Blog « Stone & Wood Brewing Company

staggered and blushing

March 31st, 2011

We’re proud to say that our Pacific Ale has been voted as Australia’s best beer by a panel of respected industry members in The Critics Choice: Australia’s Best Beers, the latest beer book to hit the shelves.

We don’t enter our beer into competitions or awards because our brews don’t fit into the tightly defined pigeon holes that are used to judge them and we just aren’t driven by them anyway. So for our Pacific Ale to be voted the number one beer in the country by thirty nine brewers, beer writers, and bar and bottle shop operators is just a bit overwhelming really, especially given the quality and diversity of the beers that made the top 100.

It’s been five years this week that we have been working on building Stone & Wood and nearly two and a half years since we started brewing. We now have our beers in a lot of the good bars and bottle shops around the country, and continue to work hard at producing beer of a consistent quality that is simply good to drink. We were struggling to keep up with demand over summer so we recently pushed the button on another upgrade to the brewery, which will give us an increase of about 40% in our production capacity.

September 2008 - new toys in the shed

Our Pacific Ale is an example of our philosophy of letting the best ingredients shine through in our beers. Galaxy is a new world hop that produces those renowned tropical fruit characters and Pacific Ale really takes those flavours and puts them out on the stage for all to see.

Getting this type of endorsement from our peers in the industry certainly puts a bit of a spring in our step and we really want to thank the members of the panel for their recognition and the huge number of people who have congratulated us on the win for their kind words of encouragement.

But this accolade and all that we have achieved so far could not have been possible without the support of our small team at Stone & Wood, family, friends, good customers and the many people who have been buying our beer, so to you guys (and you know who you are) a massive thanks for all the help on the ride so far.

Anyway, we need to get back to brewing and introducing people to craft beer, so take it easy and we’ll catch you later.

Cheers

Jamie, Brad and Ross

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a nose full of hops

March 30th, 2011

As we stood on top of a hill overlooking the Bushy Park hop farm just outside Hobart early this morning, the cold rain sprinkled down our backs. With the cold weather moving in the team at Bushy Park has been busy trying to harvest this year’s hops before they start to wither on the vine.

Because a huge amount of the flavour in our Pacific Ale is developed by the Galaxy hops we use, we’ve taken some time out of our busy brewing schedule to come down to Tasmania and see this year’s crop of Galaxy being harvested.

Wandering around the hop vines we were reminded again just how closely linked the art of brewing is to agriculture. Tim Lord from Hop Products Australia took the time to show us around and take us through what his team has had to deal with this season.

We were able to take a close look at the 2011 crop of Galaxy and we can safely say they have loads of that distinctive flavour, including those awesome tropical aromas, that we let shine through in our Pacific Ale.

We’ll be seeing lots more of these hops over the next year as we add them to each brew of Pacific Ale back in Byron Bay.

Until next time … cheers

Tags: galaxy hops, pacific ale, stone and wood
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heading to hobart town

March 28th, 2011

With the hop harvest all but done, we are squeezing in a trip down to Hobart to spend some time checking out the hop gardens at Bushy Park. It will be great to meet with the team down there and get acquainted with this year’s Galaxy hops as they are being harvested. Galaxy hops are a huge part of our Pacific Ale so getting to know more about them and what this season’s crop will be like is an important part of the brewing year at Stone & Wood.

Keep an eye out for updates later in the week as we check out a few bars in Hobart as well.

Cheers

Tags: bushy park, galaxy hops, hobart, pacific ale, stone and wood
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get caught red handed

February 11th, 2011

Here’s your chance to get caught red handed and win a carton of beer. It’s time to roll out our latest brew which we have put together to raise funds for our northern brothers in Queensland who have been belted by mother nature over the last few months.

The dark red ale called Red Relief will make its debut tomorrow (12th Feb) at the Great Australian Beer Spectapular at The Local Taphouses in Melbourne and Sydney, and then flow across the bars of good beer pubs around the country next weekend.

So get involved and help out by simply drinking a Red Relief!

Don’t forget to take a pic of yourself drinking a glass of our latest, post it and tag Stone & Wood Brewing on facebook for your chance to win a carton of our beer.

Check the where to get it page of our website next week to see where it will be flowing.

Cheers

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go LARGE!

February 3rd, 2011

When it’s a hot summers day and you have a cold bottle of Pacific Ale in your hand, there’s not much more you could ask for right? Well now you can ask for more – yes, more of that golden hoppy goodness. We’ve gone large and put our Pacific Ale in 500ml bottles. Just what you needed for the back half of the summer.

We bottled a short run of them this week, and will be sending them out to local bottle shops in Byron Bay and then some good bottlo’s around the country in the next couple of weeks.

Hunt them down, and go LARGE!

Check the where to get it page of the website for stockists.

Cheers

Tags: beer, byron bay, large, pacific ale
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brewing up some relief

January 12th, 2011

After being blown away by the devastation of the Queensland Floods we have decided to do our bit by donating a batch of beer to raise funds for the Queensland Flood Appeal. As craft brewers, we’re not exactly a big corporate with a big bank balance, but we do know that Aussies treat beer like currency, and we can brew beer. We will be working with some of our friends who run great craft beer pubs and bars around the country to raise funds by selling the beer across their bars.

Over the last few weeks and days we have seen the people of Queensland struggling to cope with the full force of mother nature and the rising waters of the big wet.

We’re brewing a one-off beer which was initially going to be a small brew just for the upcoming Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular at the Local Taphouses in Sydney and Melbourne. However we have decided to do a full brew and work together with other good craft beer people to offer craft beer drinkers the opportunity to donate to the cause by simply buying and enjoying a beer.

It’s a way that we as craft brewers, craft pub and bar operators, and craft beer drinkers can all come together to do our bit.

As you would expect from Stone & Wood the beer, to be called Red Relief, follows no real style guide but is a dark red ale brewed with an array of malted grains.

It will be first available at the GAB SpecTAPular on the 12th of Feb and local Byron Bay pubs, and other good craft beer venues around the country the following weekend.

Proceeds from every keg sold across the bar will be donated to the Queensland Flood Appeal.

Here are some shots from today’s brew day.

: Getting into the (red) spirit of the day

: A tun of grain

Wort straight from the lauter tun ... yum

Tags: kegs, stone and wood
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this’ll be specTAPular !

January 7th, 2011

Right at the moment there are breweries around the country working up some real treats for next month’s Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular. The brainchild of the beer bar gurus at The Local Taphouses in Sydney and Melbourne, the GAB SpecTAPular is sure to be a day to remember for beer lovers.

22 of the best craft breweries in Australia are brewing away to create a special brew for this festival. The beers will be either “one offs” created especially for the event, or the pre-release of some new beers.

We are brewing up a special little brew that we will be showcasing at the event, and no, we won’t be telling you anymore about it. It’s real secret squirrel stuff!

The events will be raising funds for the Red Cross Queensland Food Appeal, so you’ll be able to drink some good beer and do some good all at the same time!

So put a big ring around the 12th of February in your diary and make sure you get along to either of The Local Taphouses in St. Kilda or Darlinghurst.

We’ll see you there!

Cheers

Tags: local, spectapular, taphouse
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the year in beer …

December 30th, 2010

It’s been a big year in little beer, and before we launch into twenty eleven, we thought we’d take this final opportunity to have a look back at the year in beer and reflect on what we’ve been doing …

Out and About…

We love life around Byron Bay, but we jump at the chance to travel around the country and meet people too. Over the last year, we’ve poured beers at the Sydney Good Food & Wine Show, The Australian Hotel Beer Festival and the Warners At The Bay Beer Festival. There was Melbourne for the Beer Expo, Perth for WA Beer Week and even New Zealand for a trip to Beervana. We saw plenty of old friends and made lots of new ones too. A good reminder that while brewing beer is one of the greatest jobs on the planet, it’s not half as much fun if you don’t get out and share it with people.

Visiting Rights…

It’s not all water, malt, hops and yeast around here. Any downtime is usually spent chasing good surf, good food or good music. If wedon’t have the time to get out and find all that good stuff, we do the next best thing and bring it to the brewery. On the music front, local singer Andrea Soler played Brews & Bar Chords this year and Xavier Rudd snuck in for a surprise set at the Sea Shepherd fundraiser.Local surfboard shapers dropped around for our first Surf Market and we even turned the brewery into a super-sized restaurant for our Three & Three Dinner. Everyone from beer writers like The Crafty Pint to the boys from Beer Deluxe and the Local Taphouse to bus loads of Thirsty Critters tour groups have showed up along the way. We’re not sure if it’s the fresh beer drawn straight from the tanks, a treat that’s becoming a bit of a tradition, but lots seem to keep coming back too.

Brew-volution…

At the end of the day (or year) it’s still all about the beer. The past 12 months have involved some big steps (putting Draught Ale in a bottle for the first time) and small tweaks (changing its name from Draught Ale to Pacific Ale) which have all played a part in the slow evolution of the brewery. We fired the rocks up again for our Stone Beer at the start of winter and then celebrated spring with a limited release of Kellerbier for the first time.

What will 2011 bring?

We like to keep things simple, but having brewed our two beers for the last two years, there’s been some talk about new brews in the new year, so stand by for a few surprises. There’ll definitely be some new merchandise to complement our popular “Secret Ingredient” t-shirt and another thing that’s guaranteed is we’ll get a new tank or two so we can spread Stone & Wood goodness even further.

Stay in touch…

We’re a pretty small team, so without the help of all the good people who stock our beer and your help in spreading the word we wouldn’t have had such a great year. So thank you for the support in 2010. There are some exciting times ahead and as always you can stay in the loop via Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Or just drop by our website now and again. Even better, come and visit the brewery sometime. You’re always welcome.

Until next year,

Cheers

Jamie, Brad and Ross

Tags: beer, brewery, byron bay, pacific ale, stone and wood
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cooking up history

December 7th, 2010

When the guys from the Discovery Channel contacted us with the idea of trying to recreate history, we thought … why not? Being part of the beer industry means we are somehow connected to one of the world’s oldest prepared beverages. A little while back (ok, about 3,000 years ago) an early form of beer was prepared using basic methods, and as part of the Discovery Channel’s upcoming show “How Beer Saved the World” they wanted us to reproduce a form of this ancient brew.

So Brad set up his pots and pans, the film crew rolled through the gates and away we went. A crazy day of “brewing” was followed by a session at one of the local pubs to see how the brew stacked up against others beers on tap (something we do every Friday really).

It was lots of fun, but you’ll have to wait a while to see the end result as the show will be aired in the US before the Super Bowl on Feb 6th.

Tags: beer, brewing, discovery channel, Ninkasi
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what’s in a name?

November 30th, 2010

Back in November 2008 when we proudly rolled out our first brew we were hell bent on keeping things simple. Brewed to no existing style, our cloudy, dry hopped ale was to be a draught only beer. We didn’t want to give it some crazy quirky critter name, we just called it what it was, an ale drawn fresh from the tank and available only on draught … so Draught Ale it was.

Over the next year and a half or so of pumping out the hoppy goodness we were constantly asked to have our Draught Ale available in bottles. Rolling out a Draught Ale in bottles seemed a bit weird but hey, we had a whole bunch of people who knew the beer as Draught Ale, so the same beer out of the tank was put into kegs and bottles and away we went.

On another angle, ever since we launched our ale, people have continually been asking us, “what style of beer is it?”

As independently minded brewers we don’t want to be limited to brewing beers from an existing style register. There is nothing stopping brewers from developing new approaches, and using new ingredients to create new styles of beer that don’t fit the strict criteria of traditional beer styles. That’s the mindset that drives our approach to brewing, and is what led us to develop our ale.

After a couple of years of living and brewing in this little town and watching people enjoying our Draught Ale here and afar, we are convinced that it has developed its own style, its own special place in the small beer world. So we have changed the name of our Draught Ale but the beer remains the same.

Our ale deserves a name that speaks to where it is created, its home, a name that helps it establish its own place and its own beer style. The answer has been staring us in the face all along. It’s now called Stone & Wood Pacific Ale.

Inspired by our home on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and brewed using all Australian barley, wheat and Galaxy hops, Pacific Ale is cloudy and golden with a big fruity aroma and a refreshing finish.

So when someone asks us “what style of beer is it?”, we will simply say it’s a Pacific Ale.

The change won’t happen overnight, but it will progressively roll out as we change our packaging materials etc over the coming months.