The Worst Blogger in the World

Preachers (Battery Point in Hobart, Tasmania)

I must be the worst blogger in the world. I got nowhere entering Australia's Best Blog 2012 competition. I'm quite annoyed, but by the same token I'm not actually surprised. I don't talk about parenting, babies, little kids running around butt naked in the house, dirty nappies, "what's hot" in Kmart or even politics. I just simply talk about beer. Why the hell would anyone be interested in reading about beer?

Beer is a boring subject, right? It's just a bunch of middle-aged blokes who get pissed at the pub and crap on about their missus. It’s all about that loudmouth at your mate’s barbeque who nobody seems to really know but seems to always hold a Tooheys Extra Dry in his hand talking about the footy. Isn't that what beer’s about? It’s a social stigma that somehow demeans the drinker and turns them into some type of drunken bogan. It’s some type of lowest common denominator.

That’s the thing, it’s not just about a bunch of guys at the pub or that bloke you don’t know holding a can of generic beer in his hand. Attitudes are changing, and that’s largely due to the American craft beer industry that has been thriving for years. It has slowly skipped its way over to our shores, which now sees a wave of craft breweries across our very own landscape. We are in the middle of a beer revolution, and we’re just starting to appreciate the impact this will bring.

The Local Tap House in Darlinghurst, Sydney

Places such as The Local Tap House at Darlinghurst, Sydney is one example. A showcase of nationally and internationally crafted brews that breaks the mold of what beer is all about: flavour, taste, aroma, body and style. It’s an array of fabulous beers that your local conglomerate brewery have no chance of brewing. Craft beer brings a sledgehammer to the fundamentals of beer brewing here in Australia. It’s slowly changing our perception of how beer tastes.

But typically, these “tastes” are generally what you’ll get: Carlton, VB, Coopers, Tooheys, Hahn, Resches. That’s probably a good representation of what beers you’ll have on tap at your local pub. Some pubs have deals where they’ll have a set number of taps from one particular brewery. The publican is happy as it’s cheaper for him/her and the punters are happy, too. Unfortunately, this is the type of beer that we’ve been blinded into drinking loyally and religiously for the best part of thirty years.

But with all those years of commercials comes loyalty. A loyalty that means some people are destined to only drink VB, for example, during their life time. But beware. A new generation of beer consumer has arrived. The ever increasing wave of 20 and 30-somethings that want a choice, and that choice isn’t on offer at their local pub. With the high-speed information highway at our fingertips and all things gadgets, more and more people are wanting to have a choice and make their own decisions. Being told by a conglomerate what to drink?! Come on, that’s not what our 20 and 30-somethings want to put up with. They’ll go out and figure it out for themselves.

I'm not a kid in this picture, but it's a great ice-cream!

And finding things out for yourself is part of learning. You did it in your teens, but remember the first time you had ice-cream as a kid? That sensation of something new, something so unbelievably fantastic that you wanted more – only to find there were even more flavours of ice-cream than you could poke a stick at. That same feeling, that same buzz swept across the USA in the 80's and early 90's with craft breweries slowly opening up and carving a name out for themselves. They wanted to brew beer that was different. They wanted to steer away from the original brewers that had a stranglehold on the beer market and create their very own beer market.

Although it’s taken quite some time, that same beer market wave has hit our shores. An example of this would be when Little Creatures opened up at the beginning of the new millennium. Their offering of a new and hoppy Pale Ale was something to behold. You see, these guys had an idea. An idea that they wanted to share their new beer to Australia and say: hey, our beer is different and it tastes great. Not only did it taste great but they won awards, too. Their tactic worked fantastically well.

Wig and Pen Brewery, Canberra

Even before Little Creatures entered the Australian world of craft brewing you had the Wig & Pen Brewery over in Canberra. An array of freshly made beer that is out of this world. Since 1994, before it was fashionable, they've brewed their own beer. I visited them for the first time earlier this year and was amazed at the selection. I was pampered to a vast variety of styles that had my taste buds in a spin. It's this type of entrepreneurial craftsmanship that was the cornerstone of an ever growing industry.

Fast forward some 10 or so years and we now have well over one hundred breweries and over 30 brewpubs in Australia. The craft beer industry is slowly turning heads and changing attitudes towards beer. Our own Australian pioneers are opening up breweries that have unique recipes, styles and tastes. These same pioneers encourage us to be different, to be daring. They are giving us a product that delivers choice, something that our young people are wanting but not getting from the conglomerates.

Bar Celona, Salamanca Place in Hobart.

The Australian public are being treated to a revolution equal to that of what our American friends experienced back in the 1980’s. Our craft beer revolution has a long way to go, though. It won’t happen overnight. It will not surpass our conglomerates. It will not shatter any records. What it will do is change our perceptions about beer. Right now you can go into any of the Dan Murphy liquor outlets and pick up a great beer from one of our many Australian brewed beers like: Mountain Goat Brewery, Mildura Brewery, 4 Pines, Murray’s Brewing, Grand Ridge Brewing, Lord Nelson Brewery, Kosciusko Brewing, Red Oak Brewery, Stone & Wood Brewing Company. The list goes on.

Australia's best Pale Ale? Stone & Wood deliver it.

Isn't that just brilliant? Being able to select from a wide range of styles and tastes is a major upgrade from the heady days of picking up a slab (or carton) of VB and whacking it in the boot. It's about making choices in life, one in which we now have an increasing number of when it comes to Australian brewed craft beer. Some people may think that talking about beer isn't the "in" thing. Well, it actually is "in". The renaissance of brewing craft beer here in Australia has started and I am proudly talking about it before any other person out there does. That means I'm cool and I'm extremely proud that our craft beer revolution is beginning. The only thing I have to worry about now is how well I'll do in next year's Australia's Best Blog competition.