We did a story back in May 2008 about Red Duck Beer. http://www.hoppsy.com/australia/red-duck-handcrafted-beers/ Red Duck is a small microbrewery from Purrumbete which is in the Western District of Victoria Australia.  Since our story the brewery has grown from strength to strength and has even opened a beer tasting room in the nearby township of Camperdown.  The beer is all hand crafted and only natural ingredients are used. We were re-introduced to Red Duck at a Food and Wine Festival in Lara, about ¾ of an hour south west of Melbourne Australia.  Red  Duck had some amazing new beers which absolutely blew us away including a the American style Pale Ride an amazing Strong Bitter English style pub ale called Burton but the favourite and one of the most unique beers we have ever tasted was called White Garden. This beer was a classic whit beer which contained a little raspberry and believe it or not rhubarb. The beer was absolutely delicious. Sadly the 4.1% beer is only a limited release but it was amazing.  In fact we bought our self a Quack Pack of it and enjoyed it when we got home.

For more information on Red Duck :  http://www.redduckbeer.com.au/

The native Australian Pepperberry is a bush spice which has a distinct pepper zing and is the special ingredient in James Boag’s latest seasonal release for the Australian Winter. The berry has been used by the Australian Aborigines for centuries and is not only a tasty bush tucker it has some medicinal qualities, today it is used in gourmet jams, chutneys and the like. The beer called the James Squire Pepperberry Winter Ale this beer is sure to please the beer drinker looking for something luxurious and a bit special. The beer is as you would guess fairly spicy, it has a medium caramel flavor with hints of chocolate and toffee. The pepperberry gives it a hot and interesting taste. Being an ale the beer is not short of flavour and is a perfect match for a rich winter roast or some tasty chocolate pudding. Look out for it in your Australian bottleshops, but hurry it is a strictly limited release and if my local bottleshop is any indication, it won’t stay on the shelves for too long.