We have a chat with Tim Purchase of St Andrews Beach Brewery to learn more about this awesome brew!
Tell us about the St Andrews Beach Brewery beers?
Here at St Andrews Beach Brewery we focus on brewing flavoursome and approachable styles of beer. All of our beers draw inspiration from the unique story of our Mornington Peninsula property. For example, our Australian Lager is named The Strapper (the working mans beer) and our Golden Ale is called Box 54, the stable Makybe Diva was housed in when she was trained at the property. Our core range also includes; Pale Ale, Pilsner, Session Ale and IPA. More recently we launched a sub-range of beers called ‘The Barrier Trials’, which are limited edition beers which we release every 10 – 12 weeks. The Barrier Trials allow our brewers to experiment with some new recipes and if they resonate with our fans, they could potentially graduate to our core range line up.
Who heads up your brewery and is there a particular vision or philosophy they follow?
The brewery and production side of St Andrews Beach Brewery is lead by our Head Brewer Matt Stitt. Before joining the St Andrews Beach Brewery Matt had worked at the award winning Hope Brewhouse in NSW. Matt also has a background in wine making and holds a master’s degree in Oenology. Matt’s brewing philosophy is to brew with the best ingredients available. He also is a strong believer that all beers should be balanced, so that each ingredients unique characteristic can shine through.
Talk to us about the hop profile of your beers?
As we brew a wide varieties of beers, we source our hops from growers around the world. We do like to brew with modern varieties of hops, as they suit our modern and approachable styles of beers.
We're excited to see more craft breweries popping up around Australia, what do you think is driving this?
We too are really excited about the direction of the Australian craft brewing industry. One of the reasons why more breweries are opening up around Australia is that people are looking are seeking unique experiences and visiting a brewery/brew pub certainly offers that. As there’s nothing quite like enjoying a beer fresh from the source.
We see some of your beers are medal winners - how important are awards to you and then team?
We certainly don’t brew our beers to win medals, but it’s always nice to have your beers recognised by experts within the industry.
If people were going to try their first beer from St Andrews Beach Brewery, which would you recommend?
We would highly recommend starting with our Pale Ale, the fastest growing brand of our portfolio. 6 Furlongs is a modern style Pale Ale brewed with fresh aromatic hops and flavoursome crystal malts.
You've got an amazing location near Gunamatta back beach on the Mornington Peninsula, are people able to visit?
Yes absolutely! For those who reside or visit the Mornington Peninsula, our brewery is located in Fingal. What makes our brewery unique to others is that we call a 92-acre property home, which was formally a world class horse training facility. After a significant face lift, we have refurbished all of the all stables into dining areas and have built our brewery and restaurant in the centre of the old facility. The brewery is open 7-days per week and our visitors can enjoy our range of beers and a bite to eat in the stables of former group one winning horses.
Anything else our Fizzfans should know about St Andrews Beach Brewery?
Last year we launched an exciting new brand, Tidal Artesian Seltzer. Tidal Artesian Seltzer is naturally fermented alcoholic sparkling water, brewed from a blend of local artesian water, fermented sugar cane and a hint of natural fruit flavour. At 4.2% ABV each serve of Tidal Artesian Seltzer contains 85 calories, 2 grams of sugar and only 3 carbohydrates. Our range of seltzers includes; Lime, Yuzu Citrus and Mixed Berry.
Shop St Andrews Beach Brewery at Fizztopia.
Images courtesy of St Andrews Beach Brewery.