A hoppy brown ale catches Michael Van de Elzen's eye at McLaren Vale Beer Company's Willunga Brewery. Photo / Christine Cornege
A hoppy brown ale catches Michael Van de Elzen's eye at McLaren Vale Beer Company's Willunga Brewery. Photo / Christine Cornege
Mike Van de Elzen samples the boutique breweries of South Australia
As a chef, I am always looking for the perfect balance in my dishes, whether it's rich versus acid, sweet versus sour or soft verses crunchy. It's the same with drinks. It's always about the steps and the layers that create the final perfect product.
I've heard our transtasman neighbours have brewing and distilling down to a fine art and I'm keen to test that reputation ... and the best way to do that is by visiting one of South Australia's cutting-edge boutique breweries.
We are all familiar with the big-name Aussie beers but my mission takes me to McLaren Vale, a 45-minute drive south of Adelaide.
McLaren Vale has always had a rich history in grape growing. As early as 1850, the historic Hardy and Seaview wineries were in operation and today more than 60 cellar doors can be explored, many accessed by bike on one of several wine and food trails - which I'll be checking out later.
My first stop is Ekhidna Kitchen & Cellar Door, a relatively new offering in the region with tastings of wine, beer and a fantastic food menu available to try six days a week. Ekhidna offers visitors a sampling of nine styles of beer and cider, including a popular ginger beer. The brews are preservative free and kettle cooked, so what you get depends on what's freshly brewed at the time, making the experience special every time you visit.
After a delicious lunch and couple of tastings, I decide to park the car and test out these wine and food trails by bike. Following the 6.5km Shiraz Trail, I weave my way past vineyards and restaurants out to the McLaren Vale Beer Company and its new Willunga Brewery. I love the fact you can stop and have a glass of wine or beer, then bike off again. If you decide you want to purchase wine they even offer a wine freight service to Adelaide so you can ship it on from there.
The McLaren Vale Beer Company is a gateway brewery, designed to entice beer drinkers away from the mainstream brands. It is that little bit edgy but large enough to carve out an enviable slice of this niche market.
Owner Josh Stuart introduces me to head brewer Jeff Wright. I've seen a lot of breweries but nothing beats being taken on the journey with the main man in a small brewery where you can witness each stage of what makes a great beer.
I see how the barley is toasted and how the flavour and colour are created and added to the beer, through to hops being sprinkled into the fermenting tanks to increase the lager's hoppy bitterness.
I learn that New Zealand hops make up 50 per cent of the hops Australians use in their lagers. It seems like one of our best-kept secrets - that Nelson produces hops for breweries around the world, including giants such as Guinness.
McLaren Vale started with its signature Vale Ale and it was soon on tap and in stores in many states. It added a Vale Dry lager and an IPA and then its seasonal keg-only experimental ales which have included US-inspired brown ale with lots of rich malt flavour and big hops, a fruity number in the tradition of the Belgian withier style and full bodied and creamy, and its first experimental beer, an oatmeal stout with a shot of nitro for added creaminess.
Image 1 of 10: Ashley Huntington and wife Jane at the Farm Bar. Two Metre Tall Brewery. Photo / Christine Cornege
My favourite beer type is Indian Pale Ale, aka IPA. With the blend of the toasted barley and its higher alcohol content with extra hops, it is an easy drinking beer. No surprise, then, that this is the number one consumed beer in Aussie.
Having seen firsthand the effort that goes into this process, it just makes it taste all that much better. Cheers!
Suggested food match for Vale beers: Roast chicken with light gravy.
