What is it with wineries making beer?
Recently, as is my want, I ventured down to my local bottleshop to pick up a six pack of beer. Now I must confess I am normally a wine drinker, but some situations truly do demand a nice frosty one (like mowing the lawn).
Perusing the misty glass doors of the fridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar name adorning one of the cardboard carry packs; Knappstein. Funny, I thought to myself, that’s the same surname as Tim Knappstein, the famous Clare Valley wine maker. Having my curiosity tweaked, I grabbed one of the delicate stubbies for a closer look. There is was – a beer from a winery – Cats & Dogs living together !!! How can this be?
As I later discover, this fine brew is not alone. Pepperjack Ale from Saltram Wine Estate, Red Angus from De Bortoli to name a few.
Now, I was always brought up with the fact that sheep and cattle don’t mix. Curiously I was nowhere near any livestock – but to go on – these beers are very good, chock full of flavour and subtlety and as Knappstein puts it
“As only a beer made as a winemaker could, the Knappstein Reserve Lager has a distinctive wine-like balance with an elegance and unparalleled substance and style”
So as a winemaker, you are putting your obvious skill in fermentation to good use in producing a different style of beverage – but in the tradition of fine wine.
What a load of bollocks!
Knappstein is owned by a brewer, Lion Nathan. Pepperjack is also owned by a brewer, Foster’s. De Bortolli is the odd one out, they have their own brewery called William Bull. These beers, as good as they are just a clever cross marketing ploy by big boy beverage businesses. They want you, the wine drinker to think – I like the wine – so this beer must be good.
What’s next?
Are we to see Chateau Corona gracing the shelves of our bottle shops?
“Pull the cork out of the VB Sav Blanc love, I’m off to check the barbie”
As a standalone product, these beers are great – nice flavour, well made for the price (not cheap), good craft beers. But are they trying to entice wine drinkers to try (more) beer, or are they trying to “posh up” beer in the hope of attracting the new breed of beer wankers in a case of “we can do it as well as wine snobs”?
By all means – try them, match them with food, but please be aware – that a wine brand isn’t always a transferrable thing.
Now in the case of de Bortoli, I read somewhere – and I am going to paraphrase here – that Darren De Bortoli chose to make Red Angus after the chaps in the cellar often preferred a cold one at Vintage. Rather than seeing them give money to competitors eg Lion Nathan or Fosters, he opted to make his own brew.
Max Allen in the Australian a few weeks back wrote about this phenomenon. Not limited to beer either, cider making is quite popular too.
Bit hard on them Jim. The beers they are making are generally pretty good, Knappstein even won a silver medal at the very tough Sydney Royal Show and Red Angus is a good drinking ‘new world’ pilsener too.
Beer is pretty attractive for winemakers because they already have a distribution channel and the more constant cash flow certainly beats the once-a-year-vintage wine business. The winemakers are generally make good beer and it certainly doesn’t hurt having the cachet that a winemakers label has on the beer.
A lot of winemakers have given up the wine trade and gone wholly into beer – Brad Rogers, formerly of Matilda Bay and now at Stone & Wood, Ben Kraus at Bridge Road and Jayne Lewis at Mountain Goat all came across from the dark side…
Given serioues winemakers see the wonderful flavours of beer, maybe it’s something that the cravat wearing wine snobs should start taking seriously! And not just drink it after mowing the lawn!
I totally agree these beers are good. However the fact that they are “named” after a winery and not made by the winemaker is my sore point. I have no doubt that a good brewer could make wine and visa versa.
If its made by the winemaker – than brilliant. If its made by an anonymous brewer working for Foster’s in the vicinity of the winery then thats not really in the spirit of the thing. I must be naiive.
And I don’t have a cravat