Judging at the Australian International Beer Awards, visits to Stone & Wood and nights at the Sydney Opera House are all on the checklist for John Keeling who has been busy sharing his brewing expertise down under.
As you are well aware, I retired on the first of October last year. You may not be aware that my partner, Symone Coleman, retired recently on April 12th. I decided that we should do something special to celebrate her retirement.
So, on April 14th we boarded a plane for Sydney. I had planned a five week trip taking in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Brisbane, Byron Bay and Melbourne. It would have been longer, but Symone insisted on attending our friend’s wedding back in England, so I curtailed some of my natural extravagance. We all have to make sacrifices now and again
We were due to spend a couple of days in Sydney mainly just to get over jet lag, it is a city I know very well having visited four times before. Now, I knew that Iggy Pop was playing the Royal Opera House and I thought that the venue would be attractive to Symone if not the performer, so I had high hopes. However, upon walking to the Opera House before I had a chance to suggest seeing Iggy, she saw that there was a ballet on too. We went to the ballet. We all have to make sacrifices now and again.
Now whilst my visits to Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane were very enjoyable indeed, there was no particular beery reason for me to be there so they might not be of great interest to the reader. However, my visit to Byron Bay will be of interest as one of the best breweries around are based there. That brewery is of course Stone and Wood.
I first met Brad Rogers in San Diego about 17 years ago. In those days he was a mere brewer but now he, together with his partners Jamie Cook and Ross Jurisich, is the part owner and operations boss of Stone and Wood. I also have had a few beers with Jamie in the Mawson Arms in Chiswick, so I was looking forward to meeting up for a few beers in Bryon Bay. The three of them met whilst working at Matilda Bay so they were held in high regard within craft beer already, so forming a new brewery together seemed a logical, if daunting, next step.
Brad drove over to our motel to take Symone and I for a mini pub crawl followed by dinner on our first night. We walked into Rails and was about to order when a friend of Brads popped up and took over the order. Brad knows everyone in Byron, and they all want to buy him a beer. We ended up in the Bangalow Pub for dinner and a long chat. Brad is a great host and treated us like brewing Royalty.
The next day he took us on a day trip around Bryon Bay. Our first stop was at the site of the original brewery, which is now making Kombucha. We drank a bottle of it (well it was breakfast time). Kombucha is a very nice low alcohol alternative to beer and I wish it was more readily available in the UK.
Our next stop was the main brewery at Murwillumbah where we had an extensive tour of the brewery. It was great to see Brad mixing with his team. I think he must be a great person to work for and Stone and Wood are very good to their employees, with an extensive share ownership scheme. Following five years service they are taken on a trip to Europe. Sometimes they even come to Fuller’s where yours truly gives them a tour and lunch in the Mawson. I wish I could have done more like this at Fuller’s.
We then drove to their new brewery and tap room in Byron Bay. What an amazing set up. The building certainly has the ‘WOW’ factor and a great community vibe. They were going to brew using heated stones (which Brad had bought back from Fiji when he lived there 10 years ago) to make a unique beer. They do this once every year. We went in to wish them luck and try a few scoops. Brad then took us back to our motel and gave us a couple of beers for a night cap.
Those beers were Sticky Nectar (6.5% ABV), a hazy mango IPA which certainly had a powerful mango flavour and The Fix a double IPA (8.2% ABV) made with Mosaic, Simcoe and Citra which was a crisp grapefruit beer. After which, sleep came easily.
The next day we had breakfast by the ocean before setting off for Melbourne where I had some work to do.
That work was to be a judge at the Australian International beer awards. This competition is the second biggest in the world and I have been coming here for the last ten years and I have seen some changes particularly a great improvement in hotels!
This year there were 2300 beers to be judged with about 80 judges. My team judged 70 beers the first day and 65 the second day, I forgot how many on the third day, but who could blame me. The judges and the competition organisers are very professional, and their aim is to support brewers and their beers rather than beating them up with criticism. So, we try to emphasise the positive rather than the faults.
Meeting brewers from the around the world is always great fun and I certainly enjoyed the competition
I am writing this little article in Melbourne after judging has finished and we are on the last legs of our trip to Australia with just a four-day finale in Sydney to come. Symone was so delighted with the Opera House she has bought some more tickets for a Chopin concert in the main hall. Well we all have to make sacrifices now and again, don’t we?
