Limeburners x Pirate Life

16.01.2019

Every good beer and whisky tells a story, one that begins with malt and water. But that’s where the similarities end and the stories head in different directions.

Where beer enjoys a cool, calm and short-lived journey, whisky’s path is forged by fire and left in the dark of barrels for years at a time. Within this beer these two tales weave themselves back together.

The story of the Limeburners x Pirate Life Whisky Barrel Aged Stout truly begins many years ago when Great Southern Distillery founder Cameron Syme began to hear the tales of his rebellious Scottish ancestors, who gave up the whereabouts of their illegal distillery and used the reward money to start a new one. A successful career in law took him to the UK where he took every chance to visit the birthplace of whisky – Scotland. After years of research and planning Cameron distilled his first whisky in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since. Today Cameron's team, led by distiller Benjamin Kagi, makes some of the best whiskies and gins in Australia.

This made the decision for Pirate Life to zero in on Great Southern Distilling for a barrel collaboration an easy one. When Cameron dropped in to the Hindmarsh brewery for a few beers and whiskies with Red they got on like a distillery on fire. It didn't take them long to come up with a few cracking ideas for a collaboration. As has been proven, a few drinks can conjure some bloody good ideas (and if they don't, at least you've had a few tasty beverages). Next thing the Pirate Life warehouse began to fill up with Limeburner’s barrels, which meant we had to brew some beer to fill them.

That beer was a variation of our standard stout but a bit mellower, less bitter and a little sweeter to offset the astringency you get from oak. It was a malt bill of mostly Maris Otter, a bit of Pale Malt, Cararoma, Carafa III, Roasted Barley and Chocolate Malt. A simple, earthy hop bill of EKG and Fuggles was chosen to compliment the vanilla from the barrels, the chocolate from the malts and the sweetness of the whisky. The first batch spent 18 months in barrel, and since then we have brewed it twice more, meaning the beer in the bottle is a blend from three separate “vintages” so it's a little bit of a solera style – some of the original 18-month-old barrels are still in the warehouse maturing.

The result is a beer which is layered with many years of complexity, first from the whisky and then from the stout. Dark and thick in the glass the aroma has hints of chocolate, vanilla and a touch of coffee. The barrel's charred American oak gives the nose a subtle hint of campfire and roasted marshmallow. The palate is silky and sweet, vanilla is here again along with chocolate and honeycomb. This is followed by wisps of fine malt whisky, a touch of acidity, subtle unami and lingering, moreish finish. You want that next sip and it's easier than you would think to watch the whole bottle disappear in front of you as you enjoy the slow evolution in taste and aroma while it slowly warms in the glass.

Launching around Australia early February in a limited release of 4800 bottles.

Pink Boots - Pints for Progress

19.04.2018

The Pink Boots Society was founded in 2007 by Teri Fahrendorf and fellow female brewer Laura Ulrich who met by chance when Teri was on a road trip around the USA. At first the Pink Boots Society was simply a list of 60 women involved in the brewing industry who Teri had met during her 12,000 mile trip that summer. But the idea had been born and a year later at the San Diego Craft Brewing Conference the first meeting of the Pink Boots Society took place with 22 attendees. Today the Pink Boots Society has over 5000 members world wide and continues to grow, empowering women in the brewing industry through education.

Every year to celebrate International Women’s Day Pink Boots chapters around the world get together and take part in the Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day. This year Pink Boots named only one suggested ingredient: the freshly packaged Pink Boots Hop Blend from Yakima Chief Hops. The idea for Pink Boots to collaborate on a hop pellet blend stemmed from a casual conversation between YCH Hops CEO Mike Goettl and a YCH Pacific Sales Manager Kelly Lohrmeyer. They both spoke of their shared passion to encourage and support female brewing professionals. This conversation led to a joint hop selection at last years Great American Beer Festival from which a combination of Palisade, Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra and Loral was chosen as the 2018 Pink Boots Hop Blend.

On March 9th over 20 women from different parts of SA’s brewing industry came together to brew the Pink Boots “Pints for Progress” Pale Ale at Pirate Life Brewery. With the ecclectic Pink Boots hop blend as the highlight, the malt bill was kept simple: Pale with a touch of Munich, Wheat and Carapils. The hop blend was added mainly in the whirlpool and as dry hops: Simcoe, Citra and Mosaic make their presence felt with bold tropical and citrus fruit notes while the Palisade and Loral lend a soft, spicy slightly earthy note to the nose. The pallet is crisp, fresh and fruity with no one hop overly dominant. Loral gives the beer a refreshing noble hop character while Palisade lends a gentle, apricot like softness to the flavour.

The decal artwork, by local artist Isabella Whittaker (aka bellawhitts) is inspired by the hard working women of South Australian brewing. Bella’s graphics feature predominately female figures (with plants) and represent diversity, individuality and a sense of belonging. A perfect complement to a beer which was brewed to celebrate the very same values. Massive thanks to all the wonderful women who helped make this beer happen, thank you to Pink Boots Australia for their ongoing support of women in the brewing industry and a big thanks to Four Seeds for the epic brownies that were enjoyed by everyone on brew day.

The 5.0% Pints for Progress Pale Ale will be launched this Friday at the West Thebby Social Club and will be pouring in bars around Australia in late April.

Cheers,

PLB Crew

Strawberry Milkshake IPA

28.02.2018

Strawberries are something that Aussies remember fondly from their childhood, the ubiquitous summertime fruit, a staple in the fridge over the holidays and a regular on the Christmas pavlova. But when it comes to quintessential childhood memory of strawberry, nothing beats a Strawberry Milkshake. After enjoying brewing and drinking our Vanilla Malt Thickshake last winter we decided that our upcoming Third Birthday Celebration was the perfect time to debut a new, summery variation of the milkshake style. Introducing the Strawberry Milkshake IPA...

The challenge of creating a beer with the taste and texture of milk starts right from the mashtun. A huge dose of rolled oats in the mash is the first big difference as we tried to build a smooth, silky mouthfeel into the beer. The mashtun was also the first point that we added strawberry to the brew, 80 kg of freshly picked and sliced South Aussie strawberries which imparted a jam like sweetness into the wort.

Once in the kettle we added apple puree, lactose, dextrin and wheat flour. The idea behind these unusual additions to the beer is to add unfermentable sugars and proteins into the wort all of which contribute a fullness on the palate in the final beer. Into the whirlpool we added 80 kg of freshly pureed strawberry along with a 30 kg of Hüll Melon, a German bred derivative of Cascade hops who’s flavour descriptors include fresh cut strawberry and honeydew melon.

The beer fermented away for a week or so with a sneaky late ferment dry hop of Hüll Melon for good measure. Then came the next dose of fruit: another 80 kg of freshly pureed strawberries which kicked of a secondary ferment. After this was done we added another dry hop of Hüll Melon and the beer was chilled, gently filtered and nitrogenated for a smooth, creamy consistency.

The result is a beer which is as close to strawberry milkshake as a beer can be. Due to the nitro, a heap of residual sugars and a complex combination of proteins the beer pours with a rich, creamy head and a hazy, milky appearance. On the nose there is a gentle, sweet aroma brimming of Strawberry with a touch of honey thanks to the Hüll Melon. On the palate there is just enough hop character to remind you that you are indeed drinking a beer. But the real stars here are the strawberries; their characteristic flavour and slight tartness working perfectly with the sweet, full body of the beer. It really does remind you of shaking up a carton of strawberry milk back in the day and taking the first mouthful.

The Strawberry Milkshake IPA will be pouring for the first time on Sunday 4th of March as part of our Third Birthday Celebrations. The day is shaping up to be a cracker with a heap of fresh AF beers as well as a bunch of fun for the whole family, including SA inspired foods and local music. The party kicks off at midday!

Cheers,

PLB Crew

💃

Black IPA

27.02.2018

Late in the first decade of the new millennium, a beer style popped up that struck a pretty resounding chord with the growing craft beer community. Although no one could agree on what to call it. Some called it an “India black ale,” some “American-style black ale,” or even when you chat with people who hail from the pacific northwest of the USA “Cascadian Dark Ale” but we at Pirate Life prefer to go with the most well know and oxymoronic of its many names – The Black IPA.

That description perfectly describes the way that this beer is built. With the basic design of a classic IPA providing the foundation. We chose a base of Pale, Oats and Crystal malt then dropped a little of the darkness on it with equal parts Carafa I, Carafa II and Chocolate Malts. The result is a deep dark beer which doesn’t let the faintest hint of light through the glass even on a bright day. The dark malts provide a rich, roasted character without the astringency of a stout, an aroma reminiscent of fresh toast and coffee on the breakfast table prevails with a hint of chocolate and caramel.

Into this we threw Simcoe, Nelson, Mosaic and Centennial in quantities that may not have worked in a regular IPA. But the rich, roast malts manage to hold their own against what can only be described as a barrage of new world hop character. The citrus fruit aroma dominates the nose and provides an amazing contrast to the roasted tones of the malt. On the palate there is a delicious orangey, chocolate combination which is accentuated perfectly by a lingering malty sweetness.

The Pirate Life Black IPA is a beer which will prove to be moreish beyond your expectations and will be pouring for the first time at the Pirate Life Third Birthday this Sunday 4th of March.

The party kicks off at midday with plenty of excellent South Aussie beer, food and live music.

See you there!

Cheers,

PLB Crew

Unfazed by the Haze IPA

26.02.2018

No beer style has grown with the same momentum over the past two years as the New England IPA. Typically, the style is brewed with low bitterness, high haze and is packed full of fruit characters care of both yeast and hop selections.

For our third birthday we have decided to brew a variation of the style. Using the same basic blueprint but removing the haze. The idea behind the concept was to experiment and find out if we could impart the same luxurious juicy characteristics that we love about the style but have it crystal clear, crisp and summery.

The Unfazed by the Haze IPA is brewed with an arsenal of big, juicy, fruity hops from across the globe. From the US Mosaic, from NZ a recent addition to our hop fridge in Kohatu and from here at home, one of the newest Aussie hops to strike a chord with brewers and drinkers alike Enigma.

We departed from our usual yeast strain for this beer, using White Labs Burlington Ale yeast which is a go to for New England style beers due to its increased ester production. The result is a beer which is more rich and full bodied than those fermented with our usual California Ale strain. It is as we intended, full of fruit character. The tropical fruit and citrus notes care of Mosaic and Kohatu and an unexpected but amazing currant and gooseberry character which may be the result of a heavy dose of Enigma or perhaps the Burlington Ale yeast.

The Unfazed by the Haze IPA will be one of three new beers pouring at this weekend’s Pirate Life Third Birthday at the Gilbert St Hotel in Adelaide. Anyone who has been down for one of our birthdays so far already know that it’s a solid day of good beer, good food, good music and a heap of craft beer fans enjoying the chance to enjoy the late summer sun.

If you are in Adelaide (or even anywhere close) then do yourself a favour and head down. The party kicks off at Midday this Sunday!