Not sure what the joke was. Pretty sure Hendo knows.

On Sunday Cavalier threw open the doors to their Derrimut digs and threw together a brew dreamt up by beer festival directors, designed by 15 brewers and named by one lucky punter and three of his mates. The Summer Wheat Ale was christened ‘Motley Brew’ with the name coming from Les Kretzschmar.

Brews News was invited along to observe the shenanigans which included a BBQ and more than a few fresh-as-fresh beers straight from the tanks, a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the local and visiting craft beer scene and even a surprise visit from Nomad’s Will Herborn.

The winning name was chosen from a field almost as big as the band of brewers themselves. Many clever entries focussed on the beer style or the ingredients chosen such as ‘Summer of 6 + 9’ and ‘15 shades of Hay’ (which also linked into the #15 brewer hashtag), ‘Wheat can be Heroes’ and ’15 Acres of Wheat’.

Winning namer, Les Kretzschmar (4th from left) with friends and the Cavalier brew crew.

Others chose to cast doubt on the ability of so many creative minds to collaborate and achieve something vaguely drinkable by suggesting names like ‘Collusion Fusion’ and ’15 Gear Beer’ although ‘Clusterf$#k’, while probably apt, was unusable. As were several other suggestions from respected beer people. No names. ‘The Devil is in the Wheat Ale’ was one of my favourites of the ‘cleaner’ entries.

One entrant went beyond the call with a stunning piece of logic which, of course, meant the entry would never win. Way too clever by half. Working on the ‘15’ principle as well as the unwieldiness of the brew crew, the name was chosen thusly;

“Lucifer is the Latin translation of “light bearer”, which was the ancient Greek name for phosphorus. Phosphorus is the 15th element of the periodic table. (Putting the geek back into beer geek)”

The finished product will be pouring for the first time at the Ballarat Beer Festival in January 2015.