brewpub with a beery touch, including chandeliers made out of growlers. We set up shop outside in a shady spot with a gorgeous view of the surrounding countryside to sample the Colonial brews.
Colonial had five beers in their paddle. Merideth picked up the first beer and asked, “Which beer is this…?” Colonial’s big contribution to the beer world is that they have solved the age-old ‘which beer is this’ problem in a sample flight of beers. Each tasting glass was labeled with the beer style, plus there were short tasting notes on the back.
Colonial’s lineup was solid from front, a Kölsch to back, a Porter. True to form, Merideth picked the delightful, clean Kölsch as her beer of the paddle. It was another hot and humid day in southwestern Australia and the brew lived up to its description as a refreshing summer beer.
Equally predictable as Merideth, I chose the India Pale Ale as my favorite. Hopped aggressively like I prefer, the IPA still had a lightish body that paired almost as well as the Kölsch with the weather. And the tasting notes also had my new favorite phrase, “forest floor of hops.” I’m going to start using it as soon as I figure out what it means.
After a short stop at Millers Ice Cream to sample some “Cow to Cone” goodness, we were headed back to Wilyabrup for our next brewery. Set on 74 acres next to a lake, Bootleg Brewery opened its doors in 1994. As one of the original craft breweries in Western Australia, Bootleg has won many awards for its brews.
There were seven beers on Bootleg’s paddle and three were in contention for my ‘best of’ award. The Hefe was a wonderful banana bomb, quenching on the hot day. Settler’s Pale Ale was brewed in the American style with lots of citrusy hops. But in the end, the runaway winner was Wild Ginger Wheat. Kind of how I like my IPAs, the brew was aggressively ‘gingered.’ As the brewery says, “If you’re not a HOPHEAD… You’re a GINGER NUT!”
We had one more brewery to complete the Margaret River portion of our journey. Duckstein Brewery in Wilyabrup was the poshest of the posh breweries we visited on the whole trip. We have been to over 700 breweries now and Duckstein was the first with a reflecting pool complete with a heroic-looking horse statue. The only thing that deterred from the amazing setting was the low water level of the water feature.
Merideth and I had a great sense of satisfaction as we relaxed on the deck sampling Duckstein’s German-style beers. We had had a busy two-day schedule and were now at the last stop. Everything on our agenda had been completed.
Continuing the trend of excellent German-style beers on the trip, the Pils and Hefeweiss were both excellent. The nutty, roasty Dunkel, a first for us in Australia, was my favorite of this sample paddle. However, the highlight beer was an American-style IPA that we got to preview. Not released until the following day, Shannon, the brewer, was gracious enough to pour us a sample. What a wonderous hop bomb!
Leaving Duckstein, we were done with Margaret River. The next day, Merideth and I would head back north to Perth and new Western Australia beer adventures. We hope to get back to Margaret River sooner, rather than later.