On Monday the 16th of October I visited the Australian Brewery in Rouse Hill, New South Wales. This brewery is a story about a family with a love for craft beer.
Twenty years ago six brothers from Sydney with a passion for craft beer and hospitality started taking small steps towards creating a range of signature Australian craft brews. Along the way these steps became giant leaps as they have consistently produced award winning beers and distributed them nationwide and even overseas.
It all started with the family owning pubs that they refurbished and then sold to buy more. They also owned Potters Brewery in the Hunter Valley at one stage.
Now, Marcello and his five brothers own two breweries and three hotels, with another one in the Macquarie Park area in construction and other plans for expansion in the future.
This brewery in Rouse Hill is an enormous establishment with bars, a restaurant and a children’s playground as well as the brewery. It is growing rapidly and has increased from employing two full time and one part time brewers last year to now employing five full time and one part time brewers this year. They can produce about a half a million litres of beer a year and are in the process of adding new tanks to take that capacity up another 375000 litres each year. They are also putting in another 12 prong canning line that should be much faster than the present 5 prong line. They were actually the first craft brewers in Australia to can their beers back in 2012, a decision they made to enable them to attack the export market. Something they have done very successfully.
The beers that I sampled were:
Seis Hermanos Lager, 4.5% abv, 16 IBU, this is a straw coloured Mexican style Lager with a citrus aroma that is made with maize. It has a malt and lemon flavour on a crisp dry finish. Refreshing!
Fresh Press Cider, 5.0% abv, this has a cloudy appearance and a sweet apple aroma. It has a nice medium sweet apple flavour.
Pilsner, 4.8% abv, 36 IBU, this has a golden straw colour and a citrus aroma. It has a nice malt taste on a spicy, crisp, gentle bitter finish.
Australian Pale Ale, 4.8% abv, 26 IBU, this has a golden straw colour and a citrus and passionfruit aroma. It has a nice sweet fruity flavour and a crisp, gentle bitterness on the finish. Easy drinking.
Session IPA, 4.2% abv, 45 IBU, this has a golden colour and a fruity hop aroma. It has a sweet fruity taste and then a good hop bitter finish. Very sessionable.
Into The Void, 5.1% abv, 30 IBU, this has a black colour and a dark creamy head with a roasted coffee malt aroma. It has a nice smooth mouth feel and a rich, strong espresso flavour on a mild bitter finish. Very, very good!
Kiwi Sour, 4.1% abv, 10 IBU, this is a Kiwi fruit infused Berliner Weisse with a cloudy straw colour and slightly sour fruit aroma. It has an initial taste of sweet fruit that is quickly replaced by a big sour finish. Unusual flavours.
Fire and Brimstone, 6.0% abv, 48 IBU, this has an amber colour and a smoky aroma. It has a nice smooth mouth feel and a malty flavour of smoked meat on a nice hop bitter finish.
This brewery is a seriously big business that is still putting out some great beers. They have won numerous international awards for their Lager and Session IPA.
I would like to thank Dan and Marcello for taking the time to talk with me and for their hospitality when I visited, especially as they were exceptionally busy due the delivery of new fermentation and bright tanks at the time.