It’s always good to see an Aussie company do well on the world stage. Just recently I was impressed by the work the guys at ENDEAVOUR True Vintage beer had done by taking out a second place in the Pale Category at the World Beer Cup in America. This is the stuff dreams are made off, winning a medal at an event that is the Olympics of Beer brewing, a competition that is only run every second year and, much like the Australian Beer Awards, if there is no-one deserving of a first place, it’s not awarded.
So imagine what happens when you’re a little boutique brewery from Sydney that’s only been around since 2004, and you’ve beaten some of the other 799 entrants, that altogether entered 3921 beers, and you’ve taken out a gold medal.
Well this is exactly what has happened for the team at Sydney’s Redoak brewery. Not content with winning a swag of medals at the Australian International beer Awards on a yearly basis, they’ve now gone and beaten the world. It must be said that it’s not the first time that Redoak has taken out a medal at the World Beer Cup. Gold and Bronze in 2006, and a Silver and Bronze at the 2007 European Beer Star Awards are already gracing their cabinets.
And, as always, I was willing to put myself through some long hard hours of research, so while in Sydney a few weeks ago I put in some hard yards at the Redoak Beer Cafe in Clarence Street. I was incredibly keen to re-sample some of their beers, especially off the tap. So when I got there I was kind of like a boy with his first copy of Playboy, not really knowing where to start but keen to have a look at everything.
An amazing amount of thought, time and money has gone into the setup of the Redoak Brewery, from the beers, to the food, right down to the glassware. They even run beer appreciation classes on how to match food and beer! But to be honest I didn’t really get past the first two or three beers before I started to think that these guys weren’t brewing beer at all…..they were bottling the sweat of angels.
I found it hard to go past the Organic Pale Ale, a medal winning beer in its own right. It‘s an English style ale, with a lot of attention being paid to the malts and not so much of the “floral – yeasty” characters that you find in American style ales. Rich in colour, the Pale Ale has a firm bitterness from the hops and a malty creaminess. Clean on the tongue with an excellent mouthfeel, Redoak have brewed not only one of the best session beers I’ve tried in a long time, but also a beer that will match incredibly well with food, especially seafood, rabbit and cheeses, perhaps not all three at once. I found it matched particularly well with Redoak’s lamb sausages.
I realise that as an Aussie bloke aged between 13 and 95, I am genetically pre-disposed to enjoying the odd beer or six. So the chances of me enjoying the Redoak beers were always going to be good, but this took it to another level. After the fourth day of visiting the Redoak Brewery, one of my drinking companions swears that the bar maid actually turned into an angel riding a white, winged horse while she poured and brought to him another Organic Pale Ale…..this stuff really is that good.
Redoak’s beer range is ever so slowly creeping into the fridges at the local bottleshops, or can be ordered online direct from the brewery at www.redoak.com.au.
Keep an eye out for it and grab them if you can…you’re going to love these.
Four of the best Redoak beers:
Redoak Organic Pale Ale: an English style Pale ale, brewed using organically grown malt and hops. A special strain of London Ale yeast gives a distinctive fruity character with a firm hop bitterness and rich malty flavour. Try with seafood, cheese or rabbit
Redoak Bitter: The beer that struck Gold at the Olympics. Redoak have used a London ale yeast which gives a beer that has complex malt characters.Try with the simple things in life, like Friday night footy and friends.
Redoak Blackberry Wheat Beer: I know what you’re thinking, beer and fruit??? But this has a fascinating flavour that could easily replace champagne at a table. Tartness of the blackberries and the yeasty flavours just match so well Try with fruit based desserts such as sorbet, would also work well as an aperitif.
Redoak Organic Hefeweizen: Hefeweizen. A word that is often mentioned in hushed tones, but the very best of these beers can stand head and shoulders above their counterparts. This cloudy German style beer shows all that is good about QUALITY wheat beers; hints of banana and cloves and shouldn’t be under-rated. Try with prawns, or seafood with creamy sauces.
