We’re still amazed that Pacific Ale topped the Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers for 2011. It’s a fantastic list of beers and we’re really thankful that people thought our simple brew was worthy of their vote.

In case you missed it, the Hottest 100 is an online competition driven by The Local Taphouse bars in Melbourne and Sydney. Punters are encouraged to vote for their top five Australian craft beers, available either on tap or in a bottle, throughout 2011. Apparently, this year’s poll was the biggest yet with thousands of votes coming from around the country, which is great news for craft beer in general.

We were pouring beers at a few festivals on Australia Day, when the results were announced, so it wasn’t long before we were celebrating with a few Pacific Ales ourselves. Congratulation to Little Creatures and Feral Brewing who rounded out the top three. Check the out the rest of the list here.

There are always mixed emotions the day a new tank arrives at the brewery. It’s mostly excitement at the thought of having more space to brew more beer into, something we know will make people right around the country pretty happy. There’s a bit of doubt, because the tanks always look smaller when they’re resting on their side and so we wonder if they’ve sent us the right size (compare the photo on the home page to the one below to see what we mean). There’s some anxiety too, because when you’re a small brewery and have nothing more than a forklift, some old straps and a bit of man power to stand the tank into place, things can get a little stressful. But this isn’t our first rodeo. This is tank number eight, so we finally have the process sorted. And with two bigger ones on their way next month, we’re looking forward to a heap of brewing over the coming weeks to fill them all. Just got to work out where the heck we’re going to fit them first…

You always look forward to the next one. The first half disappears too quickly and only once you get to the end do you start to reflect on the highlights. Looking back over the calendar stuck to the brewery wall these are the bits and pieces that have made 2011 a special one for us…

January : Pacific Ale came second in the Local Taphouse Hottest 100.

February : We brewed up some Red Relief , which raised $15k for the Queensland Flood Relief Fund. Launched Pacific Ale in 500ml bottles and Miss Fiona Lane started spruiking our brews around Melbourne.

March : Visited Bushy Park in Tasmania to see (and smell) Galaxy hops being picked during the hop harvest.

April : Pacific Ale was voted best beer in Australia by the Critics’ Choice.

May : The whole team headed down to Good Beer Week in Melbourne. Backed that up by heading north for the Archive Beer Fest in Brisbane.

June : Stone Beer brew day, attended by our new man on the ground in Sydney, Mr Steve Blick. A couple of new tanks arrived at the brewery.

July : Rolled out Stone Beer at the “Festival of the Stone” in Byron and the following week in Melbourne.

August/September : Road trips to share a beer with the good people of Adelaide and Perth.

October : Hosted the opening ceremony for the first Byron Bay Surf Festival at the brewery, attended by our two new brewers Simon Bardill and Luke Rutland. Also ducked off for Sydney Craft Beer Week.

November : A huge one at Newcastle Craft Beer Week followed by Warners at the Bay Beer festival.

December : Nothing but brew, brew and brew some more !

Cheers to everyone who enjoyed a Stone & Wood (or two) along the way. We appreciate the support. Looking forward to this new year with new kegs, new team members, new events and new brews on the way.

We’ve been busy this week brewing our Stone Beer and getting some shiny new tanks … but back to the Stone Brew Day story … With the brew mashed in and the brewery full of sweet malt aromas, it was time to get the fire started. Building a fire outside the brewery still feels a bit weird but that’s what this beer is all about. This year we starting brewing later in the day so by the time fire had burnt down we could see the glowing stones come out of the fire.

Apart from the fun of brewing, it was great to sit around the fire and share a laugh with the crew that had gathered on the day.

With the fire blazing and the brew moving towards the kettle, it was time to knock up some pizzas. Yep, all that brewing makes you hungry, and making pizza is something we love doing at Stone & Wood.

Then it was down to the job of pulling those hot stones out of the coals and getting them into the kettle.

With the stones hissing away in the brew kettle it was time to load some of the hot coals into our pizza oven and cook some pizzas washed down with a few beers. These are just a few quick shots taken on our phones on the run during the day, but we ‘ll post more once we’ve had to time to settle down after such a big week.