Robe Town Brewery unveils ‘decadent’ new beer made with camel dung

Creativity is king for this Aussie microbrewery, which has just unveiled a very unique new beer.

Robe Town Brewery owner Maris Biezaits with his beer made with ambergris, a product of the digestive system of a sperm whale). Picture: Tom Huntley

A South Australian brewery has created a new beer using a natural, organic ingredient sourced from a local farm – but it’s probably not the fruit or veg (or even meat) you’re thinking of.

It’s dung – camel dung to be exact.

Robe Town Brewery, a renowned microbrewery in the small picturesque coastal town on SA’s Limestone Coast, has unveiled a concoction to showcase at the upcoming 2024 Great Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS) Festival in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne from May 31.

Aptly named ‘Holy Smokes!’, the beer is made using smoked camel-dung collected from local camel farm Humpalicious.

Spent leftover grain from the wood-fired brewery is fed to the camels, then the animals’ waste is collected and used as a smoking agent. The entire process represents the Robe Town Brewery’s commitment to sustainable brewing practices.

Robe Town Brewery is producing a Camel Dung Porter. Picture: Robe Town Brewery

Robe Town Brewery is producing a Camel Dung Porter. Picture: Robe Town Brewery

“People have been cooking and preserving food with dung for thousands of years, so it’s not really so out of the ordinary,” Maris Biezaitis, owner and head brewer at Robe Town Brewery said.

“Camel-dung is also more environmentally friendly than digging up peat beds and in my opinion an excellent substitute.

“The initial concept of this beer was to have a bit of the wow factor using camel-dung, but it is actually surprisingly similar to what peat-smoked malt tastes like in a good Scotch whisky.”

Mr Biezaitis said the beer tastes like a “a decadent 6.3% smoked porter with notes of burnt sugar, dark malt, and sticky dates, all wrapped in delicate flavours of smoke and oak.”

“Once you get your mind over the dung factor, it’s really a very tasty and dark, smoked beer.”

Robe Town Brewery last made an appearance at GABS in 2016 with its ‘Moby Dick Ambergris Ale’, where the star ingredient was ambergris – a highly prized ingredient in the perfume industry formed in the intestines of whales and is commonly and mistakenly known as whale vomit.

After its fixture at the GABS festival, ‘Holy Smokes!’ will be available for the Robe Town Brewery from late June.

Mr Biezaitis said he expected the beer to be a little polarising at first given the rarity of camel-dung as an ingredient in the modern age but hopes it inspires people to “think creatively when it comes to sustainable options for producing familiar tastes and flavour profiles”.