On Monday the 16th of April I visited The Bush Shack Brewery in Yallingup, Western Australia. This brewery was the second to open up in this region way back in about 1999. The present owners took over the lease in 2002, at that time the brewery was known as Wicked Ales, but an American beer with a similar name threatened trouble over their brand so in 2005 it became The Bush Shack Brewery, ( ironically the American beer no longer exists but they still hold the rights to the name – go figure).
The present owners came from a hospitality background with very limited brewing experience at that time. They initially were brewing from extracts but have been a full grain mash brewery for quite a few years now. It is a small, family run business producing less than 30000 litres annually. They specialise in small batch, hand crafted, malt driven beers. They make batches of 620 litres at a time. Their beers are all unfiltered and their packaged beer is bottle conditioned. In the beginning they had a range of five beers but have expanded that to now have six amber beers and five darker beers as well as a few seasonal and specialty brews.
The beers that I sampled were:
1. Milky Wh-Ale, 3.5% abv, this has a light amber colour and a sweet malt aroma. It has a nice sweet malty flavour with tastes of caramel and vanilla.
2. Strawberry Blonde, 6.7% abv, this is a Pale Ale made with fresh strawberries and honey, it has a hazy straw colour and a subtle fruity aroma. It is smooth and sweet with gentle fruity strawberry hints.
3. Chilli Beer, 4.5% abv, this has a Pilsner base, it has a light straw colour and a malt aroma. The flavour is of sweet maltiness before a medium hot chilli finish and aftertaste.
4. Amateur Hour, 5.9% abv, this is so named because it was a collaboration with a younger family member who had won Australian Amateur Brewer of the year, this was his first brew using a full size brewhouse. It is a German Weissbier style with a golden colour and a malty wheat aroma. It has a great sweet, full, malty wheat flavour and is delicious.
5. Dark Roast Wheat Beer, 4.2% abv, this has a dark amber colour and a caramel and toffee aroma. It is smooth with a malty flavour that has tastes of toffee and caramel. Nice!
6. Yallingup Old, 5.5% abv, this has a dark amber colour and a subtle sweet malt aroma. It has a sweet caramel malt flavour with a well balanced gentle bitterness.
7. Chocolate Beer, 5.0% abv, this has a black colour with a dark brown head and a great dark chocolate aroma. It has a smooth mouth feel and a wonderful strong dark chocolate flavour that lingers beautifully on the palate. Fantastic!
8. Old St Nick, 8.5% abv, this is a Double Scottish Ale with a black colour and a fruity aroma. It has a lovely strong malt flavour with tastes of Christmas cake fruitiness and a subtle coffee hint. Very, very nice!
The beers being produced by The Bush Shack Brewery are all very enjoyable and a little different from the average craft brewery. They have a fantastic, family friendly venue with a children’s playground and a very relaxed beer garden under the trees.
This is a brewery that is definitely worth visiting, however, they will be relocating later in the year as the lease is running out. So get down to Yallingup soon or keep an eye out for their new location later on, they should not be missed, especially the Chocolate Beer, it is probably the best of that variety that I have tried. Their beers are only available from the brewery or by mail order.
I would like to thank Coralie for her time and hospitality when I visited.
