A very Feral brewer – Feral's Brendan Varis

Brendan Varis, brewer at Western Australia’s multi-award winning Feral Brewery has been a very busy man. In the last week he has put three new beers on tap at his Swan Valley brewery and is ‘expecting’ a fourth.

If you’re quick you will be able to get into the brewery and try the following:

• Double dry-hopped Razorback. This is a version of last year’s AIBA Trophy-winning barley wine that is only three weeks out of the brewhouse. Typically razorback would be held a few months to lager before release to let the hops integrate more fully with the other components of the beer. This version is meant to be drunk fresh and young to expose the pure intense hops. You will rarely see a 10% abv beer released this young with this level of hopping.
• Barrel-aged Farmhouse Ale. A saison aged 6 months in old shiraz barrels.
• Dark Funk. A red ale fermented in chardonnay barrels with lactobacillus and pediococcus bacteria and aged for over 2 years.

The fourth beer is a Belgian Strong Ale aged in Shiraz barrels that is ready for release, Brendan is just waiting for one of the brewery’s long-serving and much loved chefs to give birth. She is due in the next 2 weeks, so watch out.

These beers are available at the Feral Brewery, and at The Local Taphouse, St Kilda and Darlinghurst.

www.feralbrewing.com.au