The sticker that inspired a day to celebrate brewers

Australian beer lovers are being invited to hug a brewer on July 18 in celebration of International Brewers Day.

International Brewers Day was suggested two years ago by US beer writer Jay Brooks and is designed to celebrate good beer by thanking the men and women who make it. Australians are encouraged to celebrate the day by trying beers they have not tried before and thanking the brewer with a toast as they do. The day is designed to encourage Australians to think a little more about the beers they drink to encourage the idea of drinking less but drinking better.

Australian Brews News editor, Matt Kirkegaard, said Brews News wholeheartedly supported the idea behind International Brewers Day.

“Australia is gradually changing in the way we look at beer,” he said.

“We are becoming more adventurous about the beer that we drink and becoming more interested in where these beers are from, what goes into them and how they are made.”

“For a long time beer has been a light-flavoured libation best characterised as a weapon of mass-consumption. But these days the enjoyment of beer for its best quality – flavour – is starting to take hold.

“Across Australia new breweries are opening every week and we are fortunate to be able to enjoy more beer styles now than ever before from more breweries than at any time in a generation,” Matt said.

July 18 has been chosen for the international celebration of brewers as it marks the feast of St Arnold of Metz, the most well-known of brewing’s patron saints and the patron saint of brewers.

Concerned about the dangers of drinking polluted water Saint Arnold is supposed to have warned his parishioners “Don’t drink the water, drink beer”. He believed that the polluted water caused illness, while the boiled and processed water used for beer was a safer and more nutritious alternative.

“From man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world,” is another of the sayings attributed to him.

Breweries, hotels, homebrewers and beer lovers across the country are being invited to stage an event to mark the day. Brews News is hosting two events in Brisbane as part of a weekend festival to brewing, at the Grand Central Hotel (City) and Archive Boutique Beer Bar (West End). With the event still over three weeks away, the event at Grand Central is already nearly sold out.

The Brisbane festival will feature sample tastings of more than 20 beers from breweries from around Australia in the company of many of the men and women who brew it. Highlights include appearances by Chuck Hahn (Malt Shovel Brewery), Ben Kraus (Bridge Road Brewery, Beechworth), Luke Scott (Otway Estate Brewery and Winery, Barongarook, Vic) and Hayden Mokaraka (Blue Sky Brewery, Cairns). Homebrewers will also be celebrated with Craftbrewer’s Ross Kenrick bringing along a keg of his Obama Black IPA, brewed in collaboration with Canberra’s Wig & Pen brewery.

Venues are encouraged to let Brews News know if they are planning an event so that we can add it to the calendar.

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