Industry News

Murray's Dark Knight - Available Now

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:30:02 +0000

Murray's Dark Knight is made in the traditional Porter style from six specialty malts. It is full bodied, rich and complex. The beer is a deep ruby colour, with a creamy, off-white head. Murray's Dark Knight has an aroma of caramel and bittersweet chocolate and finishes with a balanced bitterness.

It's ideal with rich red meat casseroles, or for the more adventurous, try with Chocolate Mud Cake.

Dark Knight - Porter (4.5% ABV)

For ordering online, click on the following link: Murray's Brewing Company - Dark Knight

Guinness 250 Year Special Edition

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:12:05 +0000

250 years ago, brewing excellence and innovation were set in motion when Arthur Guinness signed the 9,000 year lease on the famous St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin.

The GUINNESS brewery business was founded by Arthur Guinness, a renowned brewing master, entrepreneur, visionary and philanthropist. In 1759, Arthur Guinness laid the foundations for the creation of one of the most iconic worldwide brands of the 21st century when he signed the 9,000 year lease at St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin. There will be a year-long, global celebration to mark this monumental milestone and to look forward towards the next 250 years. Arthur Guinness always ensured his business continually gave something back to his employees and the greater Dublin community, the start of a philanthropy mission that continued as the GUINNESS brand expanded around the globe.

The 250 Anniversary will also see the launch of a limited edition commemorative GUINNESS draught can available now at your favourite retailer/s.

For more information regarding this limited edition brew, please click here.

Zero Carb Beer - Burleigh Brewing Bighead

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:39:34 +0000

Burleigh Brewing have put their hand-up to claim the prize for Australia's first zero-carb beer. Now this isn't the freshest news with Burleigh doing so in early December but I've only just caught wind of the news thanks to a forum post created today as December is traditionally a bad time as I typically have some time off for a holiday. Thanks Dippas Mum for the tip!

The 88 calorie beer named BIGHEAD is claimed to be a "full flavoured, full strength lager that is natural, free of additives and preservatives, and has a smooth clean taste." This is a fairly big claim as many of the traditional (or mainstream) low-carb beers typically lack any real flavour or complexity. Quite often it is the beers that are low-carb in nature and do not make any claims that are often the best - thats right, many beers are already low-carb, they simply do not make the claim despite being so.

Now before people fly off the handle, alcohol is not a carbohydrate, but when sugars (or carbs) are converted into alcohol some carbs will remain. Distilling typically removes these. Here is a good article on the "Myth of Low-Carb Beers". Zero-carb drinks currently exist however the majority of zero-carb alcoholic beverages are hard distilled liqours, for example Whiskey or Vodka. The reason being they are distilled.

When sugar is converted in alcohol some carbs will remain unless you distill the resultant alcohol as far as I am aware. Therefore by my reckoning, Burleigh must be distilling the alcohol somehow - otherwise logic would dictate some carbs must remain. Burleigh's claim has been backed up with independant testing apparently, so I'm willing to take their word on it but would love to understand the process if they haven't distilled purely from a homebrewing angle so that I can test it out at home.

Interesting all the same, and I'd love to have a taste - just to say I've tried it.

A Fair Go For Craft Beer

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:18:50 +0000

Australia's small breweries are being strangled by excise tax. On top of all the usual taxes any small business pays, microbrewers have to fork out 25% of their sales income straight to the ATO in the form of excise. How is an industry expected to survive under such a crippling tax regime?

The Australian Association of Microbreweries needs your help to persuade the Federal Government to amend Excise Tax legislation and to give microbrewers a FAIR GO.

Stone & Wood - Now On Tap

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:29:01 +0000

As the topic alludes too, Stone and Wood is now available at a few places on tap. This isn't really breaking news it is that I have only just noticed it during my "web" travels today.
Stone & Wood Draught Ale is now on tap at:

The Rails - Byron Bay
Great Northern Hotel - Byron Bay
Bangalow Hotel - Banglow
Nimbin Hotel - Nimbin
Pacific Hotel - Yamba

Great news if you're a local and just in time for the upcoming Xmas break. Hopefully (for non-locals) it will eventually make it into a bottle, although comments from the brewers lead me to believe that may not happen.

Stone & Wood was founded by former Matilda Bay brewer, Brad Rogers, with industry colleagues, Ross Jurisich and Jamie Cook.

Happy Goblin Ginger Beer

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:48:06 +0000

Whilst scanning around the net today on our "friends" websites I discovered that Happy Goblin Brewery are currently in the final stages of testing a Ginger Beer, presumably for an Xmas release?

I love a good Ginger Beer and will keep an eye/ear open for more info on this one.

Read more: http://www.happygoblin.com.au/news.html

Barons Black Wattle Ale - Crowned Best In World

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:09:51 +0000

Barons Black Wattle Seed Ale has been voted the most popular out of 50 nominations at the JD Wetherspoon International beer festival in the UK.

Already quite popular in the overseas market (primarily the US) this should cause more UK importers to begin distributing Baron's beers.

I am a huge fan of the beers they produce, especially this one in particular so it is great to see it receiving recognition overseas and it validates our awarding it our Beer Guide Beer Of The Year in 2007.

Congratulations to the team at Barons!

Rogue Ales - Limited Australian Availability

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:14:25 +0000

Slow Beer are currently awaiting a shipment of Rogue Ales beer and are due to hit their shelves early next week (17th onwards). They have advised that stock is very limited and definately limited to those that get in early.

Looking at their range they have a good selection of the Rogue Ale's total selection, including beers from the 'XS' range.

I understand that for some of our readers, some of these aren't all that cheap with the XS range being $32.00 a bottle (750ml), but it is a rare chance for most of us to sample these beers.

If this interests you, please contact Chris or one of the team from Slow Beer quickly to ensure your reservation.

Murray's Secret Stash Extreme Beer Range

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:36:02 +0000

Murray's brewery has been in the local Newcastle news a fair amount lately, due in part to their announcement and relocation to the Port Stephens area.

Riding on the back on this great news for us locals is the announcement of their new 'Brewers Secret Stash' extreme beer range. As reported by Murray's "The essence of what Murray's is all about � beers we love to drink, beers that push boundaries, beers that pack a flavour punch and wake-up the mouth."

As such their first release Murray's Wild Thing Imperial Stout is available for purchase from today. They are only releasing 1,100 bottles and are expected to sell quickly. To secure your own secret stash purchase now directly from Port Stephens Winery (their new brewery home) or order online from their homepage - www.murraysbrewingco.com.au

Bitter N Twisted Festival Reminder

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:33:49 +0000

THIS WEEKEND - 10 am - 6 pm SATURDAY 1ST & SUNDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 2008

Filled with flavours that reflect the world's best creators of beer. Food lovers will be chuffed for choice and musically it's a feast of local and national talent.

Just a friendly reminder for those in the Newcastle and Hunter Valley area that the Bitter N Twisted beer festival is on this weekend at Maitland Gaol.

For more information, and ticketing details please visit the Bitter and Twisted website.

Gage Roads To Release Low Carb Beer

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:40:18 +0000

In what continues to be a common move by brewers, Western Australian brewery Gage Roads is joining the low-carb category by launching their new product called KUTT beer.

KUTT Beer will be brewed using their preservative free techniques and whilst a full strength Lager contains one third the carbohydrate content of its other beers in the range.

Gage Roads believes KUTT beer brings something new to the industry by combining both craft-brewing and low-carb beers together. (We'll see, but personally I think its just a clever marketing move to follow on the coat-tails of the apparent success of other low carb beers like Bondi, Platinum or White Stag - Nathan)

Gage Roads CEO, Nick Hayler, has been quoted as saying "We set out to produce the best tasting, low-carb beer on the market and the feedback we’ve received from consumers confirms we have achieved our goal."

KUTT will be distributed nationally and should be available at your local bottle shop in the near future.

Newcastle - Yet More Glassings

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:14:42 +0000

It sounds like a broken record, but yet again there have been three seperate glassing incidents over the weekend.

Unfortunately once again the media is too focussed on the objects used in the attacks (ie: glass) and not enough attention is given to the lack of action to solve the problem. Thankfully I found the article on The Heralds website and left a comment.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as frankly it is getting ridiculous in Newcastle lately - nearly every weekend there is a new glassing case.

My comments I posted on their website follow to open up this thread.

Why is it that Pubs still insist on using glass when there are safer alternatives out there? Why is it that the government doesn't simply pass a law preventing the use of glassware?

Still, plastic glassware is not the solution as the culprits in these attacks will simply find another object to replace the glass. Even this article agrees with this by stating a bottle was used in one attack.

There are two main issues that the media keeps ignoring choosing to focus on the object rather than the cause.

1. Still serving intoxicated patrons. Only at the weekend did I see a pub patron fall over twice in a pub before being helped up by security who helped walk him to the bar for another drink. Sure this guy didn't glass anyone (that I'm aware of), but surely he should have been removed and packed in a taxi for a safe journey home?

2. If someone is causing trouble, or they are intoxicated, they are removed from one location and 'kicked out' into the street. The mentality being its not my problem if they aren't in my pub/club. Again, your article states one incident was caused on the streets - most likely by someone who had been recently removed from a pub for being intoxicated.

I'm all for solving the problem but we need to focus on the cause and not the event or objects used in the event. History will show us, before glassings people were simply beaten with fists or kicked. The problem hasn't changed - simply our attitude toward solving the problem.

Murrays Buys Port Stephens Winery

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:09:31 +0000

The following story is direct from Murray's themselves. Please have a read - it is exciting news for those of us around the area.

You've heard us going on about Port Stephens for a while now. And I'm excited to say that we have now exchanged contracts to purchase Port Stephens' original and most successful winery, Port Stephens Winery! In addition, we've lodged a development application with Port Stephens Council to install a microbrewery onsite.

These strategic initiatives will support our beer growth plans, as well as create an expanded experience for visitors to the winery.

Port Stephens offers our business a platform to expand our operations and capitalise on Australia's growing craft beer and beer tourism markets.

From a beer tourism perspective, we are focused on developing Port Stephens Winery into a more diverse facility, incorporating a great beer-wine-and-food experience.
We formed a strategic alliance with Port Stephens Winery in late 2007 aimed at enhancing eachother's businesses. For Port Stephens Winery, the beer experience will help to round out its tourist and product offering.

As many of you will know, we've recently opened a beer bar � with Murray's multi-award winning craft beer now on tap. And we've also added a drink-and-dine licence to the existing caf�. Patrons can choose to enjoy a great meal with craft beer or boutique wine; or simply a freshly poured drink on its own.

Located at 3443 Nelson Bay Road, Bobs Farm, Port Stephens Winery is a multi-award winning tourism property which has played a significant role in the growth of the region's tourism industry. In addition to its own vineyard � which was first planted and established almost 25 years ago - the 35 acre property currently accommodates a boutique wine centre dedicated to showcasing small, independently owned Australian wineries. And now there's Murray's beer too!

Bock Bier - Available In Sydney

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:26:11 +0000

The Bavarian Bier Cafe and L�wenbr�u Keller will launch Spaten Premium Bock beer this May, which is to be imported directly from Munich.

A Bavarian tradition dating back to the fourteenth century, bock biers were originally produced by monks as a liquid bread to sustain them during the fasting period of lent.

Whilst a limited release, Spaten Premium Bock is full bodied, sweet and malty, with a fine bitter finish perfect for Sydney�s cooler months.

Both the Bavarian Bier Cafes and the L�wenbr�u Keller will be serving dishes specifically matched to the Spaten Premium Bock which again is refreshing to see restaurants acknowledging the pairing of food and beer in Australia.

If you happen to live in the area, or will be around in May, make sure you check out not only these two fantastic locations but have a taste of Spaten Bock.

Matilda Bay - Beer Mechanic Vacancy

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:40:25 +0000

Quote

Australia’s original craft brewery is looking for someone with drive and energy to be the new ‘beer mechanic’ (otherwise known as the Assistant Brewer) at The Garage Brewery in Dandenong, Melbourne.

You will become one of three passionate enthusiasts in the garage team who are responsible for brewing Matilda Bay’s highly regarded range of craft beer under the supervision of our Head Brewer.

To fit the bill, you will need to have a passion for craft beer and a minimum of three years brewing experience within a small batch environment.

If this position is of interest to you, please download the following PDF document.

Matilda Bay - Chief Brewery Position Vacant

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:09:07 +0000

Quote

Australia’s original craft brewery is looking for the right person to fill a crucial role within our rapidly growing business.

Matilda Bay has gained a reputation over many years for brewing a range of award winning beers including classic brands such as Redback and Beez Neez together with a diverse portfolio of exciting “out there” beers.

Based in Melbourne, our Chief Brewer will lead the on-going development and production of our range of leading craft beer brands and be the face of the brand with media touch points.

If this position is of interest to you, please read the attached PDF file for more information, including ideal experience and contact information.