By James Atkinson
Victoria's Holgate Brewhouse is marking 1000 brews this month with an innovative one-off commemorative beer.
Founded by Paul Holgate in 1999, the Woodend brewery has since grown significantly, particularly in the last 12 months with the addition of eight 5000 litre brewing tanks.
"Of the 1000 batches brewed over the past 13 or 14 years, 200 of them of them were brewed in 2012, so the whole team is proud of this feat," Holgate said.
"And it's testimony to the growth of the Australian craft beer market, which was in its infancy when we first started way back in 1999."
To mark the milestone of 1000 brews, Holgate is releasing "The Millenium Falcon Emperial IPA".
"It's brewed with pale malts, so the hops can really do the talking. We loaded up the kettle and the fermenter with an unprecedented quantity (for Holgate) of Millenium, Falconers Flight and Galaxy hops, pushing the IBUs up to 100, and it weighs in at a big, chewy 10 per cent."
The Millenium Falcon Empirial IPA will be landing on shelves in 500ml bottles and on tap at beer bars from March 1. Holgate will be launching the beer with events in Melbourne, Woodend and Brisbane.
The beer will be launched this Friday March 1 at Village Melbourne. Further launch events will be held at Holgate Brewhouse, Woodend on Monday March 4 and in Brisbane on Thursday March 7 at Archive Beer Boutique, 100 Boundary St, West End.