Annual BBQ & Brews ~ Grain to Glass Oktoberfest & Halloween Edition

Thank you everyone who came to the Annual BBQ and Brews and made it such a blast!

4 kegs originally planned but somehow a 5th keg of DIPA appeared!

Andy setting up the classic home-made Coleman modified Jockey Box to chill the beers from the kegs

Craig & Russell brought along a Lindl upgrade on the Coleman JockeyBox. In the end 3 dispensers for 5 kegs. Not bad.

The Beers and community feedback:

~ Mad Max Pumpkin Porter (Grain 2 Glass Brew day led by Andy Malcolm) A twist on the pumpkin Ale, this time in a Porter. The use of a mix of pumpkin puree as well as pumpkin spice mix backed up by a malty backbone of toast, caramel and chocolate made this a very sessionable and delicious brew! Andy named this Mad Max as a tribute to our CBA Secretary Max Collins whom Andy obviously thinks is quite mad.

~ Pover Marzen (Grain 2 Glass Brewery led by Brett Pover) Marzen translates to March and this original Oktoberfst beer was traditional brewed in March and lagered until October, when the rewards of patience and time lead to a well-balanced sessional Bier enjoyed at Oktoberfest. Our Marzen had no such luxury and as it was brewed in the Grain 2 glass session in August, we had about only 2 months of lagering. Nonetheless, a clean profile, restrained bitterness, toast and bread maltiness ensured the beer on point!

~ Scouse Plum Porter (Re-brew of an award-winning Porter at iBrew in April by Andy Malcolm) Undoubtedly a crowd favourite this one. Born of the same grain bill as the Mad Max Pumpkin Porter, the lifted aromas of the Plums which hit the moment you sip it, backed by toasty bready notes, caramel with a mild coffee or hint of liquorice. Another very sessionable brew perfect for the BBQ!

~ Novalager Keller Bier (Experimental Keller Bier with Novalager hops by Wayne Marriott) Wayne is a keen brewer of traditional styles and a Keller Bier is right up there with traditional brews you would find in a Beer Garden in Germany. It is unfiltered, yeasty and malty from Central Bavaria where it is served directly from barrels. Here, Wayne experimented with a neutral Novalager yeast which resulted in a wonderful expression of maltiness for the fans of malty beers of which the crowd certainly were!

~ Surprise keg of Andy’s KDIPA With a dangereux warning from Wayne to Mr Papkin “ This beer will F*** You Up”, indeed a departure from the 4 sessionable, malt focussed beers before, this one was a hard hitting hop bomb! Could not remember a thing Andy said about what hops went in at the end of the day. Nonetheless, another well-made homebrew for the event.