On Tuesday the 26th of September I visited The Coastal Brewing Company in Forster, New South Wales. This brewery is very new and only started operations in late March of this year. It is owned and run by David and Helen Black who gave up the corporate rat race of Sydney to embark on this new adventure of making quality craft beer in the beautiful setting of Forster.
The brewery consists of a 1200 litre brewhouse with 2400 litre fermenters and their own canning line. Their aim is to produce high quality ales and lagers using all natural ingredients.
On the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of September they attended their first craft beer festival in the way of the Wallis Lake Oyster and Craft Beer Festival in Tuncurry and were overwhelmed by the positive reaction they received by all who sampled their beers.
The brewery is situated in the industrial area of Forster. However, the license they hold limits them to only serving tasting paddles or growlers and squealers or cans for take away consumption.
All of their beers are named after local beaches. The beers that I sampled were:
Town Lager, 5.0% abv, this is a golden coloured Lager with a clean malty flavour and a gentle bitterness on a dry finish.
Number One Golden Ale, 5.6% abv, this golden coloured Ale was also the first one to be produced in the brewery. It has a nice sweet fruity taste and then a mild bitterness on the finish. Quite refreshing.
Boomerang Beach Pale Ale, 5.4% abv, the release for this beer was held at the Rec club next to Boomerang Beach and the beer has developed quite a following locally. It is golden in colour and has a fruity floral aroma. The flavour is fruity and then transitions into a nice hop bitter finish.
Seven Mile IPA, 6.6% abv, this beer is golden coloured and has a strong fruity aroma of cut grass and citrus. It is a malt forward IPA with a fruity bitterness on the finish.
Black Head Milk Stout, 4.7% abv, this is a black coloured stout with a dark creamy head and a roasted malt aroma. It has a nice smooth mouth feel and a full malt flavour with hints of coffee.
All of the beers are very well crafted and true to their style, they tasted delicious.
Coming soon to the lineup will be a Pilsner, a Kolsh and an XPA. They also tasted delicious straight from the tank and should be even better once they have completed the full brewing process.
I would like to thank David and Helen for their hospitality and time when I visited and wish them all the best for a very bright future in the Australian craft beer industry. Well worth visiting.
