Seasons Greetings!

Hawthorn Brewing Company would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year. It has been a busy year here with the launch of two new products and bringing the Pale Ale on tap. We have big plans for 2011 and look forward to sharing them with you over the coming year.

Have a safe and enjoyable festive season!

New Stockists in NSW and ACT!

Bay 88- 88 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay

Best Cellars – 91 Crown Street, East Sydney

Beer Cartel – Online

Berry Bottle Shop – 112a Queen Street, Berry

Debacle - 30 Lonsdale Street, Braddon – ACT

Leura Cellars – 169/171 Leura Mall, Leura – Blue Mountains

Northmead Cellars – 30 Kleins Road, Northmead

Shady Pines Saloon - Shop 5, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Pale Ale now available on tap at Terminus Hotel

Hey Crew, our Pale Ale is on tap at Terminus Hotel, 492 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill

Pilsner launched!

The Flavour Merchants at Hawthorn Brewing Co. are excited to announce the release of their third beer, a hybrid German-Czech Pilsner. The first shipment was dispatched last week so keep an eye out for it at our stockists.

New Stockists!

Gertrude's Brown Couch - 30 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Highton Cellars - 90 Barrabool Road, Highton
Jimmy Watson Cellars - 163 Whitehorse Road, Balwyn
Lower Plenty Cellars - 101- 105 Main Road, Lower Plenty
Murmur - 17 Warburton Lane, Melbourne

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Hawthorn Brewing Co. Pilsner hits the market in time for summer!!

We're excited to announce the release of our third beer, a hybrid German-Czech Pilsner to accompany our award wining Pale and Amber Ales. The first tastings of a perfect spring/summer Pilsner will occur at the Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase in Melbourne on Wed 20 & Thurs 21 October. Catch us there!

For all trade enquiries on Hawthorn packaged and draft beers, please contact Beer Importers & Distributors (BID) on (03) 9310-3130.

New Stockists!

Antique Bar - 218 Glenhuntley Road Elsternwick (NOW ON TAP!!!)
Oscar's Alehouse - 7 Bayview Road, Belgrave
Olinda Cellars - Shop 7/540 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Olinda
Red Bluff Cellars - Shop 5a 38 Bluff Road, Black Rock

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Craft Beer Rules the Waves in Hawaii

The latest research trip took us to the Hawaiian Islands to sample some of the US microbreweries as influenced by the laid back island way of life. The two main breweries are Kona and Maui Brewing Companies, both of which produce a range of the usual suspects (Pale, Lager, Porter, IPA, Wheat, etc). Each are quite unique but are heavily influenced by the surfing culture, as reflected by some of the names - Long Board Island Lager, Bikini Blonde, Big Swell IPA, and Pipeline Porter to name a few. Given the tropical climate the beers are remarkably refreshing, possibly due to the inclusion of many local fruits (pineapple, passionfruit and banana flavours are some that spring to mind). This led to many a warm summer night sitting by the beach sampling the various brews on offer. The Yardhouse bar presented a main challenge. Touting itself as having the world largest selection of draft beers (135 taps hosting 110 different beers - you should have seen the lines in the keg room) it required many sittings and we still only got through a fraction of what they have to offer - maybe next time !!!

Whether it be the traditional surfer bars of the North shore where you could sit back and contemplate the waves (or lack thereof this time of the year) to the spring break type madness of Waikiki, the prevalence of quality local and mainland craft beer certainly made for some great (and thirsty) days and nights.

Aloha.

New Stockists!

Club Hotel - 22 Mount St, Burnie (Tasmania)
Entwhistles Supa IGA - 638 Warburton Hwy, Seville
Terra Rossa - 87 Flinders Lane, Melbourne (NOW ON TAP!!!)
The Quiet Man Irish Pub - 271 Racecourse Road, Flemington
Three Below - 3 City Square, Melbourne
Rathdowne Cellars - 38 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Pale Ale now available on tap at Terra Rossa Bar

Hey Crew, from this coming Monday, our Pale Ale will be available on tap at Terra Rossa, 87 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
(Located between Russell & Exhibition Streets)!!!

We can also be found on tap at the following fine establishments in and around Melbourne:

Atticus Finch - 129 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
Kew Heights Sports Club - 397 Barkers Road, Kew
Bar None - 72 Auburn Parade, Hawthorn East
Chapel Street Cellars - 89 Chapel Street, Windsor
The Local Taphouse - 184 Carlisle St, St Kilda East

New Stockists!

Bottle-O Williamstown -73-83 Douglas Parade, Williamstown
Yarraville Cellars - 31 Anderson St, Yarraville
Malvern Hotel - 1117 Malvern Road, Toorak
Barkers Wine Bar & Bistro -83 Barkers Road, Hawthorn
Pearl Restaurant + Bar - 631-635 Church Street, Richmond

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Change of distribution notice

As of Saturday 1 August 2010, all Hawthorn Brewing Company beer products (packaged and kegs) will be distributed through:

Beer Importers and Distributors (BID)
2/39 Barrie Road
Tullamarine Vic
admin@bidvic.com
(03) 9310 3130
Contact: George Stephanou

BID is a well established company and a key player in the beer distribution/logistics market. We are very excited to be partnering with BID and look forward to continuing our association with you all. The range of Hawthorn products will remain available through both Paramount and ALM. Stay tuned for more updates from Hawthorn Brewing Co, including our third beer coming to the market in the coming months.

If you have any questions in regard to this change, please feel free to contact us on 1300 HBC BEER (422 233).

Kegs now being served !!

The first shipment of Hawthorn Pale Kegs are in the market place. To sample and re-sample our award winning Pale on tap, the early adopters include The Local Taphouse in St Kilda (and Darlinghurst, Sydney from next week), Bar None in Hawthorn East, Kew Heights Sports Club and Chapel Street Cellars in Windsor. Stay tuned for more to follow.

Hamish's Singapore junket

There may be no spitting, no chewing gum, no graffiti and no crime, but Singapore has plenty of good beer!! With 7 microbreweries and more on the way, Hamish was only too happy to pay a visit in the name of selfless research! We experienced Irish Red Ales on the Singapore River, Indian Pale Ales in Clarkey Quay, Czech Pilsner's in Dempsey Hill and a seedy night in Little India...but that's another story!

Stockists page updated

Have just updated the stockists page - we have a few new supporters including 'celebrity chef' Adrian Richardson's La Luna Bistro in Carlton North!

http://hawthornbrewing.blogspot.com/p/our-stockists.html

Kegs now available!!

After many requests, Hawthorn Brewing Co is excited to announce that our Pale Ale is now available in kegs!

Please email or call us on 1300 422 233 for more information or to register your interest.

HBC Pale Ale: Beer of the Month @ Vaucluse Hotel

Head on down to Beretta's at the Vaucluse Hotel in Richmond where you'll find our Hawthorn Pale Ale posters all around the place promoting the "Beer of the month" for July.
A great place for both pre and post football drinks as well as enjoying a meal, with of course a Hawthorn Pale - it's perfect with their Nasi Goreng!

Another Medal !!

Following the success at the Australian International Beer Awards, Hawthorn Brewing Co. has picked up a Bronze Medal for our Amber Ale at the International Beer Challenge, held in London last week. We are incredibly proud of this recognition given the depth of entrants to these awards.

A full list of the medallists is available at: http://insidebeer.live.subhub.com/articles/20100611_1

Vegas Research Session

Pete was recently in LA and Vegas on a "research" mission. SKYBAR and Bar Marmont were frequented on a whirlwind tour prior to the road trip to Vegas. Whilst it was no "Fear and Loathing", we did stop at a couple of "roadhouses" to sample their brew. It's great to see so many independent brew pubs along the I-15.

Whilst Vegas itself was very light on for decent craft beer, I was able to find a few bars serving something other than Bud Light....oh and the pool party at Palms is a must !!! Little Chapel of Love didn't disappoint, and "the king" was intrigued by our sample bottle of Pale Ale. All in all, a great place for research.

International Beer Challenge 2010

Hot on the heels of our success at the Australian International Beer Awards, we have entered both our Premium Pale Ale and Amber Ale into the International Beer Challenge. This is the largest packaged beer event in the world and was held in London last week. Judging took place over 2 days at the White Horse Pub at Parson's Green. For those Antipodeans' in London, I'm sure you'll agree this is a great spot to drink beer...and a fitting host for this event (especially if the sun was shining).

Results are out next week so stay tuned...

BTW, one of our Flavour Crew, Stuart "the Colonel" Dare, has managed to get his hands on some leftover brew from the judging. Enjoy Stu, and let us know what you think.

New Stockists!

An early June update for you all. Following are some new stockists of our (now official) award-winning beers!!

Australian Wine Clearance Centre - 317 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North
Black Pearl - 304 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Corks Crew Cellars - 5 Bristol Road, Torquay
The Press Cellars – 80 Smith Street, Warragul
Smith Street Cellars - 195 Smith Street, Fitzroy
Supermaxi - 305 St. Georges Road, Fitzroy North

See here for a full list of all our stockists.

Wrap up of Beer & Brewer Expo

Coinciding with the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA), it was a big week for craft brewers all across the country with the Beer & Brewer Expo held at Fed Square.

A couple of observations...

- Great to speak with all the punters both trade and public including many home brewers (some having great pleasure dissecting our beers!)
- Great feedback on both beers, with the amber a slight favourite with the audience
- The gourmet sausages rocked! Don't need to eat for a week.

Now it's time to catch up on some sleep!

RIP - Isle of Wight Hotel

Terrible news overnight on a long standing favourite watering hole of the Flavour Merchants at HBC - the Isle of Wight in Cowes. Many, many hours of research has gone into the Isle in our time & we wish all the locals down there only the best for what ever grows from the ashes.

Australian International Beer Awards - Hawthorn Brewing Co. now owns Medals !

Well we're just recovering from our debut at the worlds second largest beer awards - the Australian International Beer Awards. From our 6 entries, we were amazed to collect 5 medals, which included our Pale Ale being judged joint best Australian Pale Ale effectively in the world - with a silver medal !! Three cheers must go to the Leo Burnett crew, as their designs helped our packaging collect the remaining 4 medals, with a silver and 3 bronze beauties across both the Pale and Amber Ales.
These awards are truly an international affair - try these brewery names on for size: Nogne O - Det Kompromisslose Bryggeri; Plzensky Prazdroj A.S - Gambrinus; Budejovicky Budvar all significant winners on the night. I'm dizzy trying to get through those...or maybe that was the brews we sampled ?...

Hope you're enjoying our latest batch of Pale Ale. We've increased the aroma hops. We're now adding copious amounts of fresh hops straight into the storage tanks while the beer matures. Mmmmm, you can smell it!

New Stockists!

There are now around 100 fine establishments stocking our beers - following are 9 new converts...

Macaulay Cleanskins - 478 Macaulay Road, Kensington
Malt & Vine - 13 Hall St, Newport
Maxi Foods - Ferntree Plaza, Shop 2/1202 Burwood Highway, Upper Ferntree Gully
McKinnon Cellars - 156 McKinnon Rd, McKinnon
Polly Cocktail Lounge - 401 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Sabroso - 2 Gamon St, Seddon
Thirsty Camel - 180 Victoria Street, Seddon
Wattle Park Cellars - 160-162 Elgar Rd, Box Hill South

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Tasty Hawthorn Pale Ale on the slopes of Mt. Fuji

Pete was recently in Japan and enjoyed a tasty Hawthorn Pale Ale on the slopes of Mt. Fuji. Sure it was freezing cold and blowing a gale, but the Pale Ale made the trip well worth while!!

Beer & Brewer Expo in Melbourne

Beer & Brewer Expo is to be held at Federation Square, Melbourne on May 20-22. There will be trade only and public tasting sessions to attend. Meet the brewers (including us), choose from 100's of local & imported beers and ciders to taste. Our Pale and Amber ales will be flowing! Also attend presentations (beer & food matching, home brewing and beer tasting masterclasses) hosted by a celebrity cast - Jamil Zainasheff (USA), Roger Protz (UK) and 'Fast Ed' Halmagyi (Aus).

Come and say g'day to us - you'll find us at the Flinders Portfolio stand.

Amber Ale featuring on SEN's Beer O'Clock this arvo!

Hey Crew, our recently released amber ale will be featured on SEN's beer o'clock this arvo! Tune your dial to SEN 1116 (that's the AM band) at 16:30!!!

New Stockists!

Some new converts...

Yarragon Ale House - 2 Rollo St, Yarragon
Nick's Wine Merchants - 10-12 Jackson Court, Doncaster East
IGA East Melbourne - 416 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne

See here for our updated list of all stockists.

Amber Ale - 1st official tasting

Tuesday night saw our brand new Amber Ale being 'sampled' during a beer tasting event at Monkey Bar. A variety of 5 different beer styles were compared, including our Pale Ale. Hamish was on hand to educate a small group of thirsty punters.

If you're in the Fitzroy area and fancy drinking a Hawthorn (or three) in cosy surrounds, try Monkey Bar at 181 St Georges Rd. Friendly hosts Pauline and Leanne are sure to make you feel loved!

http://www.monkey181.com.au/

Amber Ale - 1st tasting !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well here it it is crew, our Amber Ale is here and will be available in the market from Monday....it's all English and all good !!!

Beer Tastings - 24 March at Purvis Cellars

Hamish will be on hand at Purvis Cellars tomorrow night (24 March) as part of Purvis' Annual Australian Craft Beer Festival.

We'd love you to drop by, sample our brew and have a chat.

COST: $10 for 10 tasting tickets
WHEN: Wednesday 24 March
WHERE: Purvis Cellars Store, 615-617 Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills
TIME: 6pm - 8.30pm
BOOKINGS: Essential. Book in store or by phone 03 9888 6644.

Pete's junket to Singapore

While Pete may have missed our Fed Squ event, he's been busy hitting the best Singapore has to offer by way of bars for a Hawthorn Brewing research trip. Stay tuned for a review of where you may find us soon in Singa's and some happy snaps....

Sunday Herald Sun - Our Pale Ale 'Drink of the Week' today!

Check out page 113 of today's Sunday Herald Sun or simply click here. Our Pale Ale is this week's 'Drink of the Week"!!! Go down and see Zac at EQ Bar to sample.

Cheers for the good words Zac!

Article reproduced with the kind permission of the Herald Sun.

Pale Ale takes out coveted 'People's Choice' Award...Again!!!

The Flavour Merchants were again on hand at this weeks Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase. After two nights of intense tasting, we are very proud to announce our Premium Pale Ale was again winner of the People's Choice Award in the very competitive "Pale Ale" section. This award is made extra special when you consider the calibre of the other breweries in attendance. Thanks to Craig, Clarkey & DA for assisting us and for all who attended our stand (and voted)!!! Hamish took some photos - we'll post them shortly...

Also, the wait for our new beer - Amber Ale - is nearly over. It's currently resting quietly in the conditioning tanks and will be bottled and released in the next 10 days! Lots of roasted malt characters and soft English hops...mmmmmm, perfect for Autumn! If your 'local' doesn't stock it, ask them why not.

See our recently updated list of Stockists here.

New Stockists!

Some new converts...

Atticus Finch - 129 Lygon Street, East Brunswick
Bocaccio Cellars - 1030 Burke Rd, Balwyn
Evelyn Hotel - 351 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Frank's Fine Wines - 11-13 Salisbury Avenue, Blackburn
Harvest Wine & Liquor - 333 High Street, Northcote
House of Liquor - 210-212 Victoria Street, Richmond
IGA Brunswick - 614 Sydney Rd, Brunswick
Mrs Parma's - 25 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Queen's Loft - 133 Queensbridge Street,
Southbank
Vaucluse Hotel - 157 Swan Street, Richmond

See here for our full list of stockists.

Our Amber Ale is in the fermentor!

We have brewed the first batch of our Amber Ale and it's bubbling away nicely in the fermentor. We should have it bottled any day. We expect it to be available in bottle shops mid-April. Stay tuned!!!!

Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase

Come and see us at the Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase tonight and tomorrow night from 4.30 to 8. Tasting tickets $25 (+ $2 deposit) for 20 tastings (60ml).

Check out the website for further details.

Upcoming Event

On 17/18 March, the Flavour Merchants will be on hand at the Fed Square Microbreweries Showcase. We'd love you to drop by, sample the brew and have a chat. It may even be the first tasting of the long awaited Amber Ale!

Beer tasting - 13 March at Blackhearts & Sparrows

Darren will be on hand at Blackhearts & Sparrows on Saturday 13th. We'd love you to drop by, sample the brew and have a chat.

Location: 113 -115 Scotchmer Street North Fitzroy
Phone: (03) 9486 8046

Drinking Hawthorn Pale Ale promotes a healthy body !!...or something along those lines...

Beer, especially pale ale, promotes bone health: study

While dark beer has long been touted for its health-promoting properties, it's heavily malted beers, such as pale ales, that can give a really big boost to bone health.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/life/health/story.html?id=2541246#ixzz0iQEpVNcw

Local Tap House Hottest 100

We hope all the Flavour Crew enjoyed a relaxing Australia Day (no doubt spent around the BBQ with a few cold Hawthorns :). Results are in for the annual Local Tap House Hottest 100. Great to see our Pale Ale ranked 24th against some well respected and established brews. A huge thanks to everyone who voted for us. See the full list here.

Happy New Year!

The Flavour Merchants at Hawthorn Brewing Co. wish you all a happy new year. Thanks to all our stockists and customers who supported us throughout 2009. We have some big things planned for 2010 including our next beer which we hope to have available in the next few months. Watch this space for updates.