When I blogged about Australian beer last week, I neglected to mention the excellent beer brewed by a micro-brewery in the hills behind Adelaide, which we visited in 2006.
It’s near Hahndorf, a village which was established by German settlers in the 19th Century, and has the reputation of being ‘more German than Germany’. It’s best known as the home of the painter Sir Hans Heysen, and a lot of the place is given over to art galleries … we came away with two prints for the sitting room wall.
On the outskirts of the village stands ‘Grumpy’s Brewhaus’ … a brewery and bar in an old farm house, with the name writ large on the corrugated iron roof. We called in; I wanted some souvenirs … beer mats, a few bottles of ‘Grumpy’s’, whatever.
Unfortunately, all they had was tasting notes (although, according to their website, you can now buy baseball caps) and they only sold their beer by the barrel. The only other way the beer was going to leave was inside me! And, I couldn’t have too much; Mr. Hertz and the South Australian Police might have taken exception.
There’s quite a range of beers on offer. Some are based on German beers; some on British and some on American pre-prohibition brews. Or, their ‘Goldrush’; a steam lager much favoured by German migrants during the California Gold Rush.
Restricted to half a pint, I chose the beer with the lowest ABV … ‘Red Baron’, at 3.4%. It’s said to be based on the Scottish McEwen’s ‘Eighty Shilling’ … and that’s long been one of my favourites!
Grumpy’s is at www.grumpys.com.au
) was nice.