Posts tagged Stone & Wood Brewing Company

Surf, Music and Australian Craft Beer at Stone & Wood Brewing Company

Way over in the Land of Oz, about 11 hours north of Sydney, in Byron Bay, the team at Stone & Wood Brewing Company subscribe to a pretty simple philosophy: craft beer, good music and surfing.

Back in 2008 the founders of Stone & Wood had been doing the big brewery thing when they decided they needed to change it up a bit: “to brew beer for times like these, beers that the locals, and the growing number of craft beer drinkers around the country (Australia), and of course ourselves, would find simply good to drink.”

Since then they’ve been running steady winning awards for their beers and successfully uniting a mixture of craft beer with the surf and music culture of Byron Bay.

I recently had a chat with Stone & Wood’s sales and marketing team member, Rick “Banno” Bannister about the Stone & Wood Brewing Company.

What’s your job title at Stone & Wood Brewing Company?

Officially, I’m part of the ‘sales and marketing’ team, but in reality I
do a little bit of everything.

Is it fun to work for a brewery?

Yep. It’s harder work and longer hours than people might think, but the
perks make up for it.

What are the perks of working in a brewery?

Free beer!

Tell us a little bit about the Stone & Wood Brewing Company?

It was started by three mates, Brad Rogers, Ross Jurisich and Jamie Cook
who’d done the big brewery thing for a long time and who wanted a change
of lifestyle. They were all passionate about surfing, music and good beer,
so they decided to move to Byron Bay and see if they could combine those
three passions.

What style of beer is Stone & Wood known for?

Our Pacific Ale was the first beer we ever brewed and it recently won the
critic’s choice award for number one beer in Australia. It’s a pretty
unique brew that uses all-Australian ingredients, with the Galaxy hop from
Tasmania really driving it with its passion fruity aroma. Some people have
said and written that it’s actually created a new category, kinda like how
the citrus hops of North America helped create over your way.

You guys brew three types of beer, can you give us an overview of each?

The Pacific Ale is made with Australian malt, rolled wheat and Galaxy
hops. Unfiltered and unpasturised, it’s cloudy in the glass. Dry hopped in
the tank, it’s incredible fresh and has a really refreshing finish. This
is the golden child of our beers at the moment.

The Lager is loosely based on a German Helles. Brad and our other brewer
Scotty are huge fans of German beers and they reckon this style is one of
the hardest to get right. With all the flavours in balance, there’s
nowhere to hide any faults. You certainly can’t shove them under some big
hop flavour. You’ve got to get it right. I’ve learnt to appreciate this
beer and all the subtle complexities between the German malt and German
hops that it has.

We also brew a Stone Beer once a year, for winter, where we take nine
different types of malt, some noble German hops and use the old hot rocks
approach in the kettle. You guys see a bit of this over there in US, but
we’re the only ones doing it in Australia. The beer itself is a deep, ruby
red with a lovely malt pallet and firm, almost spicy hop bitterness.

Does S&W make any special beers or limited beers?

Yep, the Stone Beer and we’ve also done a Kellerbier.

How many barrels of beer does S&W brew a year at S&W?

Put it this way, we have a 25Hec brew house and six 50Hec tanks, another
50Hec tank on the way and more planned. But we can’t make enough beer at
the moment to keep up. That probably seems tiny compared to the “small”
breweries over there these days.

What’s the craft beer culture like in Oz and BB?

It’s growing pretty quickly. The old saying that Australia is five years
behind the US is actually true in this instance. As for Byron Bay, they’re
probably about 15 years behind.

What three words would best describe S&W?

Surf. Music. Beer.

Last question, what are your top five favorite beers?

Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Feral Brewing Hop Hog,
Saison Dupont and Jackie Lounge Brewery Choccy Nana.