New flash cans!

New flash cans from the New England Brewery

It's been a busy few months at the New England Brewing Company, and the efforts are starting to turn public as the cans begin to replace the longnecks on shelves. It's been a long process (and still a long way to go before everything's worked out), but it's exciting to see the new packaging come out.

Special release prototypes

A Year of Sheep

It's a little hard to believe it's been one year to the day on this continent.  Also hard to believe, the inadequate representation of sheep on this blog despite the thousands and thousands we've seen (well, Reid sees more than I on his daily commute to Uralla.)  So, just in case you were wondering, yes: it's not all kangaroos and wallabies and short-beaked echidnas.  Actually it's mostly sheep (and cattle).

The Sydney Weekender: feat. Hop Cannon

A couple weeks ago the Hop Cannon made its debut at New England Brewing Company.  A hop cannon is just a steel container that you stuff full of whole dried hops and circulate the wort from the tank through for some intense dry hopping action. (At least I'm pretty sure that's the simplest way to describe it--Reid will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Also, New England Brewing (and specifically, the hop cannon) was featured on the Sydney Weekender Destination NSW Regional Special!  You can check it out and watch the clip here.

Armidale Express Extra - Wednesday, May 14, 2014

New England Brewing Company was featured in the Armidale Express Extra a couple weeks ago.  It's a magazine/flyer that comes every Wednesday in the mail; there's usually one or two real articles, a couple of community calendars or events listed, and the rest is advertisements (mostly real estate).

I kept hoping they would put this online so I didn't have to post the poor-quality pictures of it, but I haven't seen it, so here it is.

Note that the "wooden barrel" exterior of the tanks is decorative.

Uralla brewery eyes bright future for its amber gold
by Victoria Nugent

THE year isn't even halfway through but for Uralla's New England Brewing Company, it's already been jam-packed.
     Over the past few months the local enterprise has gained a small bar and a new brewer, fresh from the United States, while new beers and a sustainable initiative are around the corner. 
      Brewer Reid Stratton was coaxed over by director Ben Rylands from a job at Jolly Pumpkin Brewery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
      Mr Stratton said he had wanted to work in an overseas brewery and the New England company was a good fit. 
     "It's been really pleasant to find how well the brewery is set up and how well designed the system is," he said.
      Mr Stratton said he it was also great to be able to access local ingredients, with the brewery sourcing malt from Tamworth. He's been able to jump straight into brewing, with two new beers, the New Englander Golden Ale and the New Englander Dark Farmhouse.     Since its inception little more than a year ago, the little brewery has been busy and now does regular deliveries to Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane.
      Mr Rylands said the company also received good local support, with their beers on tap across the region. "We're pretty lucky that the pubs have supported us," he said. Gaining a small bar license has meant the brewery now sees a steady influx of people wanting to come and sit down for a beer. The duo also has an environmentally friendly initiative, with them set to offer refillable glass containers to allow patrons to take draught beer home from next month.
      Containers will come in two sizes; one-litre squealers and two-litre growlers, tapping into a growing trend.
      Mr Rylands said it would cut down on packaging and allow people to take home fresh beer. 
     "No one in Tamworth does it, no one in Armidale does it," he said. 
     Mr Stratton said the use of such containers in the US had diverted billions of cans and bottle from waste since its invention in 1989.
      "To me the two main advantages are having that really fresh beer and it allows me as a brewer to make a special edition that isn't packaged," he said.
      "It's just going to get more and more popular over time."

Revisit to Coffs Harbour

Last Saturday we went back to Coffs Harbour for the Pacific Bay Resort and Coffs Harbour Rotary Beer and Wine Appreciation Tasting Event and Silent Auction (or something like that).  We followed much of the same route as we did a couple weeks ago, sans Bongil Bongil National Park.  We went to Mother's Milk (a classy bar/delicatessen-type restaurant) in Sawtell first to drop off some kegs, then went to the resort to set up a little, and then downtown Coffs Harbour for lunch.  We got sangas (sandwiches... someone please tell me how that makes sense) at Old John's, a restaurant we had considered but didn't try on our last visit.  Then back to the resort for the event.

Reid and Ben in their matching NEBCO shirts

Flying Merino tasting panel

The event was from 2:30 to 6pm; I ended up taking a walk around 4:30 because I couldn't stop nibbling on the cheese and dried fruit they had available, and there wasn't that much else for me to do besides wander and eat.  We'd walked around the resort a bit when we arrived so I knew the way to the beach, and that's where I headed.

The resort is swankier than any place I've ever been to before.  It had that definite resort-feel to it, complete with palm trees and golf course and manicured lawns and tropical gardens.  It kind of felt like going to Hawaii (not that I would know).  It was pretty quiet, though: said golf course and an outside pool area were both pretty empty.  I saw a couple having a barbeque and feeding two magpies and this brushturkey.  The brushturkey didn't like to share his crumbs and would chase the magpies away, a pretty humorous sight.

Australian brushturkey, not related to American turkeys.

The beach was pretty empty, too.  It's not a swimming beach, but there were a couple people walking and sitting around in the twilight; later some fishermen came out, too.

At the end of the evening a woman ate a hop pellet.  Reid told her not to but she did it anyway.  She said it wasn't that bad but had a strong aftertaste.  I, um, well, couldn't believe it.  The kid who picked up a hop pellet on a school tour at Grand Teton and immediately spat up probably wouldn't believe it, either.

Ben drove his Landrover so we didn't have to bounce around in the Berlingo. (Thank you~~~)  The Berlingo only seats two (people and about six to eight kegs) so if I had declined the invitation they probably would've taken little bluey.  There is something incredibly nostalgic about riding in the backseat of a car at night.  Maybe it was all the cheese (combined with getting a little carsick on the way over) and just general weariness, but I felt like I didn't remember who I was or where I was or what place or time I existed in.  Also the moon was still really full and it was beautiful; it was bimulous.

When we stopped for petrol we saw a character adjusting the produce boxes on the back of his truck, maybe filling up his flat tire (it was still pretty flat when he left, though). I think we noticed him first because he was barefoot (a lot of people are barefoot in Coffs, is what we deduced from our first visit). We would have completely forgotten about him except he was at the Armidale Farmers' Market the next morning.  We've gotten produce from him before; he always has a wide selection.  Sunday was no exception: we picked up red capsicums, passionfruit, turnip, zucchini and coriander leaves.  (They don't call it cilantro down here.)  Should've gotten bananas, but at the time it seemed like too much.. oh well.  We also bought pears, cabbage, and some interesting South American fruit called a feijoa, also known as the pineapple guava.  We'll try it tonight when Reid gets back from Melbourne.  Happy Friday!