Carwyn Canvent (Part 3)



Carwyn Cellars is a name that every Australian Craft Beer lover should know. It’s one of, if not the, preeminent bottle shops in the country. For their advent calendar, they’ve partnered with 24 Australian Craft Breweries to make an exclusive canned release for their “Canvent Calendar”.

I’m not 100% sure why I didn’t document my BrewDog Advent Calendar this time last year – I wonder if it got lost with moving in and recovering from surgery… In any case; I’m not going to make the same mistake this year!

The Carwyn Canvent Calendar is going to get the full treatment – and with any luck you’ll have updates every 5 days. If you’re joining this segment for the first time you can check out Part 1 here & Part 2 here. It’s been a great pack so far and definitely worth checking out.

Day 11 – Stomping Ground Imperial Ned – First up in this third installment of the Carwyn Canvent wrap up is an Imperial India Pale Lager from Stomping Ground. Stomping Ground produce consistently excellent beer across a wide range of styles and I’m backing them in to nail this!

And nail it they did! This is everything I want in an IPL, yet alone an Imperial IPL, You’d have no idea of the ABV from drinking this. There’s plenty of hop flavours, with pine the most dominant characteristic and citrus not that far behind. The thing that really sets this beer apart though is the lovely dry finish – that only IPL’s manage. Maybe Brut IPA’s should take a leaf and use lager yeast…

Day 12 – Artisan Felonious Monk – Artisan is the first brewery in the Carwyn pack that I’ve never heard of, let alone ever have a beer from! They’re a tiny brewery from Parryville, 450km south of Perth! These guys focus primarily on Belgian influenced beers.

Felonious Monk is billed as a “Session Quad” and is made with the second runnings of their full strength Quadrupel, a beer I definitely now need to try. Session Quad is the perfect moniker for this beer, it’s got all the dark fruit and maltiness that you’d expect from a proper Quadrupel but with lower alcohol!

Day 13 – Mornington Galaxy Pash – Regular readers of this blog would be aware of the special place Mornington, and in particular their special releases, hold in my heart. Galaxy Pash is a passionfruit kettle sour, which is obviously laden with a whole heap of Galaxy hops – to further accentuate that passionfruit flavour.

This beer is superb and one that I really hope gets brewed again. It toys the line between sweet and sour really well. With the sweet fruitiness of passionfruit playing off beautifully against the acidity from the kettle souring process and the natural acidity of the passionfruit. There is quite a bit of Galaxy hop character, although not that much bitterness. It’s a seriously refreshing beer!

Day 14 – Bad Shepherd American Brown IPA – I was really intrigued to see a Brown IPA brewed by someone for this pack. I’ve noticed, particularly in home brew circles, that this style is having something of a renaissance. I’m not sure if Bad Shepherd is the brewery I would’ve picked to give it a go, but I’m glad someone is nonetheless.

This would be one the best beers I’ve ever had from Bad Shepherd. I may have had this a little later in the evening that I would’ve hoped, but I thoroughly enjoyed the malty side of the beer with predominantly chocolate malts on the nose although there is some roastiness as well. The hops add pine and citrus characteristics and there is plenty of bitterness that comes along with them.

Day 15 – Ballistic Hazy IPL – I think this style of beer was something I was, at least half, expecting to see in this pack. NEIPA’s are huge in Australia at the moment, and so a Hazy IPL makes a lot of sense. Ballistic are a brewery in Brisbane that I’ve been really impressed with – from the limited beers of theirs that I’ve managed to get my hands on. I’m expecting good things!

I was right to expect good things; this was excellent! It was crisp like a lager & it was particularly juicy like a NEIPA. What more could you ask for? There was so much fruit with passionfruit & pineapple the most evident flavours.

All things considered I think I’m doing pretty well. I’m only a few days behind on these, although the Carwyn Beer-Thusiast posts may have fallen somewhat behind… It’ll all works itself out in the end. This set of beers had a great range of styles and I hope is a bit of an insight into what we see in the Australian craft beer scene in 2019.

Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!