By Andy Young
A six-pack featuring a range of Pale Ale styles is being released around Australia, by Sydney-based craft brewers 4 Pines.
The latest Kellar Door release from 4 Pines, which has been named "The Bastard Children of the British Empire" features five new Pale Ale styles plus 4 Pines' flagship Pale Ale.
General manager Jaron Mitchell told TheShout, that the idea to produce a range of Pale Ales for its Kellar Door release came about after being asked regularly about their own Pale Ale brew.
"We’re constantly being asked about it. And what we've found is there is consistently a misunderstanding of Pale Ale as a style," Mitchell said.
"There’s all these different styles and we're telling the story of Pale Ale over and over again and we thought, rather than doing that, let’s actually do it. Whack it into a six-pack and people can actually drink the story over and over again."
From there the Kellar Door release developed and the six-pack features an English IPA (6.0 per cent abv), American IPA (6.3 per cent abv), New Zealand Pale Ale (4.5 per cent abv), Australian Pale (5.0 per cent abv), Belgian Pale Ale (5.9 per cent abv) and the 4 Pines Pale Ale (5.1 per cent abv).
All the hops for each beer are 100 per cent from the country the style represents, which has helped the 4 Pines brewers with their story-telling objective.
Mitchell added: "We just thought this would be an ultimate Kellar Door release and something that will be a really nice thing to take home, try six different Pale Ales and understand the story and the evolution of how these Pale Ales came to be from around the world.
"We just thought it was a really nice wrapped up pack, not only the beers but also the story is fantastic."
And while the story adds an extra element to this six-pack it is still important that the actual beer hits the right notes. Mitchell told TheShout that the 4 Pines brewing team has been working on making sure the beer is right.
"We brew all these in the Manly pub as trial batches and then we pull them over the bar and give ourselves opportunity to tweak and develop so by the time we’ve brewed them ready for this release, we are right on.
"To be able to say, hand on heart, that we have absolutely nailed all six means that I am really excited about the release," Mitchell said.
The Kellar Door range from 4 Pines is the brewer's non-core, speciality and small batch beers, which, Mitchell added, “gives our brewers that opportunity to cut loose and go sick for a little bit."
So while "The Bastard Children of the British Empire" release is the main focus right now, 4 Pines is continually working on its Kellar Door beers.
"We’ve got some cracking Kellar Doors coming up,” Mitchell admitted to TheShout, and although he didn’t want to give too much away, he did reveal, “We’re already barrel-aging part of the beer that is going to be part of the next Kellar Door.”
"The Bastard Children of the British Empire" will be available from 24 March in six-packs featuring each of the styles, and select pubs around the country will have all six on tap.
4 Pines is hosting a series of public events, which will feature opportunities to taste the beers and chat with the team.
They will be taking place in at The Local Taphouse in Sydney on 24 March, this costs $25 per person, then at the Bitter Suite in Brisbane on 25 March, free entry, and, finally the Junction Beer Hall in Melbourne on 26 March, which is also free entry.