Tasters @ Micro's

[Screwtop]

Sounds like the Micro's have thier new Champion in Screw-Top - so does that mean your volunteering for the efforts of unification? Wait, you dont have time but to blurt out what folks should be doing....

To be honest, are you missing the point. If you think the Macro's hate the Micro's your sillier than you look, the whole market is growing. To think that some folks in micro's are educated brewers with production sensibilities, well .....

Scotty

Looked into purchasing a micro and entering the micro game. What I have had to say was from the results of a feasibility study. Establishing/Maintaining Brand Profile was one of the weaknesses in the report and some comments were made regarding the need for industry association rather than unification. I sincerely hope that the inference that Macro's hated Micro's wasn't drawn from my post. They represent a very small market segment for the mega breweries and wouldn't possibly worry them. But still, better to buy them out and increase brand spread, should they look like becomming any sort of a threat.

Sorry for missing the point!

From "The minister for Silly Looks"

 

[hughman666]

Oh, and Hughmann, get down for a 'Gully Washer' before it's gone. It thumped 'Bull' at the AIBA winning two best in class trophies...

randall i'm due down in september, if it's still around at that time, I will take you up on that!

 

[Randall the Enamel Animal]

Oh, and Hughmann, get down for a 'Gully Washer' before it's gone. It thumped 'Bull' at the AIBA winning two best in class trophies...

randall i'm due down in september, if it's still around at that time, I will take you up on that!

Winter seasonal only I'm affraid.... I'll have a hefe on by then.

 

[Ash in Perth]

Im not sure what the micro scene is like in the eastern states but i am loving it over here.

Yes, there are a couple that make bland lagers, probably for economic reasons and for non beer lovers.

A couple of micros around have been doing some different and great stuff. Ferals have about 6 beers, and i tried all of them on saturday. the pilsner is the 'plainest' but it is still jsut about as good as any i have tried (inclusing the real czech ones). There is always something new on tap when i go there from a farmhouse ale, then an imperial IPA and now his latest beer is the scotch ale, a 6.8% malt monster.

Im looking forward to getting down to pemberton to try the jarrah jacks range. 6 beers, no lagers in sight.

Is there any/much competition between each micro (especially in teh same regions)? or do they try and help each other out to try expand the market for them all?

Ash

 

[Screwtop]

A couple of micros around have been doing some different and great stuff. Ferals have about 6 beers, and i tried all of them on saturday.
Ash

Liked Feral Brewery last time I was over there. Seems as though the Perth populace support it well even though it's a bit out of town. We called in twice, difficult to get a table on a Sunday. Great to see such support, beers were good. Thought the beer samplers were quaint, served in little racked glasses, seemed to be well accepted especially by the fairer sex, lots tasting their brews on the day we were there. A couple of buses in the carpark on another occasion, maybe they are working in with local tourism.

 

[Ash in Perth]

Alot of people organize their own bus tours. need to book in advance for places like feral.

we had a bus load on saturday for my SISTERS 27th. boys and girls all had a good time (there were some megaswillers among us that i begun converting)

 

[deebee]

Normell, can you be more specific about what you didnt like? Maybe the beers you tried just dont suit your tastes. Wouldnt micros suffer more from inconsistencies, so you might get the odd dodgy bottle? Dunno but I reckon the micros are doing great stuff. Mind you, I too live in WA.

Most or all of my favourite beers are made by major breweries, especially if you dont consider Little Creatures a micro any more. But trips to places like Grumpys, Bootleg, Matsos and Colonial have always meant drinking great beer.

Little Creatures hit it big with a great recipe and perfect timing into a ready market. But even if the beer is not magnificent, I love a micro for the variety and novelty of it. Micro breweries experiment with seasonal beers, tweak recipes, display a reverence for beer that I identify with, talk beer with you over the bar, serve food that matches their beers.

Colonial in Margaret River is a great example. Maybe still finding their feet, they are still a great day out. They are devoted to beer, a couple of their beers are top notch (Dr Quicks Strong Ale is utterly magnificent), the staff talk beer, they serve great beer food, they show off their shiny brewery, they grow their own hops, the beer is fresh.

Long live the micro.

 

[Ash in Perth]

In my opinion, micros brew what beer really is.

I think, technicaly by output, coopers is still a microbrewery? its hard to call a cut off point. Gage roads is a microbrewery and it is the largest independant brewery in Aus apparently.

I didnt know colonial grow their own hops! how much have they got growing down there?

 

[deebee]

I didnt know colonial grow their own hops! how much have they got growing down there?

Not sure that they use any of their own hops yet. But you can see the hops paddock over yonder when sitting outside.

 

[wessmith]

Gidday Ash, Dont think we can call Coopers a "micro", more like a regional or major. Same with Gage Roads but dont know about them being the biggest independant in Australia - I think Independant Distillers in Melbourne would win that one by a country mile followed closely by Australian Independant Breweries in Sydney. Generally anything under 20 or so hectolitres per brew could be called a micro. In the US and the UK they have it very well classified into micro/pub brewery/regional. Not such a bad way of defining it methinks.

Wes

In my opinion, micros brew what beer really is.

I think, technicaly by output, coopers is still a microbrewery? its hard to call a cut off point. Gage roads is a microbrewery and it is the largest independant brewery in Aus apparently.

I didnt know colonial grow their own hops! how much have they got growing down there?

 

[Randall the Enamel Animal]

Yes, we do grow hops and I do use a little but at the end of the day, there's only so much POR you can add to an American strong pale...

As for finding our feet.... Champion Small Brewery AIBA 2006. Brewery no. 2 in Fremantle will raise the bar far beyond anything that's been done in Australia before. Bloody exciting.

 

[Ash in Perth]

Gidday Ash, Dont think we can call Coopers a "micro", more like a regional or major. Same with Gage Roads but dont know about them being the biggest independant in Australia - I think Independant Distillers in Melbourne would win that one by a country mile followed closely by Australian Independant Breweries in Sydney. Generally anything under 20 or so hectolitres per brew could be called a micro. In the US and the UK they have it very well classified into micro/pub brewery/regional. Not such a bad way of defining it methinks.

Wes

Not sure where the coopers being a micro idea came form but i read it somewhere a while ago (possibly on here?). Gage roads openly claim to be the largest independant brewery in Aus on their website which i thought was a bit modest.

edit: they actually say "Gage Roads is now Australia's largest independent craft brewery." would this be right?

Yes, we do grow hops and I do use a little but at the end of the day, there's only so much POR you can add to an American strong pale...

As for finding our feet.... Champion Small Brewery AIBA 2006. Brewery no. 2 in Fremantle will raise the bar far beyond anything that's been done in Australia before. Bloody exciting.

Is the hop growing at colonial just for a bit of fun then?

Brewery no. 2 in fremantle eh? when will that be operational?

Cheers, Ash

 

[Doc]

But that's the problem right there! Each brewer is trying to get a small slice of the same cake. That cake being the beer thats a little different from the mainstream (but not too different) - that's NOT a niche market. What I would like to see is a micro open up that doesn't want a slice of that cake at all, but wants to create a whole new cake of consumers that like the taste of something completely different.

I hear you Berp.
The day we get breweries in Australia brewing beers like Alesmith, Stone, Russian River, Dogfish Head down here is when we can really educate the majority on what beer should taste like.

Doc

 

[bconnery]

There was a thread, was it here or on Beer Advocate, about craft vs micro which I think relates very much to what has been bandied about on this thread.

Many smaller breweries appear to be aiming at the market where new styles and flavours aren't a priority, but branding and marketing speak are..

But plenty are producing good beers and aren't being afraid to go at styles that haven't been a part of the major scene in Australia.

We will always struggle to see such a wide range compared to the US simply because our market is so much smaller. 0.1% of 100 million is a lot more than 0.1% of 20....

That being so the likes of Wig & Pen, Little Creatures and so many more are producing good and great beers and more and more will appear.

Their beers may not be for everyone but things are getting so much better.

Big American style beers aren't for everyone, even many beer enthusiasts are divided on them.

The fact that we can be discussing whether all these new breweries are any good is in itself a great sign. it means that they are there. And choice us for us beer nuts can only be a good thing!

On a note relating to the original post, I don't mind some of the Buckley's myself so it just goes to show that it is all about individual taste...

 

[deebee]

Brewery no. 2 in Fremantle will raise the bar far beyond anything that's been done in Australia before.

Looking fwd to brewery no. 2!

 

[Ash in Perth]

i wonder if it will be a brewpub where it is brewed and served like little creautres or just to cope with demand and be close to the port for export?