The Malt Shovel Brewery has released the first details of their pending summer limited edition beer.

The Lion-Nathan owned brewery has announced they have brewed “a unique version of an Australian lager”.

“Not the pale golden easy quaffing standard fare, but a beer that captured the essence of an Australian summer,” Head brewer Tony Jones advises.

“We have called it Scribbly Gum, and it is a more flavoursome version of a lager than the norm.”

The lager, released under the limited edition Mad Brewers label, uses smoked malts and so will be an interesting addition to the James Squires range. It marks a departure from the brewery’s last limited-edition lager, Sundown Lager. While the yet-to-be released Scribbly Gum is described as being “more flavoursome than normal”, Sundown was described on release as a “highly drinkable lager for the hot summer months.” Sundown can be described as a fairly traditional Australian lager with the addition of some aromatic hop character.

Sundown Lager was released as a limited edition brew in November 2008 and has since entered Malt Shovel’s permanent range.

Scribbly Gum will hit the trade in mid February, both in the standard 640ml Mad Brewers bottle, on tap in James Squire Brewbars and around the country at “Malt Shovel-friendly” hotels.