August 2020 updates
Hello beer lovers,
It has been quite a while since my last contact and unfortunately this will be a long one as there have been a lot of changes recently. I fully understand if you do not read any further but, as usual I will try to entertain you all.
PRICE INCREASES
Unfortunately the horrible spectre of more expensive beer has to be addressed. Our prices will be increasing on the 1st of September 2020. Obviously over the last 18 months or so ingredient costs, excise rates etc have all increased and whilst we have absorbed them, and averaged them there has to come a time.
I am still costing the increase but I expect it will be somewhere in the range of $5 per 19 litre keg.
We are also looking at brewing some more intensive, hop driven and ingredient hungry beers and these unfortunately will be costed and will easily be more expensive than normal beers. These beers will not be core range beers and will be part of Geoff and I experimenting with styles, flavours brew techniques etc.
COVID UPDATE
Recent and continual changes have made COVID life difficult for all of us. A large number of requirements have been placed on us, as a licenced premises, which Geoff and I are more than happy to comply with to ensure a safe workplace and an even safer environment for our customers.
Current requirements are that we record all persons entering and exiting the premises. This includes the following:
Name,
Address (EITHER residential OR email),
Contact number,
Date and time in AND time out,
Not one customer has taken exception to being asked to fill out our COVID entry forms. Geoff and I are extremely thankful for your cooperation and compliance. It really is important to maintain our vigilance. This will allow us to maintain our freedom of movement and hopefully prevent a Victoria occurring up here.
Please remember that Geoff and I are getting old and sometimes we forget to ask, or we are just too busy to remember. If, upon attendance at the brewery you could attend at the front bar table and fill out the form we would be most appreciative. Rest assured your details are not being used for marketing or being forwarded on to the Chinese Communist Party.
It is a small impost on all of us that, hopefully the government will never need to utilise or refer to, but in the event we turn into a Victoria it may become an invaluable tool in the tracing and control of this horrible virus.
PLEASE TRY TO PHONE AHEAD. This can greatly minimise your time in the shed and your time exposed to other people. It also allows Geoff and I to try and plan our beer stocks and ensure you, as the customer get what you want, when you want.
NEW BEERS
We are on the very last stock of our black lager, the Tipsy Wombat. It has been my favourite concoction since we have been at the brewery. It will be available as a special order.
We have very small stock of Wombat’s Weissen, a heavier wheat based beer. Deep gold colour, strong flavour and medium bitterness. A good medium beer with full grain flavour as opposed to a malt flavour.
Uncle’s Dunkel, a heavy dark German, wheat beer is also in limited supply. It is an extremely tasty beer that has a deep, deep brown colour, pours heavier and has a beautiful creamy head to it. I have had two 50 lt kegs sell on the day they have come off and presently have several still available. I can’t even put it on tap as it keeps on selling out.
Geoff and I are going to start experimenting with an XPA style beer that I really can’t stand, so I know it is good. It is very similar to Balter XPA in flavour.
You all know that I lover a good lager, and at the moment the hipsters have hijacked good lager by throwing hops into the mix and calling them ‘classic’ lagers. This, as far as I am concerned is lazy, quick brewing. These are NOT lagers and do the long history of ‘lagering’ no justice. We will continue to work on trying to produce high quality lagers and I am presently working on a really light coloured, very crisp lager to be ready for summer.
We will keep you all posted.
CIDER BLUES
As an indirect result of COVID our suppliers (several) have run out of primary ingredients for all of our ciders. We are feverishly trying to identify other sources for our ingredients and we are trying to ensure that the product remains the same. Unfortunately this hasn’t been the case and our suppliers have made no commitment to supply any earlier than October.
We have actually, already run out of Apple cider. Pear cider is about to drop off the available list and Berry cider, which has become really trendy with the woke crowd is also on the endangered list.
Again, due to ingredient supply the flavour of both the Apple and Pear have had to change and are both, for my uneducated taste buds both a little bit sweeter. Feedback however, has been universally positive to the changed flavour but Geoff and I both like the original flavour and will return to that as soon as we can.
It will be at least 3 weeks before we have extremely limited supply of our ciders back in stock. We will keep on working on supply chains to try and keep them in stock.
OPENING HOURS
Please be advised that our opening hours are as follows:
Monday – closed
Tuesday – closed
Wednesday – 12pm to 6pm
Thursday – 12pm to 6pm
Friday – 12pm to 6pm
Saturday – 10am to 3pm
Sunday – 10am to 3pm
Geoff and I love seeing all of your smiling faces, love supplying you all great beer and love talking to you all. We do however believe this should occur during opening hours. A number of customers have, unfortunately been the victim of a very frosty response from me (George) but if I’m brewing nothing else in the world matters for that period of time. I hope you all understand this as brewing is an intensive and potentially dangerous process and one missed action can result in a destroyed brerw.
Rest assured, we might be in the shed from 6am on numerous days but despite how it looks during opening hours we are actually extremely busy before trade. Below is a response to a review several months ago. It kind of explains what goes on behind the scenes, but it is also quite entertaining reading…
https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/110338648242719317036/place/ChIJR80qeZblk2sR47FRvITuarI/@-27.2841212,152.8551869,11z/data=!4m6!1m5!8m4!1e1!2s110338648242719317036!3m1!1e1?hl=en-AU
A number of customers will attest to the fact that if something goes wrong Geoff and I will do everything in our power to fix the problem and often we will not charge for that o-ring we replace, that keg that needs a good scrub, those grams of CO2 we don’t charge for because we can’t fill your bottle.
Geoff and I will always try and find a solution to your problem or issue and hopefully we have done our job sufficiently that there is never a problem of issue in the first place.
YOUR KEGS
Referring to kegs in the previous section reminded me to remind all of you.
Please keep an eye on the cleanliness of your kegs. Whilst we sanitise your kegs each and every time they come in this is not designed to give your kegs a deep clean. Depending on how you treat them, how long they sit unused etc depends on how they age. You need to occasionally get a skinny armed person to put their arm inside the keg and scrub the residue off the interior walls every now and then. This will ultimately ensure your beer is not contaminated, maintains it’s fantastic flavour and lasts for as long as possible.
Be mindful of the locations that you store your kegs. If they are kept outside, in the sun, in the dirt, exposed to the elements don’t expect the various rubber components to last as long as they should.
If you purchase second hand kegs make sure you check them over and that all the required parts are installed and in good condition. We have replaced o-rings, seals and other parts on ‘re-conditioned’ kegs that should have had these components on them, in a new condition. Other than posts we haven’t charged for the parts.
Recently I filled one of these kegs and found a leak in the base of the keg. The beer tube (Aluminium), touching the stainless steel had caused a galvanic reaction resulting in three pinholes and rendering the keg useless. This was a ‘brand new’ reconditioned keg.
Another set of kegs, purchased second-hand were so filthy inside that the walls were coated in a thick, dry layer of beer residue. I serviced the three kegs, which involved leaving them to soak in an oxygen solution for several hours, pulling them apart, checking the seals and rings and then trying to clean them inside without looking like a bionic Popeye (kegs stuck on each of my fore-arms). We did not charge for this, it was done because I didn’t want our beer entering kegs that were contaminated, compromised and potentially dangerous for the customer. This is something that should be done and completed by the seller but is sometimes not being done properly.
If you have read down this far, well done, you deserve a beer. Try to pop in, grab a pot of beer from us and enjoy a quick, friendly conversation with Geoff and I. We would really appreciate it. Again apologies for the really long email, I will try and get in contact with all of you lovely people more often.
Cheers, stay safe, stay distant, stay friendly during these uncertain times,
G&G
