# Tassie Gets Even Better



## glenos (1/5/08)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/01/2233157.htm

Hobart and Launceston have each had a trademark brewery for more than a century - now north-west Tasmania is getting in on the act.

A small gourmet beer-maker is opening in Railton tomorrow.

A married couple has founded the Seven Sheds micro-brewery, growing four varieties of hops on site.

To start with, they'll produce 500 litres a month and run tasting sessions and tours, making the enterprise one of the smallest craft breweries in Australia.

The proprieter, Willie Simpson, says the region's last working brewery closed in 1907.

"It's been more than a century since a brewery of any size or description has operated in north-west Tassie, and as they say, it's been a long time between drinks."

Mr Simpson says Railton is on a perfect latitude for hop growing, but says Tasmania's two big brewers have nothing to fear.

The Federal Tourism Minister, Martin Ferguson, will open the business tomorrow morning.


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## joecast (1/5/08)

opens tomorrow?? must have been a limited pre-release super secret just a taste and no more but please dont tell anyone trial we had at the HOPs meet a few weeks back. 

good stuff though. had the "kentish ale" i think it was called. hand botled, bottle conditioned, 500ml bottles (i think, got a bit hazy near the end) and distinctive packaging.
anyway best of luck to mr. simpson. i dont buy much beer lately but if i stumble into a bottle shop and see it, i'd certainly pick some up.
joe


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## joecast (3/5/08)

a bit more coverage for the new business. nice little article in the mercury today (cant find it on the website) and a mention at the end of southern cross news. also mentioned willie brought up the alcohol tax issue compared to wine (there were a few politicians present to get in front of the cameras) and that the brewery received a federal gov grant for opening in a rural area. so for anyone thinking of starting up their own, get out of the city!
joe


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## mfdes (3/5/08)

It's good news. I hope he puts out a better quality product than that produced by some of the other Tassie micros.

Edit: The stuff he brought to HOPs was a bit estery for my liking, but he said temperature had got a bit out of control during fermentation... ah the pressures to produce when the brewery's not ready 

We AHBers should wear a distinctive badge next HOPS meet... I never know who's who!


MFS.


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## joecast (3/5/08)

mfdes said:


> It's good news. I hope he puts out a better quality product than that produced by some of the other Tassie micros.
> 
> Edit: The stuff he brought to HOPs was a bit estery for my liking, but he said temperature had got a bit out of control during fermentation... ah the pressures to produce when the brewery's not ready
> 
> ...



didnt mind the esters at that point. look forward to getting another chance at it to take a bit more notice.
yeah, we'll have to work something out to know who's who. 
joe


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## WobblyBoot (29/8/10)

This stuff is available in Melbourne now. I've tried two. One, the Willie Warmer, is great. Didn't jot down any notes at the time so I'll have to go back and buy another one... :icon_cheers: The second one I can't remember much about apart from a harsh hopping that seemed out of balance with the rest of the brew. Can't remember it's name.

Just one note to fellow brewers. *Don't try and reuse the bottles*. I put some of a new pilsener into one of them yesterday, and to my horror I couldn't get a lid to fit on the top. The opening is slightly larger than the standard bottle. I've never seen that before.

With the bottle coming from a brewery run by a guy who has written so much about beer, including home brewing, I couldn't believe it. I wanted to ring him up and abuse the hell out of him. Where did he get non-standard bottles from? And why would he use them?! He's gotta realise that a fair chunk of the beer enthusiasts who seek out his product might want to reuse the bottles.

To non brewers I might sound like a sook but to put 750mL of beer into a sugared up bottle that you then can't close is a massive pain and has soured my experience of Seven Sheds.


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## pk.sax (29/8/10)

^ @wobbly could be champagne bottle heads. Needing the larger caps and a different bell for the capper. Might be packaging in thicker bottles for safety reasons until he has made sure they don't become bombs under any conditions!


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## Smashin (29/8/10)

nope sorry thats even a "Sook" in my book....have a sook at mega swill breweries but not at a micro bringing a flavor experience to the table.

Smashin
:unsure:


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## Dazza_devil (29/8/10)

I haven't tried Willy's brews but I have seen the bottles in the local bottlo. They do look like champagne bottles, very thick with a larger than normal cap. I wouldn't want to reuse the bottles personally, I prefer beer bottles, but it wouldn't detract me from buying the beer. I will get around to trying them soon, bit exy though.


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## pk.sax (29/8/10)

Mmmmmm. Just thinking aloud here, champagne bottles would be great for nice foamy hefeweizen.


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## joecast (29/8/10)

Boagsy said:


> I wouldn't want to reuse the bottles personally, I prefer beer bottles, but it wouldn't detract me from buying the beer. I will get around to trying them soon, bit exy though.


funny, every bottle i put beer into is a beer bottle 

on topic though, most of the seven sheds range is pretty good. not a fan of the raspberry beer but i generally dont like fruit beers anyway. 50 sheds, willie warmer being my favorites. picked up the stout yesterday and looking forward to it.
joe


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## time01 (29/8/10)

ive tried most of the seven sheds beers, kentish ale, willie warmer, and elephant trunk were my favs.
worthwhile visit to brewery if in area, willie is very friendly and available for a chat.


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## avaneyk (29/8/10)

WobblyBoot said:


> This stuff is available in Melbourne now. I've tried two. One, the Willie Warmer, is great. Didn't jot down any notes at the time so I'll have to go back and buy another one... :icon_cheers: The second one I can't remember much about apart from a harsh hopping that seemed out of balance with the rest of the brew. Can't remember it's name.
> 
> Just one note to fellow brewers. *Don't try and reuse the bottles*. I put some of a new pilsener into one of them yesterday, and to my horror I couldn't get a lid to fit on the top. The opening is slightly larger than the standard bottle. I've never seen that before.
> 
> ...



The beer I bought from him when I was down in tassie a few years ago was definitely in champagn bottles - like others have said, they need a bigger crown cap and a different fitting or your capper. The sponsors sell this stuff. 

Willie was really friendly when we visited his place - stood around and talked beer with him for at least an hour and he showed me round his sheds. I don't think its really fair to have a go at him just cos you didn't check the bottle was a beer bottle before filling it...


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## manticle (29/8/10)

WobblyBoot said:


> I might sound like a sook



Indeed


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## [email protected] (29/8/10)

I've had a bottle of Willie Warmer in the fridge for the last month and haven't been overly interested to open it. I just might have to now...

Booz


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## BrenosBrews (29/8/10)

Boagsy said:


> I haven't tried Willy's brews but I have seen the bottles in the local bottlo. They do look like champagne bottles, very thick with a larger than normal cap. I wouldn't want to reuse the bottles personally, I prefer beer bottles, but it wouldn't detract me from buying the beer. I will get around to trying them soon, bit exy though.



Plenty of Belgian breweries use Champagne style bottles.

How much are the beers there? Saw some here at Vic Market but didn't look at prices as I'd been beer shopping the day before.


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## derkraken (29/8/10)

I am pretty sure that in his Home Brew book (which I can't check now as it is lent out to a mate), he says that he uses Champagne or sparkling wine bottles for his beers, and that you can get a different sized capper for them (they are bigger than normal beer caps).


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## Dazza_devil (29/8/10)

BrenosBrews said:


> Plenty of Belgian breweries use Champagne style bottles.
> 
> How much are the beers there? Saw some here at Vic Market but didn't look at prices as I'd been beer shopping the day before.




I can't recall exactly but the ones I seen were around 12 or 13 bux a bottle, affordable I guess.


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## geoff_tewierik (29/8/10)

What's the volume of the bottles?


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## DUANNE (29/8/10)

750 ml in the ones ive had.


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## dago001 (29/8/10)

The Willie Warmer is a great beer. Don't think they were as dear as Boagsy said but were pushing $10.00 for 750 ml. Don't mind supporting the local brews anyway. For thos interested the Jacob's Ladder Amber Ale is a pretty good drop. Just can't get it on the NW Coast.
Cheers
David


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## big78sam (1/12/10)

We just got back from a Tassie trip and dropped by for a taste. The beers were not too bad. 

I'm always a bit reluctant when I see spiced beer or beer with fruit added so was not too keen when I saw the Willie warmer was a spiced beer and and the wheat beer had raspberry. These were OK but I wasn't overwhelmed. I would have really loved the willie warmer but was put off by the star anise and whatever else was added. However, this is just a personal taste thing. The Kentish Ale was quite nice and I'm just starting to drink English Ales so can't offer any really informed opinions on how it compares to similar beers but I did enjoy it. 

I was most looking forward to the Elephant's Trunk (Belgian Strong Ale) and flavour wise was very good but unfortunately it was overcarbonated. I asked why the carbonation way so high and was told this was something they weren't planning and weren't sure why it turned out like this. 

Overall decent beers but they didn't quite reach my expectations.


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## Spork (23/5/11)

Picked up 3 of these tonight after work. The Elephants Trunk belgian style, the Willie Warmer spiced ale, and the Razzamatazz "Raspberry honey wheat ale". Only reason I got the last one is that I'm sampling my way through Crown Cellar's beer fridge, and I was up to 7 sheds, and those were the first 3 on the shelf, and it's 10% discount for 3 or more bottles. The other 2 sound like my idea of a good hearty winter beer, might put the raspberry honey wheat aside for warmer weather.
Bloke @ Bottle Shop thought he might have some empty (7 sheds) bottles I could use for my brews, but they had all been chucked out. Him being a top bloke, and me being a good customer, he will be saving me some if he can. Can I get a oversized "bell(?)" for my bench capper to reuse them? Alternatively, my mate has a winery, and the equipment to cork champagne bottles, so I guess I could rack into a cube and drive out there on bottling day if I wanted.


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## jlm (23/5/11)

Tirage bell is what you want. Grain and Grape have them I think. Decent shop there, good staff as well. Oh, and got to try the willie warmer ran through a giant randall of coffee beans and cocoa nibs in Hobart friday night..... that was shit hot, tasted like chocolate coated coffee beans. And a Whiskey Willie Warmer.....drool.


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## Spork (23/5/11)

Thanks jlm. $8.95 for a bell sounds pretty good, better than having to but a new bench capper, and less hassles than transporting a cube out to the winery.


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## spog (23/5/11)

was that at the irish pub on gladstone street/? by anychance.
if so that is a great pub was there about a month ago,the had a kolsh running through a big randall with hops which i cant remember but very nice as well as the huge selection of beers......cheers.......spog.....


jlm said:


> Tirage bell is what you want. Grain and Grape have them I think. Decent shop there, good staff as well. Oh, and got to try the willie warmer ran through a giant randall of coffee beans and cocoa nibs in Hobart friday night..... that was shit hot, tasted like chocolate coated coffee beans. And a Whiskey Willie Warmer.....drool.


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## TasChris (23/5/11)

Bought a bottle of Willie Warmer, and Kentish Ale 8 months ago.

Not good, I would say thy had a infection/quality issue for that batch, half a glass of each then down the sink.

Will have to try again some time.
Thin body, metallic " I just licked a two cent coin" taste. Ended with a sour taste that a Fisherman's friend couldn't remove.

Don't think that the bottles i tried were a fair representation.

Also had Razzamatazz, wasn't infected was just wrong. 


Cheers
Chris


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## jlm (24/5/11)

spog said:


> was that at the irish pub on gladstone street/? by anychance.
> if so that is a great pub was there about a month ago,the had a kolsh running through a big randall with hops which i cant remember but very nice as well as the huge selection of beers......cheers.......spog.....



New Sydney on Bathurst st.



TasChris said:


> Bought a bottle of Willie Warmer, and Kentish Ale 8 months ago.
> 
> Not good, I would say thy had a infection/quality issue for that batch, half a glass of each then down the sink.
> 
> ...



Found he can be a bit hit and miss too, last time I was down about 8 months ago I tried a bottle of the oatmeal stout, same problem you described.


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## spog (24/5/11)

new sydney that's the one cheers....spog...


jlm said:


> New Sydney on Bathurst st.
> 
> 
> 
> Found he can be a bit hit and miss too, last time I was down about 8 months ago I tried a bottle of the oatmeal stout, same problem you described.


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## Guysmiley54 (24/5/11)

As an avid HOPS attendee I am a big Willie fan. (That just doesn't sound right...) But I have to say that I recently bought a bottle of Paradise Pale and it was very sour and metallic too... Drank most of it but some behind  

I also had the latest batch of Willie Warmer and didn't really like the spicing in it. I found it added a real medicinal note that I just didn't like.

Willie seems to be a really great guy and his HOPS nights are legendary, I have also previously enjoyed his 50 Sheds, Kentish Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Let's hope that if there is/was an infection h34r: that it's all under control now :super:


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