Now in what seems an eternity ago I was privileged to be invited, and lucky enough to attend the launch of a brand new brewery in Victoria's picturesque Nth East.
Black Dog Brewery is situated in the Glenrowan wine region at Taminick Cellars and is the new venture of 4th generation winemaker and now head brewer James Booth.
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| Cellar Door entrance. |
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| Overlooking the vines. |
On a sultry day back in November we ventured out to this very beautiful part of the countryside for the official launch of the Black Dog beers brewed by James at his family winery at Taminick.
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| Front Bar at Taminick Cellars. |
On debut this day were Lazy Dog Ale, Howling Pale Ale, Leader of the Pack IPA and Dead Dog Stout. Four beers I had previously tried as cleanskin bottles generously given to me by James, from memory all the recipes had been tweaked since I tried my samples, so I was eager to evaluate the latest offerings and enjoy them on tap, draught beer fresh from the source.
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| The Beers. |
Also as well as the Brewery launch and debut of said beers guests at the launch were treated to delicious home/farm grown spit lamb and salad, Taminick wines of course and an afternoon of South American music played passionately by next door neighbour Freddie and his family band.
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| Macca guarding our lunch. |
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| Ned guarding the band's instuments. |
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| Freddie and the band played all afternoon. |
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| Lunch with a 2007 Durif and a couple of IPA's. |
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| Dead Dog Stout. |
As we ate and drank James and his family worked tirelessly to meet the large crowds needs, we all enjoyed the hospitality, the food, the music, the wine but we were all here for the beer, sadly James worked so hard he didn't get much respite from the bar, so I didn't get a chance for a chat or to have a celebratory ale with him, but if you saw my untappd and twitter feed you will know I enjoyed myself immensely.
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| Looking towards the bar. |
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| The crowd enjoying the day. |
Now to the beer as already mentioned there were four delectable ales on debut.
Lazy Dog Ale a Golden Ale, has a great malt/hop balance, it was possibly the crowd favourite on the day, it is a very crisp sessionable ale, and a perfect summer beer.
The Howling Pale Ale was completely different to the cleanskin version I tried, it was hoppier and more aromatic without being too bitter, a great Aussie Pale Ale that will find favour with a lot of Pale drinkers it would be a great ale to drink whilst fishing, a great adjustment to the recipe James.
Our tables pick and my personal favourite was the Leader Of The Pack IPA, this is one big deep copper ale with an inviting hop presence and delicious big bitter finish, full bodied and a great interpretation of the style, I love hoppy beers and this one hits the spot perfectly.
Dead Dog Stout was our dessert, like a fine fortified wine this ale is to be savioured, a rich dark thick creamy stout with roasty flavours lots of chocolate and coffee notes, it is very well rounded and smooth to drink, did we stop at one of course not.....we had 3 or was it 4 ?
Hmmm by this time of the day we had lost count (thank you twitter and untappd for a timeline).
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| James minus his head pouring a Howling Pale Ale. I really only wanted to show you the Tap Fonts. |
Of course the day had to end and to our dismay it came far too quickly, we purchased some wine, some T-shirts and of course some beer, James generously gave us some more beer and I got a glass, we headed home content knowing the beautiful Nth East of Victoria not only has great scenery, it also is home to some of Australia's best wineries and breweries too.
Will we be back, silly question I already have, it's far too close to home.
Apologies for not posting this sooner but honestly I have been busy.
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| Head Brewer and winemaker James Booth, hard at it. P.S. that's my empty glass on the bar. |
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| Macca AKA The Howling Hound. |
Pop into the brewery/cellar door Black Dog Brewery at Taminick Cellars, say gidday to James who knows what he might have brewing.
Now that reminds me where did I put that other cleanskin James gave me ???
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| T-Shirts. |
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| Welcome. |
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| My goodies. |
You can purchase Black Dog beers at the Cellar door at Booth's Taminick Cellars 335 Booth Rd Taminick just follow the signs you wont get lost, or drop James an e-mail and I'm sure he'll arrange for some to be sent to you.
You can also follow James on twitter @thehowlinghound and @TaminickCellars or find Black Dog Brewery on Facebook, go on now you know you want to.
Cheers for now.
Mmmmm must be beeroclock.
