It’s best served listening to some classic Led Zeppelin in front of an open fire.
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Or at least that’s what the boys from Sydney brewery Young Henrys tell me of their brand new winter ale, the cleverly-named Jack Froth, a collaboration between Young Henrys and our very own Capital Brewing Co.
Both young breweries, whose brands align around innovation and sessionability, wanted to define “what an Australian winter beer was, as a beer style”, and according to Young Henrys owner Oscar McMahon, “nerded out” on how to bring that to life.
“Our original conversation was it needs to be an Australian winter, so it’s not actually that crazily cold,” Newtown-based McMahon said.
“The idea was to make it a dark beer but not a black beer and because we’re both young Australian brewers, we needed to celebrate the ingredients that make being in Australia really exciting.”
Those ingredients included Tasmanian-grown hops and NSW-grown malt. Jack Froth is hardy and bitter, with boozy aromas.
Young Henrys co-owner Dan Hampton said the design of the winter beer focused heavily on sessionability.
“It can be a bit of a wanky word but people have got to want to drink it and drink a couple of them,” Hampton said.
“We always say that the sign of a good beer is as soon as you’ve finished one you want another - you get the grasp of a beer when you’ve had a couple of schooners and that was an important element of this as well.”
Both Hampton and McMahon are big fans of what Capital Brewing Co. is doing in Canberra.
“It was just an unspoken thing that we would eventually collaborate and it’s been a really fun experience,” McMahon said.
“[Capital Brewing Co.] has done really well at learning from what’s working in the industry, sticking to what they’re passionate about and that’s really coming out in their beers and their brand," Hampton said.
“It’s amazing how quickly they’re growing - it’s great for Canberra.”
Jack Froth will be launched at a party at Transit Bar on Saturday, July 14. The beer will be available on tap in Canberra at Transit, Grease Monkey, Casey Jones, Walt and Burley, Molly, Stanley's and Old Canberra Inn.
