1788 meets 2014 with the creation of ‘The First Brew’

23 Jan 2014 --- Captain Phillip toasted the new colony with a beer in 1788, and the tradition has held with beer remaining the most popular choice of alcoholic beverage for adults celebrating on Australia Day this year. So it seems only fitting that The Beer Pilgrim, an Aussie on a mission to tell the great story behind beer, has unveiled ‘The First Brew’ in time for January 26 as a 21st century tribute to this historic moment.

Created especially for Australia Day, this one-off, limited edition porter beer is a collaborative effort between Tim Charody, The Beer Pilgrim, and one of the nation’s leading brewers, Peter David.

Lion Head Brewer, Peter David believe that while it was important to create a porter style beer that was a nod to the past, so too was adding a modern twist to the recipe to cater to the modern palate.

“With the Aussie climate in mind, The First Brew is lighter and mellower than the heavy English porter recipe originally enjoyed in the early 18th century, but still uses the same natural ingredients. We have used English-style malts like Crystal and Roast to give this porter a moderate character of chocolate and coffee, which is nicely balanced with the citrus-notes of New World Citra hops,” said David.

David has worked alongside The Beer Pilgrim to create the beer following his recent trip to discover the story behind Australia’s first beer.

“Once our team knew that it was beer that toasted the colony in 1788, we decided to find out more about what this beer actually was. Once we started digging around, we discovered that beer actually played a pretty important role on ships during the time of the First Fleet and Captain Cook’s voyages.

“Aside from being a refreshing beverage, scurvy was the scourge of the sea for sailors at this time, so they were given a ration of spruce beer as it was incorrectly believed to help combat the sickness,” said The Beer Pilgrim.

“It was some years later, that the presence of Vitamin C in diets was determined as the preventative measure to scurvy, so the inclusion of citrus hops in The First Brew is a nod to this thinking, while incorporating a modern Australian flavour to appeal to today’s drinker,” said David.

On his recent journey to discover the origins of beer in Australia, The Beer Pilgrim sought out publicans and brewers in Sydney, and travelled to the United Kingdom, taking him back to where the First Fleet set sail and to discover the source of that iconic first beer.

“While getting to the bottom of beer’s amazing Australian story, I was surprised to discover that beer is still sourced from the same four natural ingredients – water, hops, yeast and barley – the very same ones that would have been used to brew the beer that Captain Phillip first drunk on our fair shores.

“Now even 226 years later, a delicious frothy brew is still the most popular alcoholic drink for us to toast on Australia Day, and we encourage Australians to enjoy doing so in moderation and to drink responsibly,” said The Beer Pilgrim.