It's official: seafood beer with memorable names are so hot right now. Following on from the Murray's/Crafty Pint Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep and Young Henrys Mother Shucka Oyster Stout comes the second in the Newtown brewery's briney beer series: the â?¡ Mussel Stout. The idea for this one came after the guys were invited to a bread, butter, beer and seafood dinner at which they befriended the folks at Kinkawooka Shellfish and who subsequently stopped by the brewery with several kilos of live mussels. Despite the brewery team's best attempts at eating most of them, about four kilos were left over and got added to the hop back. That was on top of a recipe that's essentially a wheat stout with a little bit of spiced rye and smoked Munich malt. If you're looking for comparisons between the Oyster and Mussel stouts, they both have an undeniable umami flavour though the â?¡ Mussel is 5.5 per cent abv compared with 6.7 per cent for the Mother Shucka so is a little more sessionable, a little less roasty and has a longer finish. What's more, we highly recommend getting your â?¡ Mussel hand pumped.
