FERAL Brewery Company has tamed the opposition, or the judges at least, to win several prestigious awards at the recent Australian International Beer Awards.
FERAL Brewery Company has tamed the opposition, or the judges at least, to win several prestigious awards at the recent Australian International Beer Awards.
The Swan Valley-based newcomer was chosen ahead of more established names to win the award for ‘best pilsener in a small brewery section’.
This was the only WA-won gold medal and Feral added another three silver gongs in three other categories and won bronze for its German Red dark ale.
Co-founder Alistair Carragher said the success should give Feral Brewing Company the premium tag contrary to the image its name suggested.
“We were hoping for a single bronze in anything but to walk away with a medal for each of our beers is just fantastic,” Mr Carragher said.
The Swan Valley boutique brewer has only been producing for seven months and its beers have appealed to judges and consumers alike.
New fermentation tanks arrive this month that will double its production in response to consumer demand for Feral brews.
“We are at the stage now where we are at capacity. We can produce 3,600 litres of beer at one time. We are getting a new double fermentation tank which just about doubles our capacity,” Mr Carragher said.
Also on the agenda are plans to bottle the beer, which means a purpose-built facility on the premises, he said.
“We have looked into it and we would have to build a new plant from scratch and that would be about $300,000 but the demand is there,” Mr Carragher said.
“We will build a separate area and hopefully we will be able to do that by the end of the year.”
Co-founder Brendon Varis is Feral Brewery’s master brewer and said a unique approach to brewing coupled with his and Mr Carragher’s passion for beer had helped create the perfect brew.
“When we established Feral Brewing we wanted to push the boundaries in developing great tasting, flavoursome beers,” he said.
“Unlike bigger breweries we don’t have economies of scale in production, so we made a conscious decision to go for uncompromising quality, rather than trying to make a beer which is cheap.”
Mr Varis was also pleased to have beaten one of the State’s best pale ale producers.
“We were particularly happy to edge out Little Creatures in the pale ale category. I think we were lucky to do that. Judging can be pretty fickle, ” he said.
Success in the beverage game is second nature to Mr Carragher whose father’s winery, Baskerville Estate Winery, is just up the road from Feral Brewery.
“We were originally going to be Baskerville Brewery because my dad owns Baskerville Wines,” he said.
“But we [he and some friends and family] were sitting down one day chatting and my brother Jeremy came up with Feral.
“We decided that would be it. We wanted to break the boundaries. The hardest thing is giving it that premium edge.”
Feral Brewing Company beer is on tap at several Perth based pubs including The Norfolk Hotel, The Adelphi Bar at the Parmelia Hilton, and Durty Nelly’s.
WA winners of the Australian International Beer Awards were Little Creatures, Sail and Anchor, Matilda Bay Brewery, and Bootleg Brewery.
