Session Beers – Quiet Deeds & 40 Acres Brewing

There seems to be a change in the winds. Not just a change in seasons, there seems to be a change in people’s attitudes to consuming alcohol here in Australia.

As I have written before Mid-strength beers are the fastest growing segment of the beer market, and now we are starting to see ultra low alcohol malted beverages (I’m struggling to actually call Hahn Ultra a beer, at .02% abv to me that’s a soft drink.) taking up room on the shelves.

I always thought it was our aging population that was driving the want for lower alcohol beers, but I have noted an increasing number of younger people opting out of the mainstream full strength boozy beers and going for something that is more sessionable.

When I say sessionable, I refer to a beer you can sit and have more than just a couple without leaving you the next day incapable of doing more than lying on the couch with a packet of Maccas chips and can of soft drink.

I believe that consumers both young and old are starting to realise that they can be social and have a few beers with friends, without compromising on flavour, but want to be able to get up and enjoy the rest of their weekend without the thumping headache.

It’s not only the big commercial brewers that are starting to cater to this part of the market, smaller independent brewers are responding to consumers needs and are producing a whole new range of these lower alcohol, easier drinking styles of session beers. Bridge Road’s Little Bling and Pirate Life’s Throwback IPA are a couple of this style that are really leading the way in this segment demonstrating that being a mid-strength or lower alcohol beer doesn’t mean anything is left out in the flavour department.

So next time you’re on for a session, consider a beer made for the occasion. Here are a couple that have made it to my esky over the last few long weekends.

Cheers!

Quiet Deeds (Red Island Brewing Co. Port Melbourne, Vic)

Session Ale

4.4%abv

$22.99 per 6 x 375ml can.

At 4.4% abv, this is on the higher end of the alcohol sides of the session beers I described, but this beer pours golden with a white head, which disappeared quickly. The aroma is big on passionfruit and a little lychee thanks to dry hopping of Citra, Amarillo and Galaxy hops. These flavours are carried through to the palate with a light mouthfeel; this beer passes over the tongue with a hint of malts but doesn’t hang around long thanks again to the hop bitterness. A really nice beer brewed for a warm afternoon where talking absolute rubbish with friends is on the cards.

Food Match: BBQ Lemon and herb chicken

40 Acres Brewing (Sandon, Vic)

‘Til the cows come home

India Pale Ale

3.7% abv

$22.99 per 6 x 330ml bottle.

‘Til the cows come home pours a golden colour and bursts with fruit hop aromas of passionfruit, mangoes and citrus. It has a medium mouthfeel that has a nice citrus fruit flavour mixed with light malt background. It finishes with a mild bitterness that isn’t overpowering, but certainly cleanses that palate. This one is currently being brewed in Bendigo at Brookes Brewery and is certainly a really flavoursome mid-strength beer which pleasantly surprised me and certainly had me reaching for another. Perfect for a session where want to stay with the herd and really you can drink it ‘til…. well, you get it.

Food Match: Garlic Prawns.

Autumn – Murrays Brewing Co & Red Duck/Funk Estate

Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year with sunny warm days and cool nights. So with a change in the seasons, comes a change in the beers i drink.

The Lagers, Pilsners and light summer ales in my fridge turn to brown ales, IPA’s and dark ales. There also seems to be a few more holidays at this time of year, with Labour Day, Easter weekend and St Patricks Day (I know the last isn’t necessarily a holiday, but it is a celebration and beer is usually consumed!)

It is the perfect time of year to discover new beers to add to your beverage repertoire and that is exactly what i have been doing, and let me assure you there are plenty to choose from!

There has been a brewing boom here in Australia. On average one new brewery started every week last year and as at November 2015 there were 300 registered breweries.

Now more than ever new and interesting beers are so readily available. Recently I spoke to Matt from Foxxys at Daylesford who spoke of his passion for discovering new beers to sell in his stores and how the beer landscape is changing rapidly. “We have so many more small breweries knocking on our door each week all wanting us to stock their beer” Matt said “It’s impossible to range them all, so we have to be really select in only stocking what we consider are the best.”

Matt went on to say that really tries to support the local breweries such as the Daylesford Brewing Company, 40 Acres from Newstead and Three Troopers in Avoca. “We really wish we had a bigger store so we could stock more. It just shows us how much and how quickly the industry has changed and makes me wonder what will happen in the future for some of these breweries”

I agree Matt, but in the mean time I think I will just be be happy with the fact that we are spoilt for choice when it comes to small independent brews and keep trying to taste as many as possible whilst they are still here.

Here are a couple of my current favourites

Cheers!

Murray’s Craft Brewing Co (Bobs Farm, NSW)

Fred IPA

5.6%abv

$19.99 per 4 x 330ml bottle.

Fred pours a deep orangey amber with a tight white head. Packed with citrus and tropical fruit aromas along with some nice malty characters this IPA has a sweet malty flavour upfront that finishes quite dry being true to the aromas with a passionfruit, peach and mangos. It is reasonable low on fizz, which gives it a nice fuller mouthfeel, then crisp at the end due to the big whack of American hops late in the brew. This is a cracker of a beer that doesn’t have that higher alcohol feel to it (which can make it a little dangerous!). For me this one is a great beer for when i want that little hop fix, but don’t want to have to think about it too much. Complex enough for the avid beer enthusiast, quaffable enough for the average beer person who like to step it up occasionally.

Food Match: Smoked spicy “southern style” meats and Mexican food.

Funk Estate & Red Duck

Tangerine Funk Duck

Abbaye Ale (Limited Release)

6.0%abv

$12.00 per 500ml bottle.

This collaboration between the Funk Estate and Red Duck Breweries is a “Tangerine inspired Belgian Session Ale” Brewed last year during Good Beer week.

It pours a rich orangey amber with a medium head. The aroma certainly has orange citrus notes from peel adding in the brewing, but it also has a sweet toffee, malty caramel nose. The flavours are quite light in the mouth and certainly continue with the orange citrus and a nice malt background. It lingers in the mouth but finishes quite clean. This is a pretty easy drinking beer, but at 6% abv it does have a kick to it, so isn’t as sessionable as it possibly could have been. One to enjoy at home on a sunny autumn afternoon. (After all the domestic jobs have been ticked off, because after one or two of these, not much else is going to get done!)

Food Match: Roast Duck, Chocolate orange cake.