Tasmania is blessed with an abundance of amazing produce. Obviously, there’s the beer, but on previous trips we’ve sampled fantastic wines, cheeses, chocolates, salmon, ginseng, whisky, gin, mussels… You name it, chances are there’s someone who’s decided to make a patch of Tassie their own upon which to grow it.
It’s an abundance that has inspired one local brewer to strike up partnerships with those around him to create a series of beers showcasing their produce. Although, for Will Tatchell, founder and brewer at Van Dieman in Evandale, it’s not an entirely new concept. With the brewery based on his family’s farm, he’s already brewed beers using berries and fruits grown there, with one – a barrel-aged sour version of his Hedgerow Ale – picking up a gold medal at this year’s Australian International Beer Awards. Now, with his Mash Up series, he’s hooked up with a Launceston coffee roaster and is looking at other options, from local dairies and even a lavender farm.
“We started to look at what I wanted to do with a few beers down the track,” says Will. “I’ve got an idle mind that continues to wander. The Mash up series looks at primary produce we can draw upon here in Tasmania, which is phenomenal. So I thought let’s see what we can do – and do some weird and out there things that might not have occurred before. I’m quite prepared to fail in them too.”
The launch beer for the series is the Dubbel Shot, which first appeared at this year’s Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular and is now out in bottles. It is a collaboration with Ritual Coffee from Launceston, a Belgian Abbey Dubbel infused with cold drip coffee.
“I’ve been buying coffee off these guys and the roaster is an avid homebrewer with a very good palate,” says Will. “I told him I’d had the grain bill for a Belgian Dubbel worked out for the past 12 months and was waiting for a spot in production. We thought we should do a coffee beer at some stage and thought we would have a try with that one. The Mash Up concept popped its head up halfway through that discussion.
“Because we used cold drip coffee, we are not exposing the bean to heat and pressure so there’s no astringent bitterness. We knew we would get the flavour and aroma without the bitterness so it wouldn’t confuse the palate with the sweetness of the beer, although we didn’t know if it would work. Thankfully it did.”
That’s just as well as Will refuses to do small trial batches, instead backing his research and flying headfirst into full length brews.
“I hope everything we have done pays off. I haven’t been found out yet by the beers, although it’ll probably be the next one!”
There is no schedule for that next one, however, just ideas. Maybe a milk stout with a local dairy or a saison featuring lavender from a nearby farm. Either way, the success of the soured Hedgerow Ale at this year’s AIBAs suggests the results will be worth checking out.
“It came as a bit of a surprise to us,” he says. “We thought it was a good beer, but as with any of those awards, it’s very subjective, particularly in that category. What set it up was that it was bottle conditioned and had been in the bottle for 12 months so the clarity and carbonation in it were spot on.
“When we did it we brewed 1200 litre batch and put a portion into two oak Pinot barrels. Then we did another batch and blended one of those barrels into it. We still have the second barrel, which has been aged for 12 months now, so we’ll do another 1200 litre batch of the Hedgerow Ale and blend that back in.
“We’ve also put various beers into another six Pinot, Chardonnay and Shiraz barrels – the four base beers: the White, Pale, Amber and Oatmeal Stout. I was on the Allagash website the other day seeing what they’re doing and read that they were ageing something for three years on strawberries. I thought, ‘Well, time is on our side’. We’ve got all these things that we want to draw upon [on our land]. If might go a little sour, we can put some fruit in and see what happens.”
Up until now, almost every single Van Dieman beer has been sold within Tasmania. However, Will has been speaking to distributors and hopes to have beers making their way to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and perhaps even Perth later in the year. That said, he’s happy with the way things are going in his home state.
“It’s just started to get wheels on the ground and gain traction, at least in Hobart,” he says. “I’m no longer beating down the doors to publicans to convince them to put on craft beer. It’s started to swing in our favour slightly.
“Venues are starting to realise people are into choice, and particularly local choice.”
