This week on Radio Brews News we have a quick catch up with Simon Coghlan, one of the team behind the Ballarat Beer Festival that is being held for the first time in January 2012.
Then we catch up with Brendan Varis from Feral Brewing.
Brendan was on the steering committee involved in setting up Craft Beer Limited, the new national association of craft brewers. Brendan talks about the association and what they aim to achieve in craft beer over the next five years. We then talk about Feral Brewing and Brendan’s beer plans. We learn about his impending King Brown Ale, aged in 60-year-old cognac casks, that he has a new 50 hectolitre brewery on order which will be coming on-stream around March next year and also learn that Hop Hog and White may not be the beers that Brendan himself drinks…
More information:
For those who stick til the end, you will be rewarded with Bobby Vinton’s interpretation of Roll Out the Barrel, which you will no doubt want to add to your growing collection of Polka favourites. You can purchase it here.
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Hi Matt & Pete
Looking forward to next Brews News! Awesome gues list. Listened to Mythbusting issue yesterday. Fasinating and superb. Keep up the great beer work 🙂
Hi guys
I enjoyed this weeks show. I found the interview with Simon a bit perplexing, for someone who has a great love of craft beers, you would think he would actually sell some in his hotels. I’m not quite sure his motives behind the Ballarat Beer Festival are all about the beer, having said that I hope the festival is a success and gets bigger and better.
G’Day Jason,
Yeah, Simon part owns both The Western and Golden City Hotels in Ballarat.
The Western is more old style/front bar/ladies lounge kind of bar that, by Simon’s own admission is for the older, more ‘set in their ways’ locals and GC is more focussed on dining and tourist trade. It has a generous contract with Lion but the local rep is happy for him to share the last two taps which often have Mountain Goat, Red Duck etc through them. It is not much of the total volume but it’s more than a token gesture.
Hopefully the BBF will be the start of the changing of the ways there in Ballarat and we’ll soon see more pubs pouring a broader range of beers.
I live in Ballarat, so I’ll drop in and have a look. The last time I was in there he didn’t have any craft beers, unless you include Coopers. I try to keep track of anywhere that serves good beer in Ballarat, it’s a very small list. I hope your info is correct and if so Simon has my apologies.