This
week's post is another about beer. 'Why is Jeni writing another post
about beer?' you may ask. Beer is for blokes. Well if you knew what I
knew you would perhaps change your mind on that fact. More on that in
a moment, but the simple answer is that I enjoy the taste and variety
of beer. Do what you love is something us here at Trooprock Aussies
do best and just because females usually like wine better than beer
doesn't mean there can't be exceptions.

Currently
we are basing ourselves at Esperance. We are hoping to stay for the
summer. During the first couple of weeks here we had some shocking
weather. We did venture out to some of the national parks and
beautiful beaches of the area but we would like to visit again before
we write a blog post about them. Today's post is about a local
boutique brewery in Esperance. I wasn't actually searching for one,
but someone had posted something once on the Esperance Community
Facebook page about it, so I did some research. It is called Lucky
Bay Brewing, is opened 2-5:30 Friday, Saturday and Sunday and is
located on the west side of town near where we were house sitting at
the time. One Sunday afternoon we were on our way back from town
after having visited the local markets when we decided to stop in. We
were early and couldn't find where it was despite having the address
for it, but we learnt later that the sign only gets put out the front
when they are open. It is owned and run by two locals Nigel and
Robyn.
For a
brewery that has only been up and running for 11 months, it
certainly has some good vibes about it. Tastings for $10 per person which includes a tasting of the
brewed beers that are available. Each beer tasted is not quite a full
middie, but in total about a pint will be consumed (and extras if
Nigel happens to be changing over a tap), $15 for tastings and a tour
of the brewery. Nigel and Robyn are the owners and both are lovely
people who like to have a chat in between pouring you a beer. Both
are great at customer service, know their product and have some good
information and background knowledge on it. They also stock 2L Growlers from Keg King that can be refilled by them, and most of the pubs that stock their beer.
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Esperance
is considered to be in the gold fields region, but that also means it
is in a region that grows wheat, and barley (used to make malt). The
brewery here is one of the few in Australia that is genuinely local,
and the only one currently to use up to 75% raw barley. Their beers
can be found in a number of pubs in Esperance, and even expanding to
some pubs in Albany, and Kalgoorlie. They have a variety of 7
different beers, (currently, but with more on the way in the new
year), ranging from 3.4% alcohol – 6% alcohol. The beers are even
named after local beaches and landmarks. Sandy Hook is a Barley Pale
Ale and is their most popular beer. It is also Cameron's favourite.
Thistle Cove is a Scottish Ale and is one of my favourites as it has
sweet hints of malt. I think being Australian and growing up drinking
Milo accounts for my love of malt flavours. Skippy Rock is a Kolsch
which is a German style Pale Ale. The Homestead is a Belgian
farmhouse style ale. Just watch yourself on this one as it is 6%
alcohol but very easy drinking. The Tanker is a dark ale that has a
tempting coffee aroma. Cyclops is an Indian Pale Ale, (commonly
shortened to I.P.A), usually very strong hops flavour but Lucky Bay
Brewing have done well to make it more balanced. Burnt Sticks was
brewed as an accident with incorrect quantities that was supposed to
be made into the Black Jack Pirate Porter, which now won't be brewed
until the New Year, but it is an accident that turned out well. It
has a beautiful coffee colour in the foam head when poured, with a
delicious, smokey (not burnt) flavour. This is my other favourite,
but they are all delicious! You will notice that of the pubs that do stock Lucky Bay Brewing that it is all different. Market Research has been done at these pubs to see what kind of beer is consumed the most, and such beer has been supplied to match the demand.

Our,
(mine particularly), interest for tasting a variety of beers and
learning about general history of beer began in 2012 when Cameron
started home brewing. We didn't have the blog set up back then but in
June this year, (2016), Cameron wrote a post regarding
home brewing. Since the beginning of 2013 we have been travelling
on and off and it would be difficult for us to brew in the troopy as
we already have very limited space. In 2014 we briefly visited
Ireland where we did a tour at the Jameson and Guiness factories.
These two tours were both very interesting and informative. For
Christmas last year my mum had found some Beer and Brewing magazines
so gave them to us. There were many interesting articles in these
about different beer styles, different ingredients, the history of
beer in different countries. The article that I remember the most was
about women and beer. You may be interested to know that women were
actually the first beer brewers, and it goes way back to ancient
Egypt times. Over the time it went hand in hand with baking bread
which makes sense as similar ingredients are used. Women were the
main drinkers of it as well. At weddings a bride-ale was created and
sold at the wedding and the profits were a gift to the couple. For
centuries it was brewed and sold entirely by the women, and each
household tended to have their own recipe. It was only when men saw
the commercial value and profit in it that it started to change
hands.

In recent
years perhaps you have noticed an increase of variety in the dockets
you get on the end of a Woolies or Coles reciept: Little Creatures,
Matilda Bay, James Squire, Coopers. Microwbrewing, homebrewing, and
craftbrewing have been on the rise in Australia for at least the last
15 years and will only continue. However there are some craft beers
thats are claiming either 'craft', 'microbrewery', or 'local', that
may have started this way, but have now been sold in the mid nineties
to the bigger companies. Whether you know this or not most pubs you
visit will either stock Lion Nathan's branded beer or Carlton &
United Breweries. Local microwbreweries hardly stand a chance.
Here's some common Lion's brands: XXXX, Tooheys, James Squire, James
Boags, Hahn, EMU/ Swan (originated in WA and still says it is WA is
now actually produced in SA), 5 Seeds. Here's some common Carton &
United Breweries (CUB): Victorian Bitter, Corona, Carlton Draught,
Matilda Bay, Cascade. Depending on which major company owns your
particular local watering hole will depend on what is served. After
talking with Nigel and Robyn about how their beers are in some local
pubs we found out it is an interesting and sometimes painful process
to get it there. The beer taps/ pubs owned by the 2 major companies
are not allowed to have any other branded beer flow through the taps.
If a local or craft beer is of interest to the publican, they are
allowed to stock it (some of the time), but they must provide
separate beer taps and lines. More often than not the pub does not
have separate taps and lines so they just stick with what they are
allowed to serve. Other times they are more flexible and have their
own taps and lines that they can put in what ever they want or they
tell the local brewer that they will have to supply their own taps
and beer lines. If you are lucky enough to find local beers, it will
usually be in a separate part of the bar, or you will have to ask for
it specifically and most of the time the label/ tag is not on the tap
either.
(Please note that the photo of where to find the beers was taken from the Lucky Bay Brewing Facebook page, there is a slight error, Skippy Rock is available at Taylors not Sandy Hook, this is all open to change in the future too.)
Happy Travels
Jeni
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