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Now stocked in BWS

Find us in BWS from this week!

We are stoked to announce we have begun our rollout of Pay Day Pale Ale and Kung Foo Lager in twenty seven BWS (Beer Wine and Spirits) stores across Melbourne this week!

So far, we are now fully stocked at:

  • BWS   Brunswick
  • BWS   Fitzroy
  • BWS   South Yarra
  • BWS   Prahran
  • BWS   St Kilda
  • BWS   Bentleigh
  • BWS   Hampton
  • BWS   Southland (Cheltenham)
  • BWS   Mentone
  • BWS   Mordialloc
  • BWS   Clarinda
  • BWS   Eastland (Ringwood)

We will be adding to this list over the coming weeks. Keep a look out on our website, Facebook and Instagram for updates on when your local starts stocking your favourite.

Cheers,

Andrew and Dave


Is Kung Foo Gluten Free?


Kung Foo is a “Rice Lager” which has prompted some of you to ask, “does this mean it’s Gluten Free?” Here’s a longish answer to a simple question.

 
 

What is Foo made from?

Kung Foo is made from rice and malted barley starch sources and finished with a combination of American and European aroma hops to give the beer depth not typically seen in many other Australian light/dry beers.
 
Since beer made from malted barley is not typically Gluten Free we decided to get a batch tested.

 
 

Gluten test results.

The particular batch we had tested came back as having “no detectible gluten”, which means there was less than 5ppm of gluten. To compare, a typical 100% malt beer is around 95 ppm gluten.

But the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) restricts claims around gluten contents as follows:

Gluten Free – The food must not contain:
(a) detectable gluten; or
(b) oats or oat products; or
(c) cereals containing gluten that have been malted, or products of such cereals.

 

Low Gluten – The food contains no more than 20 mg gluten/100 g of the food.

 
 

What does this mean?

Although no gluten was detected in the test, since Kung Foo contains malted barley it does not meet FSANZ criteria for a Gluten Free product and cannot be described as gluten free.

However, at less than 5ppm (or 0.5mg/100g of beer), Kung Foo easily meets the criteria for Low Gluten products.

Any questions? Please feel free to send us an email as beer@2brothers.com.au

Striking Gold at 2017 Australian International Beer Awards

Boy are we dusty this morning but boy did we have a blast at last nights Australian International Beer Awards.

We were fortunate enough to pick up 3 golds and two trophies with Pay Day taking out best Australian Pale Ale and ‘Happiness’ our beer hall mid strength ale taking out best ‘Reduced Alcohol’ beer.
& who could forgot old faithful Grizzly, picking up gold in its class of American Amber

Congratulations to everyone else who picked up awards! It’s humbling to be mentioned amongst so many great Australian breweries!

 

The Smoking Jacket – GABS 2017 – “Censored”

We recently decided to make a beer named ‘Velvet Stout’ in honor of our 1000th brew. Based around the smoothness of a balloon of cognac and a nice Cuban cigar or ‘stogie’ if you will, this beer was brewed out of the need for us brewers to have our own late night celebratory sipper.

We didn’t quite know what was to come of this beast, all we knew was that it had to be smooth, suitably warming for a winter session and approachable. We considered a raft of different beer styles, but settled on a smooth and dark sweet stout as our base.

As we set about making the beer we soon learned GABS was around the corner. Knowing GABS and knowing it’s our one chance in the year to really let the hair down, we thought why not jazz up our celebratory Velvet Stout and bring it’s true origins to life. Next thing you know Chris is handling fresh cut Cuban and Australian tobacco, Andrew’s sourcing French oak barrels and Ben’s blending tea leaves. We had made good on our original inspirations of Cigars and Cognac and before you knew it Velvet Stout had put on a few festive kilos, shed its old coat and grown into ‘The Smoking Jacket’.

In making the beer one of the less conventional elements to The Smoking Jacket was the use of Cuban and Australian tobacco. With this came the potential for nicotine in our beer. Although we anticipated the levels would be negligible, we wanted to err on the side of caution before we made it available to the public. As a result, we sent some samples away for testing. Unfortunately, these results were not received in time for the GABS deadline and we decided to showcase a ‘Censored’ tobacco-free version of The Smoking Jacket at the festival. This cognac infused oak aged beer tastes glorious, true to its original promise. So get down to the festival, put your feet up and enjoy.

And as for the Uncensored Smoking Jacket, we plan to share this dark mysterious beauty in the Beerhall soon.

 

Fresh is Best – A Tour of Hop Products Australia

When you look at this photo what words come to mind? ‘Poor timing’, ‘too excited’ and ‘overwhelmed perhaps?’

I think if you’ve suggested any of these you have hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately this is what happens when three giddy individuals are lucky enough go on their first tour of a hop farm, and what a tour it was.

With little in mind as to what to expect, it was incredible to see the scale of  Hop Products Australia’s operation and how they’re dealing with the constant growth and demand for this ever evolving little flower. Lucky for us we were fortunate enough to visit the farm during harvest. This was realised when we were met by a shed in the middle of the country that smelt like tropical fruit and fresh lemon, not exactly what you expect when you walk into a shed in the middle of the high country, but boy did we not complain.

Walking around the farm, it was incredible to experience the aromas that burst out of this flower when it comes fresh of the plant. It’s something that none of us expected nor had ever smelt before. We all came away understanding why using the hop fresh off the plant, commonly known as ‘wet hopping’ could be so effective in brewing……future style perhaps?

Like many of us who share a common passion for good beer, there is often a shared appreciation for the all important hop. With the three of us having worked with our fair share over the years, it was truly a unique experience to see how this incredible smelling flower is transported from plant to pellet. It is something we all thoroughly enjoyed and something any hop head should get out and do!