New beer hops on wine’s bandwagon
The increasing sophistication of Australian beer drinking and brewing reaches a
new high today (27 October 2009) with the launch of John Boston Premium Lager.
The newcomer elevates beer to the same level of sophistication as wine, having been
initially crafted to satisfy the discerning palates of the 55,000 members of
The Wine
Society
.
The premium craft beer has been created by master brewer Bruce Peachey to
a specific brief prepared by
The Wine Society
members. His mission was to produce a
beer displaying the same complexities of flavour, aroma and texture as those found in
premium wines.
John Boston Premium Lager is named after the free settler who became the colony’s
first brewer in 1796. Produced by
The Wine Society
, it is 100% Australian owned (in a
landscape of foreign owned Australian beers) and profits from the brewing venture will
fund continued benefits for members of the Society.
The Wine Society
is Australia’s oldest independent wine club. It was established in 1946
to advance wine appreciation and education, to promote excellence in the wine industry,
and to offer members selected wines at the best prices possible. It now operates its own
retail stores.
The task of turning the John Boston concept into a product was placed in the hands of
former Lion Nathan head brewer Bruce Peachey, previously charged with the
responsibility of producing Guinness and Lowenbrau’s legendary beers under licence in
Australia. He also created the popular Blue Tongue craft beer.
Peachey terms his new creation a “luxury lager”. The brewing technique is 100%
natural, using only the highest quality natural ingredients and no preservatives or
additives.
“We use prime malted barley, premium local hops and specially-selected yeast, and the
purity of flavour is outstanding,” he says.
“Noble hops (hops that are low in bitterness but with vibrant aromas) are added late in
the brewing process to further balance the beer and to provide seductive fresh floral
aromas. It is a refreshing full-strength lager and pale golden in colour.”
Flavour matching experts look to a beer’s “three C” qualities — the ability to cleanse,
complement or contrast. The flavour profile of John Boston Premium Lager makes it a
perfect match for seafood, chicken dishes and Asian flavours.
In Australia, per capita beer consumption peaked in 1975. Today, we are drinking less
—
but better — beer, with premium and craft beers showing the biggest increase in
popularity. This has led to the emergence of the so-called “beer connoisseur” — the
target market for John Boston Premium Lager.
Certainly, the 2009 John Boston brew is more palatable than the 1796 drop, which was
brewed from malted maize bittered with the leaves and stalks of cape gooseberries.
Boston himself had little opportunity to develop the quality of his beers. In late 1804,
trading opportunities took him to Tonga where he received a warm welcome and was
invited to a banquet. If the story is true, he was the main course.
John Boston Premium Lager will be unleashed between 4 and 6pm Tuesday 27
October adjacent to the site of the original John Boston mill, where Boston milled and
brewed the colony’s first beer - in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens in the Pavilion near
the Rose Garden off Macquarie St near the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
# # #
Contacts:
Stewart White or Joseph Brennan- Whiteworks Public Relations on 02 9557 1433
- 0418284036
NEWS 
