Since 2013, Blackman’s Brewery has been helping fuel the excitement around the craft beer industry with locations in both Torquay and Geelong, guided solely by their philosophy – ‘we love good beer, it’s really that simple’.
Well known around the region as the local brewers who are all about creating new batches with interesting flavours, while maintaining the highest quality of craft beer, the team have come up with some pretty famous brews in their time (think their espresso martini kölsch, ‘Blackberry Gose’, the ‘Juicy Banger’ and The Zinger Slinger NZ Pale Lager – just to name a few).
Continually pushing the boundaries on flavour combinations and creative collaborations, now the team are back at it again, launching their new passion project, specialising in Barrel Aged, Sour and Farmhouse Ales.
Coined The Barrel Farm, Blackman’s have created a space dedicated to a love of old-world blending and brewing, located on a private farm on the Bellarine Peninsula.
“It has been a dream since our first visit to Cantillon Brewery in Brussels, 2012,” says Renn Blackman. “We were absolutely blown away by everything we tasted, smelt, heard and saw in this magical Brewery and became instantly inspired to one day bring such beers to our region.”
The range will include the first two beers, both inspired by this local region.
First up, there’s the SOUR. A pale, refreshing sour beer with hints of oak, tropical and a crisp, dry, salty finish. This is a naturally acidified kettle sour. Inspired by river walks in Barwon Heads, the team have added sea water into the boil, fermented with lager yeast on French oak, dry hopped with Mosaic and Simcoe.
The second beer of this range is the SOUR NEIPA. It’s big and hazy, inspired by gin-based cocktail The English Garden and tastes like fruit salad in a can. Here, they’ve used local, Teddy and the Fox Gin to soak cucumber, mint and lime which have been added during cold conditioning. Created at Renn’s home in Drysdale over a local gin, it makes sense that this become a key ingredient in the beer.
What’s even more special is the team have created stunning artwork for this new range of beers.
With The Barrel Farm going from dream to reality upon a visit to a farmstead in Barwon Heads, the design for the SOUR is a reflection of this sense of place and Barwon Heads. The Coastal Moonah trees along the estuary make such unique, twisted shapes, and peeking through them, right at sunset, was the inspiration for the SOUR artwork.
As for the SOUR NEIPA, the artwork here was inspired by sight of the rolling hills of Drysdale, against the silhouette of the mountains over the bay during a red sunrise. Capturing this special time and place as the artwork for this Drysdale inspired beer encompasses not only the feeling, but the beer style as well.
Launching earlier this month, these new beers are now available to purchase both in store at the brewery, the Geelong Bar and online.
