Over the years, Paul Holgate has embarked on various trips around the world to learn from masters of the beer world so he can bring the knowledge back to Woodend and take his beers to another level. One such jaunt took him to Germany, where he spent time studying how they made such wonderful, delicate lagers with the intention of adding one to the brewery's core range.
After returning, the brewery's Tank 9 – then reserved for small trial batches before they upgraded to their rather spectacular new brewery – was used to see if what he'd learnt in Germany could be replicated back home. And, following those trials, the result was Draught Lager, originally named Norton lager in tribute to Paul's dad, who used to cruise around the south of England on a Norton motorcycle before moving to Australia. Dad and bike now feature on the beer's labels.
It's a pale golden drop with a gentle bitterness, soft, honey like malts and gentle floral, citrusy hop aromas and flavours derived from classic European lager hop Hallertau. It's also dropped the Norton name over time, now going by the simpler Draught Lager moniker. Designed as much as a drinker not a thinker, as well as a homage to the styles that inspired (and Paul's dad), it's now available in cans too as of October 2022.
James Smith
Published October 24, 2022 2022-10-24 00:00:00
