First published in 2013 by WBM magazine.<\/p>\n
Beer Radar<\/p>\n
The little Clare Valley and the big beers.<\/p>\n
By John Kr\u00fcger<\/p>\n
Hold on to your steins, we\u2019re about to see a wave of new beers form the Clare Valley. It\u2019s been a well known wine region ripe for the beer pickings for years, and there have been some great attempts and successes so far in Clare. I know they weren\u2019t brewed on site, but I could never resist stopping at Neagles Rock for a beer to drink there and a few of their wheat beers to take home. They disappeared a few years ago, but Knappstein\u2019s, smack bang in the middle of Clare have held on firmly with their benchmark lager. Probably the first beer to truly engage the general Aussie drinker with the New Zealand origin Nelsen Sauvin hop. The unique fruity aroma is a great finishing hop for new world beers from lagers to American style pale ales. The Kiwi\u2019s told everyone that their new hops smelled like grapes, or to be more specific, their locally grown and soon to be vastly popular, Sauvignon Blanc. They\u2019ve since dropped the references to that specific variety of grape, which makes sense to me. The hops certainly don\u2019t smell like green capsicum and rubber gloves. Knappstein\u2019s Reserve Lager still remains a great example of a new-age aromatic Aussie lager. Word is, Knappstein\u2019s are keen to introduce some new beers into their range and I\u2019m hoping it\u2019ll be soon. Will they be modern interpretations of classic styles? Hop driven malty masterpieces? Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n
Pikes beers have a history which goes back for ages and at times is a bit hard to follow. If you\u2019ve ever driven around Oakbank looking for a brewery with some cold beers, you\u2019ll realise, like me, that you\u2019re about 42 years too late. Thankfully the beers have made a resurgence after Neil and Andrew Pike relaunched the beer in 1996. Their stout was certainly a welcome sight at the most recent chilly Clare Gourmet Weekend. Pikes have recently added a Stout and Sparkling Ale to their original Pilsener and there\u2019s word of changing seasonal beers as well. Adelaide based Black Squid design have rejigged their labels to reflect on the history of the original brewery in Oakbank which started in 1886. I absolutely love them and told Peter Bentley from Pikes that if they don\u2019t bring out some beer t-shirts they\u2019d be mad. Peter replied \u201cWe\u2019re definitely looking at t-shirts. I think they\u2019d look great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pikes beers are being brewed by well known Victorian brewers Hargreaves Hill which explains why the stout in particular is so good. Keep an eye out for the new beers around May\/June and meanwhile you can check out the original Pilsener on tap at the Sevenhill pub.<\/p>\n
The Clare Valley Brewing Company has also appeared recently and there\u2019s certainly some stainless steel being installed somewhere, but it\u2019s all still a bit hush hush. No beers have been seen by me yet, but I hear there\u2019s a lot of activity going on in the background. Business partners Craig Harnett and Ben Jeanneret have also been planting some hops in the Clare Valley and plan to use locally grown barley for a truly regional beer. They were enjoying a few cleansing ales when I spoke to them at the Clare Wine Awards and they\u2019re keen as mustard.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s looking like the next visit to the Clare Valley might involve a sleep over. The Riesling is so good it deserves at least a taste and a few bottles to take home, but with so much new fresh beer about to pop up, a stay at one of the pubs will be unavoidable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First published in 2013 by WBM magazine. Beer Radar The little Clare Valley and the big beers. By John Kr\u00fcger Hold on to your steins, we\u2019re about to see a wave of new beers form the Clare Valley. It\u2019s been a well known wine region ripe for the beer pickings for years, and there have … Continue reading The little Clare Valley and the Big Beers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,5,6,4],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craft-beer","tag-australia","tag-beer","tag-craft-beer","tag-south-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerradar.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}