With the Great Australian Beer Festival quickly approaching, we thought we’d have a chat with a few brewers heading to the event.
Bells Beach Brewery, Jono Moscrop
Name: Jono Moscrop
Role at the brewery: Owner/Director and Brewer
How long have you been there? We started Bells Beach Brewing about a year ago.
Do you remember your first taste of beer/what did you think? Yes I think it was Grolsch from a flip top bottle on holiday in the Netherlands – we used to go there every summer. It tasted crisp and refreshing.
What do you think makes a good beer? High quality ingredients (we primarily use Gladfield malt from NZ and try and use good quality Aussie and Kiwi hops where possible), good flavour balance – you need malt character to compliment the hops – and you don’t want any strong alcohol flavours.
What’s your favourite beer from your breweries range? This is like choosing between your children (fortunately I only have one kid, so that’s easy!). However I think my favourite would have to be our IPA – Impossible Point Ale because of its awesome hop flavour and aroma, which is backed up by a great malt body.
Rogue Wave Brewing, Tim Wood
Name: Tim Wood
Role at the brewery: Boss / Slave labourer
How long have you been there? We commissioned the brewery towards the end of 2014.
Do you remember your first taste of beer/what did you think? I was surprised that our first beer was drinkable. It was a remarkable effort to get the brewery commissioned and successfully brew our first batch on a trial run, but it all went smoothly and the beer was good. Although now that our systems are bedded down the beer is significantly better.
What do you think makes a good beer? Quality gates all the way from cleaning to packaging and an intelligent systematic brewer.
What’s your favourite beer from your breweries range? Salt Pale Lager is a ripper. Making a simple great beer can be a bloody tricky.
Cockies Beer, Jamie Roydhouse
Name: Jamie Roydhouse
Role at the brewery: owner/brewer/cleaner/barman/bottle washer/floor sweeper/ packer/forklift driver
How long have you been there? Coming up to two years
Do you remember your first taste of beer/what did you think? As a young teen I could not imagine how anyone could enjoy it!
What do you think makes a good beer? Attention to detail, best ingredients, recipe research/development.
We’ll also be making a series of videos hitting Forte socials getting up close and personal with the brewery – so keep an eye out.
To purchase tickets to the festival or find out more, visit the website: www.gabfgeelong.com.au.