
Matilda Bay’s Aussie Wheat Ale. Photo: CUB
CARLTON & United Breweries (CUB) has launched a new style of beer using Australian wheat.
The brainchild of Australian brewers and beer experts, Aussie Wheat Ale is being marketed as a drink made for modern Australian tastes by putting a contemporary twist on the traditional wheat beer.
To produce the new beer style, creators substituted a proportion of barley with Australian wheat soft fluffy head with subtle aroma, delicate malt sweet taste and bright haze.
CUB-owned breweries including Matilda Bay, Mountain Goat, Pirate Life, 4 Pines and Green Beacon Brewing Co have all come up with their own beers which incorporate wheat.
One of the brewers who helped to create Aussie Wheat Ale is Matilda Bay CEO Phil Sexton, who in 1984 helped to start the craft-beer movement in Australia with Redback, a wheat beer made mostly in the traditional German hefeweizen style.
Mr Sexton described Matilda Bay’s Aussie Wheat Ale as somewhere between “a pacific ale style and a Redback”.
“There’s a little bit of baggage with traditional wheat beers,” Mr Sexton said.
“Some people think of wheat beer as heavy tasting and that doesn’t necessarily fit our Australian lifestyle and climate.
“We’ve paired some of the country’s best brewing wheat with a new and exciting hop, Australian Eclipse, to give us a very fresh and vibrant beer that takes the wheat beer category in a very new direction.”
Mountain Goat head brewer Alana Rees said her brewery has been championing Aussie craft beer since 1997 and has a long history of putting its own spin on the classics.
“It’s the cleanest, most sessionable beer we have ever created with a nice mouthfeel and a soft citrus note,” Ms Rees said.
Mr Sexton worked in Western Australia’s central wheatbelt in his younger years.
“We make really high-quality wheat in Australia and that’s why I’m so excited about Aussie Wheat Ale.
Source: CUB
HAVE YOUR SAY