stone and wood Archives - Page 3 of 5

Winter is Here

The sun’s got that warm golden glow that basks all that it touches in brilliant yellow light, the surf’s offshore and the whales are breaching out past the break. Across the Bay, Wollumbin and the range are clear in the distance, looking out over the valleys and the ocean as the afternoon quickly transitions into […]

Wed 18/06/2014

The sun’s got that warm golden glow that basks all that it touches in brilliant yellow light, the surf’s offshore and the whales are breaching out past the break. Across the Bay, Wollumbin and the range are clear in the distance, looking out over the valleys and the ocean as the afternoon quickly transitions into night.

The temperature’s dropped, making it the perfect excuse to go for a Stone Beer or Jasper at the local but a Pacific Ale in the sunshine is also pretty hard to pass on.

Summer is amazing but it’s a special time of year to be in the Northern Rivers, a time to be able to try and take it slow and get back to simple living.

Photos: Katrina Parker | Jasmin Daly

Inside the Brewery

The brewery’s buzzing because Stone Beer’s flowing. Bottles are patiently lining up and waiting to be filled, kegs are being racked and we’ve started filling stone bottles… one by one. Darker than previous years, the brewers have made a few tweaks to set this year’s beer apart from its predecessors. The 2014 release has dark […]

Mon 5/05/2014

The brewery’s buzzing because Stone Beer’s flowing.

Bottles are patiently lining up and waiting to be filled, kegs are being racked and we’ve started filling stone bottles… one by one.

Darker than previous years, the brewers have made a few tweaks to set this year’s beer apart from its predecessors.

The 2014 release has dark chocolate and coffee characters upfront, followed by caramelised malt sweetness, balanced by a spicy kick of hops. Brewed with chocolate wheat, golden malted oats and Aussie hops Helga and Sylva, this big bold ale has a rich full palate and a smooth finish.

Set to be unveiled this weekend at our annual Festival of the Stone (more details here), Stone Beer will be hitting shelves and and going on tap from late next week.

Keep an eye on the website later this week, so you’ll know where to get some.

OUR PERSPECTIVE

When we opened the roller door to our brewery in 2008, it was the belief of a brewery being part of a local community, something that the people could take pride in and something that supported the people that supported it that motivated us to start it all in the first place. 5 years on, […]

Thu 27/02/2014

When we opened the roller door to our brewery in 2008, it was the belief of a brewery being part of a local community, something that the people could take pride in and something that supported the people that supported it that motivated us to start it all in the first place. 5 years on, we still hold that same perspective.

Visually animating our thoughts on paper, illustrator Jase Harper has captured how we see Stone & Wood, our role as a brewer, the handcrafted nature of our beer, the importance of our friendships, role in the community and our philosophy to life.

As with most things, we’ve tried to keep it simple. Best watched with a cold beer…

Cheers

Animation: Jase Harper

Voice Over: Gorilla Films

CRUISING WITH BONNIE

Here at Stone & Wood, we don’t live for Fridays and we don’t dread Mondays. For a while now, we’ve wanted to hit the road – not to go trail blazing down the highway straight from A to B but to take things slow and cruise along in the left lane, making stops to enjoy […]

Fri 21/02/2014

Here at Stone & Wood, we don’t live for Fridays and we don’t dread Mondays.

For a while now, we’ve wanted to hit the road – not to go trail blazing down the highway straight from A to B but to take things slow and cruise along in the left lane, making stops to enjoy a surf, see some mates and…. share a few beers.

Well, she’s been a while in the making but we’ve managed to time the arrival of Bonnie, our wooden caravan, perfectly to miss the crowds of Chrissy holidays and still catch the last of the Summer fun. Styled on a 1950’s all-Aussie Bondwood caravan, we’ve filled her with our beers (fours taps full of goodness) and we’re rolling out of Byron today and bringing the beach holiday vibe with us as we cruise down the coast to Newcastle for our Holidaze event on Sunday and the Newy Craft Beer Week.

Make sure you keep an eye out and give us a beep and if you’re in Newcastle, make sure you swing by – we’ll be in Holidaze mode! Find out the details here

Thank you

Thanks to the craftsman at Woody Caravans who did an amazing job of making our Bonnie. We are so stoked!

And a big thanks to Jan, a lovely local who lent us her epic EH Holden. She was confronted in the pouring rain by us begging her to let us use her car (who knew finding a vintage car with a tow ball would be such a mission?!) and she happily obliged on the proviso, she could come along for the drive… we happily agreed!

FROM KELLER TO TAP

While many of today’s new age brewers turn their nose up at brewing lagers, we at Stone & Wood embraced it from the start. We think brewing a lager is a real test of a brewer’s technical ability, however the delicate balancing act that’s required is something that some shy away from. An industry commentator […]

Tue 11/02/2014

While many of today’s new age brewers turn their nose up at brewing lagers, we at Stone & Wood embraced it from the start. We think brewing a lager is a real test of a brewer’s technical ability, however the delicate balancing act that’s required is something that some shy away from.

An industry commentator once said that brewing a delicate malt driven lager is like wearing a tight white tshirt – there is no where to hide. If it’s not right, it shows. Balancing the rich malt with hops to get everything in tune takes quality ingredients, experience, skill and time.

Whilst the emerging beers of today seem more in your face and bolder than typical lagers, that doesn’t make them better, it just makes them different.

Like most well developed flavour based industries, the more sophisticated and developed tasters search out the products with refined and subtle flavours. Yes, it takes work and time to appreciate and understand massive hop character, but it is a more developed and learned palate that appreciates and understands the nuances of all beers across the style and flavour spectrum.

We are very proud of the lager we brew, and we will continue to embrace the challenge that brewing a lager brings. The inspiration that led to our lager was based in German tradition and will continue to shape the way we develop our approach.

A couple of months ago we decided to give our filter a rest and let the Lager we put in kegs go out unfiltered, in the tradition of a kellerbier. Beer drawn straight from the cellar.

So now when you’re drinking our Lager off the tap, it will have that unfiltered yeast cloud and a little extra character due to the yeast remaining in suspension all the way to the glass.

We also couldn’t contain our curiosity about the kellerbier traditions and had to have a crack at dry hopping a tank of our lager that was destined for kegs. Putting a local spin on it, we dry hopped the tank with two new age Australian hops Ella and Galaxy. We wanted to see what those fruity flavoursome hops would do when combined with the rich biscuity malt of the lager.

The result … well you will have to taste it for yourself, but we think it delivers all that it promised.

Seek out our Dry Hopped, Unfiltered Lager on tap at a good beer pub and bar near you – see below

Prost!

__________________________

Available at:

Byron, Northern Rivers

The Rails – to be tapped this weekend

Pottsville Tavern – to be tapped next week

St Elmo – to be tapped this weekend

Sydney and Central Coast

Yullis

Grain Store

Union Hotel

Melbourne

Ladros

Junction Beer Hall

Front Beach Café and Lounge

Bstilla

Nieuw Amsterdam

Great Northern

Park Hotel

Brisbane and Sunshine Coast

Pig n Whistle

Alliance Hotel

Brewski

Cartel

Blackwater Trading Co.

Scratch

Beach Bar & Grill

Sabotage

Taps

Grand Central

__________________________

STRAIGHT FROM THE BREWER’S MOUTH

With Garden Ale soon to be put into 500ml bottles and sent beyond the rolling hills and warm waters of the Northern Rivers and its neighbouring city Brisbane, our brewer Nic Sandery wished to tell the tale of this year’s Garden Ale and the search for the perfect hop…… Ella’s Garden Ale by Brewer Nic […]

Sat 11/01/2014

With Garden Ale soon to be put into 500ml bottles and sent beyond the rolling hills and warm waters of the Northern Rivers and its neighbouring city Brisbane, our brewer Nic Sandery wished to tell the tale of this year’s Garden Ale and the search for the perfect hop……

Ella’s Garden Ale

by Brewer Nic Sandery

The search for the perfect beer is like the search for a living garden gnome. You know you will never find one but you always like to think that it’s a possibility. However the search for the perfect hop for a brilliant beer is definitely an achievable goal.

One such search began last summer with a hop named Summer. The goal was to produce a beer inspired by the humble garden* and took the heat out of a hot summers afternoon. To accompany the Summer hops we threw some juniper berries into the mix. Anyone who tasted this beer would have had to agree that it was an excellent summer quencher but after a few ‘tastings’ in the Stone and Wood garden, the brewing department as a whole decided that Summer was not the perfect hop for this beer.

As the warmer weather began to roll in we started to put together this year’s Garden ale, trialing a whole spectrum of hops with the variety of flavours only being outdone by their names. Starting with Helga we went on to Enigma and then A-86, before we landed on Ella. Ella-she was perfect. So perfect in fact that we scraped all the other hops into a pile in the corner of the brewery and threw the juniper berries on top. With our Garden Ale, we’ve always had the intention of adding different things from the garden, however the Ella match was so perfect we didn’t want to mess with it. So perfect she was, all on her own, that blending her with anything else would only sully her purity. Her calm peachy roundness with gentle grapefruit smoothness typifies exactly what a summer afternoon in a Byron Bay garden* is like.

Kettle and dry hop additions of Ella mingle with the soft crystal malts to make the perfect summer garden* beer. So full flavoured that you just want another sip with a finish that is so clean that you can go back for another one or two. Full flavoured though it may be the Garden Ale is lower alcohol beer so that if you do happen to find that garden gnome you can have a few with him too.

You can find Garden Ale online

Garden Ale will be available later this month and set to hit a selection of bottleshops and venues across the country soon after to catch the last of Summer. We’ll let you know when and our Beer Finder will tell you where.

Are you old enough to buy a beer at the pub?

Yes No

Shop Stone & Wood

Explore Stone & Wood