Gold Coast brewery Lost Palms Sourfest and new beer Blueberry Pancakes a hit
Summer has ended but the changes keep coming on the Gold Coast. FIND OUT THE DETAILS
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GOLD Coast brewery Lost Palms finished off the last day of summer in style, launching a new beer with a twist.
The Miami brewery showcased eight sour beers including a new beverage – Blueberry Pancakes – at Sourfest, hosted at the Oak Ave venue.
The local crowd enjoyed a live DJ set and plenty of beers on Sunday with the new brew a popular choice on the warm afternoon. Head brewer Chris Smith said the event was the perfect way to end the summer.
“Each brewery here on the Gold Coast has their niche and when I got to Lost Palms about two years ago we thought about how we can differentiate ourselves and decided on sour beers,” he said.
“It was something not a lot of people were doing on the Coast but suits the weather here really well.
“It’s super smashful, easy drinking, with usually low ABVs (alcohol level).”
The former carpenter, who has a wealth of brewing knowledge from his time at multiple breweries across Queensland before joining the Lost Palms team, said the turnaround for the sour beers can be up to three weeks.
“With the sour beers we go through the same process as normal but there’s an extra step involved,” he said.
“We move it over to the kettle and then we add a good bacteria, similar to the bacteria found in your gut, and we leave that for 24 to 48 hours.
“That drops the pH of the beer and adds that sour flavour, which lends itself to fruits, lollies, coffees and heaps of different flavours.”
Why Gold Coast brewer's shoey video got the boot
INFLUENCERS and superstars aren’t immune to alcohol advertising standards, the country’s watchdog has warned amid a rise in complaints related to social media posts.
The Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code adjudication panel says the burgeoning number of independent brewers and distillers on the Gold Coast – and the rise of social media – is catching out newbies to the industry.
Last year 75 per cent of upheld complaints related to social media activity, a handful of which came from the Gold Coast.
A lighthearted video of a shoey caught out Broadbeach beer brand “Bloke in a Bar”, founded this year by Denan Kemp.
The former NRL player’s company was this month chastised by the panel over the Instagram post, which featured former Sharks player Luke Lewis drinking from a shoe.
While the company said only “1.5 mouthfuls of beer were poured into the shoe”, the ABAC panel found there was not enough context to show the beer was not rapidly or excessively consumed. The post was then removed.
Mr Kemp told the Bulletin they worked hard to know the standard and were happy to work with the ABAC panel.
“We are always aware of the code and don’t want to be seen as someone doing anything negative when it comes to advertising with alcohol,” he said. “I don’t think the rules are widely known by people outside of the industry, so some people do get caught out.
“In this instance it was meant to be a celebration but more context was needed.”
Other recent cases include Cocktails nightclub, which was notably caught out for sending out subject lines in emails such as: “Ho-Ho-Holy Sh**t I’m drunk” and “Alcohol is not in my Vodkabulary”.
The Bucha of Byron was also found to be in the wrong when it released Dirty Buch, a premix alcoholic kombucha on its Instagram account without age restrictions.
Fireball Whisky was dobbed in, in August for a picture of singer Songwriter Ed Sheeran holding a bottle, which was posted on their Facebook page in 2015.
The caption read “Our favourite fireball.”
Because he was under 25 at the time the photo was taken, and ABAC deemed the post a no no.
A video for for Transfer Snowboard magazine featuring ‘Inspired Unemployed’ comedians Jack Steele and Matt Ford sponsored by Pirate Life Brewing was also found to be in breach of the code.
It was found the video scenes involving the consumption of the product with the performance of snowboarding, does breach the Code standard.
Harry Jenkins AO, the independent chair of ABAC, said the code had to keep up with the online world.
“Most companies are happy to work through any complaints, and we also have a pre-approval process if things need to be checked,” Mr Jenkins said.
“We don’t want to make their life more difficult than it already is.”
“People claim it’s a nanny state and then we get told we go to easy, our job is about finding that balance.”
EARLIER:
A BOUTIQUE Gold Coast brewer has copped a slap on the wrist by the alcohol advertising watchdog for an unconventional new beer dubbed “breakfast juice”.
Currumbin Valley Brewing Co was last month found to be in breach of the Alcoholic Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) for their Hazy IPA valued at $34.00 for a four pack.
A complainant alleged the bright coloured packaging and design for the beer would appeal to minors and was not adequately labelled as alcohol.
The packaging was covered in an illustration by Brazilian artist Pedro Correa depicting fruits, plants and floating eyeballs.
“If a kid opened the fridge and grabbed a can, it is identical labelling to breakfast juice,” the complaint read.
Currumbin Valley Brewing, a small family-owned brewery operated solely on a private residence and farm responded to the complaint, arguing the labelling was clear and did not appeal to children.
“Breakfast Juice was named so as to describe the hazy, orange appearance and fruity, juicy flavour characteristics imparted by the heavy use of hops in this product,” the brewery said.
“The can design mentions the product is a Hazy IPA. IPA is a well known acronym for “India Pale Ale” – a common and popular style of beer sold in Australia – which we believed to be a clear alcohol descriptor.”
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The packaging also had ‘BEER’ on the side of the case.
Currumbin Valley Brewing Co, permitted to produce a maximum 40,000L a year also said they produced a limited amount of Breakfast Juice stock, with a large proportion being sold direct to licenced premises where children would not have access to it.
In the last year they produced approximately 200 cases of 24 x 375mL cans, 47 per cent of which were sold to independent off-premise retailers and the remaining 53 per cent sold direct to consumers via online sales.
The brewer, which is not a signatory to the ABAC, is not bound by any decisions made by the watchdog. The Currumbin company did however agree to pull the product if it was found to be in breach, out of respect to the role of the code.
“We will retire the Breakfast Juice beer name, label and imagery once we have run through the remaining label stock in our possession (approximately 100 cases),” the company said.
“Unfortunately, as a small business, we are unable to endure the financial impact that immediate disposal of labels would have on our business, especially during this economic downturn.”
Ultimately the panel found the packaging was in breach of the code stating the name ‘Breakfast Juice’ when combined with the stylised fruit images used on the product labelling strongly suggests that the product is non- alcoholic.
They also found the cues used on the labelling to identify the product as a beer were not visually prominent, particularly on the front of the can.
“Taken as a whole, the packaging is likely to strongly appeal to minors,” the ABAC wrote.
The panel also noted that the brewing company had fully co-operated with the adjudication process.
Breakfast Juice is now listed as out of stock on the Currumbin Valley Brewing co website.
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