Nominations open Tasmania’s best craft beer
Tasmania is already globally synonymous with fine wines and whisky but local brewers are confident the state is quickly making a name for itself as a must-go destination for beer-travellers. HOW TO NOMINATE >>
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FOUR years ago, Jimmy Green gave up his teaching gig and home-brew kit to head up the brew house at Hobart Brewing Company, turning a hobby into a career.
Today, he is among a small army of craft brewers slowly making a name for the Apple Isle in the industry.
Tasmania is already globally synonymous with fine wines and whisky but Mr Green is confident the state is quickly making a name for itself as a must-stop destination for beer-travellers.
“It’s definitely going to be a destination,” he said
“We’re already getting people, during summer, come down from the mainland to visit the brew house.
“Because in Hobart we have five or six breweries you can just walk to, that’s really attractive to people – you can come down and try lots of different beers.”
With breweries continuing to open and the catalogue of Tasmanian brews expanding, Mr Green said there’s a beer for everyone – no matter the preference.
“Each brewery has their own different style, they focus on different beers and flavour profiles,” he said.
“Each person can find their own beer that they really love now, it used to be a bit limited, but now there’s just so many options.”
As is the case for many Tasmanian industries, island life has prompted the state’s craft brewers to be self sufficient and at times reliant on each other for ingredients, equipment and labour.
“Compared to other industries I’ve worked in, it’s absolutely fantastic – on the whole everyone is just working together to help out our industry,” Mr Green said.
“Getting things from the mainland, things can sometimes be delayed – we might be short on grain or something like that – we have a few people we can call up on and most of the time they’re more than happy to help out.”
Collaboration beers between breweries is also a regular occurrence.
“I don’t know why it seems so specific to beer but the amount of collaboration that goes on between breweries is really awesome,” he said.
With the launch of the next instalment of the Mercury’s Best of Tasmania campaign, we are asking you for your favourite Tasmanian Craft Beer.
Mr Green said this will be the first state competition and he is keen to see how his beers, and others, stack up against each other.
“It would be great if there were a bunch of people out there who vote and really love the beer,” he said.
“The fact that Tassie has gotten to a point where we can actually do this means there are a lot of breweries around offering lots of really good beers.”
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