BREWERY FOCUS Space is at the premium at the Malt Shovel Lord Sydney has a cunning plan Brewery. A view of the fermenters and keg ...involving James Squire, one of Australia’s earliest brewers racking area. In 1786 Lord Sydney, addressing the Lords different for Squire was one of the Commission of the Treasury in London, proposed a colony’s first brewers. He started the solution to the burgeoning prison population. The first hop garden encouraged by the Governor who wanted to curb the convicts would be transported to work in the embryo rum trade by offering more colony at Botany Bay where James Cook and botanist wholesome beer. Joseph Banks had landed in 1770* There they built the The Squire brewery was situated in basic infrastructure of roads, bridges and official the Malting Shovel Tavern at Kissing buildings or else worked the land. Once their sentence Point halfway between Sydney and was up, opportunities for the hard working made it an Parramatta, the settlement at the head Malt Shovel easy choice to stay on. The stigma of the first of the creek. The site is now Brewery submerged in Sydney’s suburb of 99 Pyrmont Australians being criminals persisted probably for two Ryde, but in the late 1790s, passing centuries but today many are proud to trace their boats would stop off for beer and his Bridge Road, forebears back to those felons of the First Fleet. reputation spread. He died a rich, law Camperdown, abiding pillar of the community in Sydney 1822. His name is now immortalised NSW 2050 Kingston on Thames in 1785. He By Roger Putman in the name of Australia’s largest Australia stole some chickens and in his haste micro brewery and every two years to get away ran out into the road; Phone: the brewery entertains some 200 +61 2 8594 0200 ames Squire landed at Port hence highway robbery. Had he modern Australians proud to trace www.maltshovel.com.au J Jackson, the next bay along from retreated down a back alley, the their ancestry back to the errant Botany Bay in 1788. He had been history of the Australian brewing James. convicted of highway robbery in industry might have been very The story of the current brewer at the Malt Shovel Brewery which is * Transportation started to the American colonies in 1718 but that destination dried up situated in the inner city Sydney area after the War of Independence. Forced emigration continued up to 1853 to Van of Camperdown is no less Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) and even into to the late 1860s in Western Australia. When the last convicts landed, the grand total transported was in the order of 160,000 and interesting. Dr Chuck Hahn is the that is a lot of ancestors. The exercise was pointless after gold was discovered around doyen of the continent’s micro 1850 as everyone wanted to go to Australia anyway! brewers but he started his career with The BREWER & DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL • Volume 3 • Issue 1 • January 2007 • www.ibd.org.uk 33 BREWERY FOCUS Brewery Founder, Managing Director and Brewmaster Dr Chuck Hahn. Far right: The brewery premises on Pyrmont Bridge Road in Camperdown, Sydney. Taps decals some of the biggest names. Born in lower-strength lager (2.7%ABV) downtown Portland Hotel and the America, after gaining a PhD in Hahn Premium Light while Hahn other in the developing Docklands Chemical Engineering he worked at Premium is tied for second place in area. A microbrewery, with its own Coors in Colorado where he was the domestic premium lager historical name, is to be located in a much involved in launching the now category. winery in the Clare Valley, SA. iconic Silver Bullet – Coors Light. In As Lion Nathan’s chief brewer, 1981 he was head hunted by Tooths Chuck continued to dabble in The James Squire process in Sydney and was General Manager speciality brews and Tooheys found There is a two-compartment hot and of brewing until CUB took over. selling a distinctive beer into a niche cold liquor tank with 140hl of 3°C Then it was off to Lion Breweries in market was profitable. The brewery cold water juxtaposed with another New Zealand where he helped make was ideal for training young brewers 140hl at 75°C. Around 1000kg of Steinlager an international brand. By as the plant could all be worked malt drops down to a Steinecker two 1987 he wanted to branch out on his without automation. Hahn developed roller wet mill (which is run dry) on own so he moved into an old the recipes for a Chinese venture, the ground floor. There is a chamber Camperdown furniture factory dating with higher rice adjunct levels, by below where mashing liquor is from 1901 with the copper domes of using the decoction capabilities of introduced and the resulting mash is three vessels from a defunct brewery his plant. pushed upstairs to one of two 60hl in Palmerston in New Zealand. In 1998, the plant was rebadged as mash tun/coppers by a mono pump Stainless steel bottoms were attached the Malt Shovel Brewery and the arrangement. Decoction is possible and the rest of the kit assembled. range of James Squire brands was into the other vessel otherwise the With brass stair rails from the old born. He is now in the process of mash is transferred slightly higher to Reich’s Brewery and three spawning a series of pub micros a lauter tun through a bottom entry. copper tops to keep polished, he under the James Squire banner in The rakes are operated electrically told me they get through a lot of major cities. The nearest being a bar rather than the more usual Brasso! in the tourist honey-trap of Darling hydraulics. Maximum loading is Hahn Brewing specialised in Harbour, by coincidence close by to around 270kg/m2 and the wort premium beers and was hit hard where the Toohey brothers set up returns to the mash-copper via a now when a recession took hold in their first brewery in 1869. Two more closed grant with the operator 1991. Despite the rapid formulation are located in Melbourne: one in the getting an idea of differential of mainstream Sydney Bitter and its subsequent success, Hahn freely admits to getting into financial difficulties and he was bought out by local brewer Tooheys in 1993. Tooheys (now part of Lion Nathan) were glad to have Hahn brands aboard as the industry was in the throws of promoting beers interstate Right: Lion Nathan is and here were products setting up a series of unencumbered by the baggage of the James Squire badged old boundaries. The public readily brewpubs in tourist tapped into the image of Chuck as a areas. This one is at quality brewer and Hahn Gold and Darling Harbour in Hahn Ice became popular. Today his Sydney city centre. name is attached to the nation’s No1 The BREWER & DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL • Volume 3 • Issue 1 • January 2007 • www.ibd.org.uk 34 Bottles and glasses The brewhouse with lauter on the left and Detail of the lauter tun run off control The mash vessel-cum coppers. two mash vessels cum coppers on the right. station. The plastic tube gives an idea of differential pressure. pressure by the level in a length of could not cope with the 30,000hl per imprisoned by the local military plastic tubing! Grains are removed annum of most popular James Squire when he tried to stop rum being used via a stainless steel chute, similar to Amber Ale. Similarly his Pilsener is as a currency. Later Chuck a cement truck discharge, direct to a brewed elsewhere leaving him to discovered the event actually took waiting farmer’s trailer. The attend to seasonals, experiments and place in 1808 so will have to whirlpool entry is for clockwise even Kirin’s Ichiban brand which celebrate the 198th year instead but motion as it is in the southern helpfully on its Australian labels at least he gets a sighting shot for a hemisphere and after four hours tells us it is ‘first press beer’ to second brew in two years time! The another mash can be started. emphasise its point of difference. latest brew is Hop Thief which harks Eleven fermenters (totalling The Kirin brewer, which the brand back to Mr Squire who not only stole 1710hl) contain either two or four owner insists on, works out of the the chickens but received 300 lashes mashes. The cone interiors are corporate Technical department over for stealing horehound from the expensively electro mirror polished at Lidcombe and usefully contributes colony dispensary, perhaps to bitter with no internal protuberances to to other projects as well as offering a up one of his early brews. The hinder cleaning. Operating as translation service! sentence was carried out in two unitanks, they were installed new in halves, the second 150 ‘when he 1987 from Protech Engineering in Delicious fruit salad could bear it’. The 30 BU beer is New Zealand. Yeast is metered from The Amber is 5%ABV with 20% another fruity hop heaven but Hahn cone to pitching tank beside a 6hl crystal malt, late hopped with does not divulge the two aroma hops propagator. An electro polished ex Willamette and it presents with a used. demonstrator leaf filter by Seitz thick creamy head without the Chuck Hahn says his Amber is the Schenk passes beer at 60hl per hour benefit of nitrogen enhancement. first step in that stairway to beer- to 4 x 85hl bright beer tanks.