On Friday the 13th of October I visited the Nomad Brewing Co in Brookvale, New South Wales. This brewery came about after Kerrie and John came back from living in north western Italy and started importing Italian craft beers, this soon expanded to importing craft beers from all over the world. It was then decided that they should start making their own beers with a strong European influence about three years ago.
They first launched with craft beers that made use of Australian native ingredients including such things as; finger lime, lemon myrtle, wattle seed, lemon aspen and hibiscus flower. They made a point of balancing the beers in a way that did not allow any ingredient to dominate the flavour but rather compliment it
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They still concentrate on European style craft beers with varieties such as Gose and Berlinerweisse prominent in their range. They won the French and Belgian Style Champion trophy at the 2017 Craft Beer Awards.
The brewery comprises a 25 hectolitre brewer, six 5000 litre fermentation tanks and bright tanks to feed their kegging, bottling and canning lines. All of which is completed on site. They also barrel age some of their beers in Grappa, wine and whiskey barrels. They also carry out contract brewing for Yeastie Boys and distribute their beers in Australia.
The bar has eleven beers on tap with some of them being guest beers that they still import and distribute. They have food and entertainment at times at the brewery and they also hire the venue out for private functions on Saturday nights.
The beers that I sampled were:
Freshie Salt and Pepper Gose, 4.5% abv, this is a hazy straw colour with a lemon citrus aroma. It has a nice lemon citrus flavour and then a slightly salty finish.
Rosie Summer Punch Berlinerweisse, 3.8% abv, this has a straw colour and a yeasty aroma. It has a fruity taste and then a slightly sour taste. Refreshing.
Freshie Moka, 4.5% abv, this is an espresso Gose with a black colour and a coffee aroma. It has a lovely sweet coffee flavour with a gentle salty finish.
Sideways XPA, 4.0% abv, this has a straw colour and a citrus aroma. It has an initial taste of sweet malt and then a big citrus hop flavour on a bitter finish.
Long Trip Saison, 6.6% abv, this won a gold medal at the CBA in 2016. It has a straw colour and a citrus and yeast aroma. It has a sweet flavour and then a nice citrus fruit and slightly sour finish. This beer is exported to the USA, Brazil, Europe and the UK.
The Nomad Brewery is making some very distinctive and individual tasting beers that are all quite delicious. I would like to thank Kerrie for her hospitality when I visited.