Carwyn Canvent (Part 5)



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.

Day 21 – Bodriggy Cucumber Sour Pilsner – When Bodriggy finally get their brewery open in Abbotsford, they will be the closest craft brewery to where I work. They make some very good beers & some pretty out there as well. This I’m sure will fall into the second category & hopefully also the first. As the name suggests this is a sour Pilsner brewed with Cucumber.

This was a really interesting beer. Cucumber was dominant upfront and this mostly masked the malt bill. It wasn’t particularly tart, despite reportedly being kettle soured. I’m sure this one will have divided opinions! The cucumber was particularly strong and the vegetal nature of the beer became disconcerting as the end of the glass neared.

Day 22 – Slipstream Imperial Red Ale – Slipstream Brewing Co. is a brewery based in the Salisbury, a suburb in the south of Brisbane. The brewery launched in the second half of 2017 and quickly gained a reputation for good hoppy beers. This beer is an Imperial Red Ale, a great style and one that should pair well with their signature tropical hop flavour.

My initial thoughts on this beer were bang on. This was a cracking Imperial Red/Red IPA. There was great malt depth and complexity, with heaps of different caramel/toffee flavours on display. There was an impressive whack of tropical & citrus hops initially, which gave way to a bigger resinous pine hit. Delicious beer and one that I would like to see more of in the future.

Day 23 – Old Wives Ales Choc Walnut Brownie – I was waiting for Carwyn regulars Old Wives Ale to make their appearance in the Canvent. These guys met at the Merri Mashers Home Brew Club before forming their own brand. They’re now making seriously good beer. although I’m not sure I’m on board with the new branding.

Choc Walnut Brownie Ale. I understand all of those words and can’t wait to see the combination in beer form (although slice form wouldn’t go astray either…). When I tasted the beer I got heaps of chocolate, although there was next to no walnut present. What was present however was plenty of hazelnut, a far more delicious nut than walnut! If you’re looking for a Ferrero Rocher in beer form, look no further!

Day 24 – Hawkers Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine (2018) – Last but certainly not least; it was Hawkers’ turn to take on the Canvent challenge. Hawkers need no introduction, they’ve done amazing things since they launched and will hopefully do so for many years to come. Their Canvent offering was a special Bourbon Barrel Aged version of their Barleywine, which interestingly also comes in a can.

This beer had been hanging out in Bourbon barrels for over 2 years before it was canned! This really showed as heaps of bourbon transferred over and really complimented the raisin sweetness nicely. There was very little carbonation, which isn’t surprising in this type of beer & nor did it hurt the finished product. It was a superb way to end what was a thoroughly enjoyable 24 days!

Apologies all for the belated final post in this series; things have taken far more time than I would’ve like them to this year. I’m hoping to finish up 2-3 posts by the weekend, but given how this year has gone so far & my track record I wouldn’t hold your breath… There is an exciting announcement for what I’m focusing on this year in the pipeline though, so check back soon. Remember to keep your emails coming – I’m almost on top of them for once so should be able to get back to you soon.

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