Category: Editor’s report and club news

By Sam Highley, Editor

ChuckHahnIf you’re a fan of the range of brews from James Squire, and you like a good bite to eat, then A night with Chuck Hahn is for you. This event, on Thursday October 28, gives you the opportunity to join Chuck Hahn as he shares his exquisite knowledge of the art of brewing, and how beer can be matched with food to create a unique dining experience. Hosted at the Canberra Club in Civic (brewers, you know where it is, it’s a stones throw from the Wig and Pen), the beers presented for tasting on the night will be the Sundowner Lager, Golden Ale, Amber Ale, Pilsener and the Porter. Poor IPA, left out again.

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By Sam Highley, Editor

Intro After a quick stop at the hotel, strategically located right in the heart of Sydney beer-country, we took off for the Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe. Between all of us we sampled most of the beers on the menu, and I don’t recall a single bad word about any of them. Standouts at Redoak include their signature beer, the Framboise Froment, the various rich lagers like Vienna and Bock, and their sour lagers and ales.

Time was getting away from us, so we took off on foot for the Schwartz Brewery located within the Macquarie Hotel. What can I say? Many of the brewers were excited to see White Rabbit Dark on tap. And then Paul kicked Dicko’s arse in pool. And then we left.

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By Sam Highley, Editor

Authorbox_editor The Canberra Brewers club has a long history of publishing a club newsletter. In fact, that history goes back to Issue 1 in 1995, when the club had around 45 members, the meetings were held at the Wig & Pen, and Canberra phone numbers had only progressed to seven digits. The newsletter, called The Ferm (from 'fermentation' for those non-brewers), was produced, printed and, being before the widespread adoption of the internet, mailed in hard-copy to all members.

The first issue was published shortly after the inaugural meeting of the club was held at the Wig & Pen on March 8, 1995. The Executive was comprised of John Hamilton as President, Chris Elworthy as Vice-President, Chris Pittock as Secretary and John Nagle as Treasurer, with Bob Quee, Len Temple-Heard, Myles Parker and Tony Maurer serving as additional committee members. An initial club membership fee of $5 covered the period from March to July 1995, and was used to cover mostly the expense of producing and mailing The Ferm.

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By Sam Highley, Editor

01 The Canberra Brewers Sydney bus tour kicked off early on the morning of Saturday May 15. Collective thoughts of suffering the wrath of our illustrious leader, Dicko, had club members all over Canberra struggling out of bed, long before even the keenest Passer domesticus had uttered a single waft of wind from their avian backsides.

The time was 7am, eyes were bleary, and Richard Watkins, brewmaster and all-round fantastic supporter of the club, opened the doors of the Wig & Pen early for us. Not only did this provide a suitable meeting place, but also the first stop on the brewery tour. Mindful of the early hour and the potential of 16-hours of beer consumption ahead, most of us kicked the day off with a light English or Belgian ale.

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