Swan Valley

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.

Guilford's colonial gaol

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.

Elmar's in the 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.

The brew kettle at Elmar's in the Valley

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.

Lunch is served

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.

Mash Brewing

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.

Trying to keep the beer cool...

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.

The creepy chef band at Duckstein

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.

The haxe at Duckstein

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…

View all the Swan Valley images…

700! (Merideth)

Usually I can be heard kvetching about the fact that I am one behind Chris in our brewery count. It’s true, there are several things that bum me out about it. But there is also one big advantage: we each get our distinct moment in the sun when we reach a milestone. Chris had his 700th brewery visit at a place where drunken Australian teenage dreams are made. My 700th brewery day, on the other hand, had what “American beer tourists in Australia” dreams are made of.

On the prowl at Yanchep National Park

We started the day with a visit to the Yanchep National Park. Since it was my day, Chris indulged me with an excursion to see if we could spot the elusive Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. As luck would have it, we were told that there was also a koala habitat in the park. (Koalas are not native to Western Australia.)

We arrived to the nerve-rattling stranger danger call of hundreds of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (the more common cousin of the Red-tailed kind). Chris and I own two Conures and like I imagine it is between human moms and infants, we have learned the meaning of different squawks. So for me, it was alarming to hear the wild Cockatoos in such a frenzy. But their cacophony of ear-piercing screeches soon became background noise as we headed towards the koala area.

Typical day for a Koala

I don’t know what I was expecting, but within two minutes of entering the koala habitat, we spotted one. I guess I wanted it to take more time. Because if it took more effort, it meant something had really been accomplished. Nonetheless, as an American tourist in Australia it thrilled me to no end to see the gray, furry, quintessentially Australian animals lounging in the trees. And I do mean lounging. About the only movement we saw out of them was when one stretched his legs as he straddled a branch (which, by the way, was super cute!). Others curled up in little balls in the crooks of the trees. The only sign of life was the up and down movement of their round tummies as they breathed. If only life could be so simple…

Lurking in the bushes

As we wandered the “civilized” part of the park, we spotted gray-faced kangaroos laying in the shade and some birds, including the pre-historic looking Purple Swamphen, by the large lagoon. After a short time, we were ready to seek out what we had really come to see, the rare Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

Not a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

A sign pointed us to the 17.5 km Cockatoo Trail, so that’s where we headed. Obviously we weren’t going to walk the entire trail, especially because the temperature was in the high 30’s Celsius (near 100º F), but we thought we’d give part of it a go. A ways down the “uncivilized” dusty dirt road, however, we turned around. The wildlife, including the unseen snakes and the very much seen enormous spider, started to freak me out and it was hard to concentrate on the bird watching. I wasn’t too upset about our failed excursion, though, because I knew it was a long shot that we’d actually catch a glimpse of the elusive birds. I was ready for a beer anyway. We left the Cockatoo Trail without hearing even the slightest peep of a bird.

700!

Aussie Karen (our GPS) lead the way to my milestone brewery, Indian Ocean Brewing Co. in Mindarie. We found the brewery amidst nice newly built townhouses overlooking a small dock area. On a Tuesday at noon, the brewpub was nearly empty, but that didn’t bother us one bit.

I sat at a table and anxiously waited while Chris ordered the taster paddle at the bar. I needed to drink the beer before it could officially count as my 700th brewery. I barely let Chris put the taster set down before I grabbed a sip of my first beer.

Merideth and her sample paddle

There were 4 beers to try: a White, Pils, Pale Ale, and Belgian Blonde. I admit that the White and Blonde, both with the same distinct flavor (most likely from the yeast), were not our favorites and the Pale Ale was unusually malty. However, the Pils was solid and we both chose a pint of it to eat with our lunch. The kitchen was closed for renovations, but the pizza oven was fired up and all the pizzas on the menu were only $10. It was the least expensive meal of the trip.

As an added bonus, Rusty Creighton (who had alerted us to the magic of Gnomesville) surprised us with a visit. It was great meeting him in person and it made my 700th brewery visit that much more exciting and memorable.

Last dip in the Indian Ocean

After lunch, we bid good-bye to Rusty and made our way to a nearby beach. This was our last chance to wade in the Indian Ocean. The water at this beach was a bit more turbulent than we’d seen previously, but it did a good job of cooling us off. The water whirled around my legs and I felt the sand giving way under my feet. I have always loved the ocean, but somehow I felt more connected to this one than I had ever felt before. It was probably because I was, in fact, closer to it. Due to the warm temperature of the water, I could actually stand in it without my toes going numb.

Afterwards, we made a repeat visit to Feral Brewing Company in the Swan Valley town of Baskerville. We had had an amazing time a few nights before when we celebrated our friend Todd’s birthday and wanted to make a second visit before leaving the area. A description of our experience that night will help illustrate why we felt absolutely compelled to make a return visit.

Lovin' the Feral White

Feral’s Chef Mitch had put together an amazing 5-course beer-infused dinner for Todd. It kicked off with a selection of beer-cured meats served with spent grain bread and hop butter and finished with Feral’s tiramisu made with their Imperial Stout, Boris. In between, we dined on a green papaya salad with prawns poached in Golden Ace, a Belgian Pale Ale, roast rack of pork with roast wort potatoes, and cheese served with hop honey and “beerguette.” Plus, each course was paired with one of the brewery’s tasty beers. Absolutely phenomenal!

We may not have dined on another mouth-watering meal during our second visit, but we did get another chance to sip on the Feral White, a refreshingly citrusy Witbier.

Our evening concluded with a Tweet-up, attended by Feral’s Chef Mitch, Swan brewer Justin (mentioned in Chris’ blog post about his 700th brewery visit), and several Aussie beer bloggers at Five Bar in Mt. Lawley. It was a very hip place with something for everyone — couches, high bistro tables, bar, and tiered deck-like area with pillows to lounge on. Most people in our group enjoyed Feral’s Hop Hog from the cask, but I broke ranks and drank a few beers from Victoria, including the Golden Ale from Two Birds and Kooinda Boutique Brewery’s Valhalla Golden Ale. It was our first opportunity to meet some of Western Australia’s beer community, as well as our last chance to hang out with Todd. Such a wonderful way to end an amazing day!

 

700! (Chris)

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.

The old Swan Brewery

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.

Swan Brewery in Canning Vale

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.

All milestones should be celebrated wearing an orange vest

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.

Freo Urban Beer Hike

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.

Colonial Fremantle

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.

Sail and Anchor

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.

Merideth at Sail & Anchor

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.

The Monk Brewery & Kitchen

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.

Sample paddle at the Monk Brewery & Kitchen

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.

Little Creatueres

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.

Enjoying an afternoon at Little Creatures

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.

Come for the beer, stay for the little pink cupcakes

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.

Salt on the Beach lived up to its name

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.

Blacksalt Weisse

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.

Cooling off in the Indian Ocean

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.

View all the Fremantle images…

Gnomesville

We awoke to the rhythmic chirping of a small bird on our porch. The sky was overcast and the ground damp; a somewhat melancholy send off from an area we had definitely fallen in love with. We were eager to hit the road, though, since our day’s agenda included adding two new breweries and visiting a place like “gnome” other.

Moody Cow in the Ferguson Valley

An hour and a half after leaving Margaret River, we passed through the small town of Dardanup and out to the Ferguson Valley. We were out in the country now — complete with herds of livestock lounging in pastures of tall brown grass. It was the perfect location for a place called the Moody Cow Brewery.

Sample paddle at Moody Cow

We arrived at opening time and made our way out to a table on the top level of the terraced deck. Moody Cow offered a taster paddle with five beers, including their award winning Grunta’s Original Ale and Zest, a low alcohol (3.2%) lemon and lime lager. The beers were all quite refreshing and more remarkably, sessionable (The Black Dog Pils was the highest ABV at 4.9%). The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming, just like you’d expect from a country brewery.

A view a Gnomesville

We chatted with the owner/brewer,Grant McClintock, who offered us a local’s perspective of our next stop: Gnomesville. We had first been told about Gnomesville by Rusty Creighton, a beer lover living in Perth who provided us with valuable information throughout our time in Western Australia. Rusty told us that if we were going to Moody Cow, we had to make a stop at Gnomesville, which was not far away. We weren’t exactly sure what Gnomesville was, but Grant gave us the scoop. So here it is:

Angry about a roundabout

Further down Ferguson Valley Road a roundabout had been built. This was exceedingly absurd to the locals, as traffic on this country road hardly necessitated it. As a protest, someone placed a garden gnome on the grassy area in the center. Well, gnomes apparently multiply like rabbits and soon there were loads of them. So many, in fact, that they outgrew the roundabout center and had to be moved to the side of the road.

We laughed at this, but still had no idea of the magnitude and draw of this Ferguson Valley attraction. Grant’s wife and children had placed their own family of gnomes in Gnomesville, which were unfortunately washed away in a flood. Of course they had to replace them. His wife is apparently very into Gnomesville, as are many other locals and visitors alike.

Gnomesville Detention Center

Now our interest was truly piqued and passing on a visit to Gnomesville was no longer an option. We just had to see what had everyone so captivated. We bid Grant good-bye and headed down the road to find this magical place.

As we approached the roundabout, I excitedly looked around, worried that we might miss it. When I saw it, I started laughing because there was no way we could have missed it! All I can say is “Wow!” It was the most insanely hysterical sight I have ever seen. It was also a tad frightening, but I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Words to live by...

Chris and I saw a prime entrepreneurial opportunity in setting up a gnome gift shop, as surprisingly, there was none nearby. Not even someone selling them from the back of a pick-up truck. Otherwise we would have definitely paid an outrageous price for the privilege of placing our own gnome in the crowd. Chris did come up with the brilliant idea of establishing the Gnomesville Taphouse, the town’s first craft beer bar. Next time we visit, we’ll be better prepared. A big thanks goes out to Rusty for alerting us to this must-see attraction.

I seriously had difficulty tearing myself away from Gnomesville. I, too, had become enamored with the mystique that is Gnomesville. But the huge biting green flies were getting to be too much, so we decided to move on to our second brewery of the day: Old Coast Rd.

Old Coast Rd Brewery in Myalup

Driving down the deserted road off the highway, we missed the turn to the brewery. Chris and I realized our mistake (as we were getting further out into the bush) and eventually came upon the entrance. A spectacularly long driveway lined with olive trees led up to the large blue building sitting atop the hill. It had the standard open floor plan with a large deck, but we chose a table down on the lawn that spread out in front.

In addition to a cider, Old Coast Rd had three beers to try: a Wheat, Bitter, and Porter. Unfortunately they were out of their best selling beer, the Pils. They even had chilled beer towers, 4 or 2 ½ liters, so the beers could keep flowing at your table.

Enjoying a beer at Old Coast Rd

There was just the two of us, though, so we decided to pass. Of the three beers, the Wheat was our favorite. It had a wonderful banana nose and a nice cloudy golden color, a refreshing accompaniment to our snack of calamari and garlic bread.

Gnomesville was a hard act to follow but Old Coast Rd held its own. It was just what we needed before facing the big city: Perth.

 View all the Gnomesville images…