Six brewers from Sutherland and the South Coast gathered at the Illawarra Brewing Company’s home base in North Wollongong on Tuesday – to cut up oranges.
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But it wasn’t fruit salad they were making but beer, a collaboration beer.
Illawarra Brewing Company brewers Shaun Blissett and Ashur Hall, Tim Thomas from Nowra’s HopDog, Bryce Cochrane from Black Horse Brewing in Sylvania and James Peebles and Driza from Kirawee’s Shark Island Brewing Company joined forces to create a beer known as Southerly Buster.
The beer sounds like something a group of brewers would come up with – a Belgo session red IPA (Belgian-style red India pale ale) with some navel and blood oranges and tangelos thrown in.
Sounds weird? Well, Mr Hall said that was the idea of a collaboration brew.
‘‘It’s good because you get to talk about what other people are doing and share a few ideas and stories,’’ Mr Hall said.
‘‘It always helps to seek another brewer’s opinion of the way things work and you’ll be likely to do things you might not always be keen to do yourself.’’
Driza, whose brewery will open in a month’s time, said the get-together was a chance to have some fun.
‘‘It gives you an excuse to do something special,’’ he said.
The beer forms part of a Southern Brewers tap takeover from the four breweries at the Union Hotel in Newtown during next month’s Sydney Craft Beer Week.
The idea for the event came from Driza, who saw the event as a chance to increase the profile of brewers in southern Sydney and the Illawarra.
‘‘We’re the new kids on the block, there’s no way anyone’s going to give us a tap takeover,’’ he said.
‘‘Same with Black Rock. With Illawarra and HopDog a bit further south, I thought ‘let’s just pool our resources and really represent the areas’.’’
If you’re curious to find out what a beer with oranges tastes like but can’t make it to Sydney, there are plans for a smaller scale event at the Illawarra Brewery in late October.