That almost complete new building on the corner of Mort and Elouera streets in Braddon houses Canberra's newest pub brewery - the BentSpoke. Inside, it's all concrete and dust at present. But on a visit there before Christmas, the racks of stainless steel brewing tanks gleamed like jewels, waiting for Richard Watkins to fill them with the good stuff.
Watkins, former Wig and Pen Brewer, expects BentSpoke to open on schedule in late March or early April. He plans to launch with the six beers and one cider that'll be part of the regular offerings. Over the following months he intends to introduce 12 specialty ales.
Brewing will take place on both levels, with all the brewing gear right in the face of customers. The downstairs pub spills out to a spacious courtyard, with the kitchen, sit-down-dining and another bar upstairs.
375ml 6-pack $17
Cooper's bottle-fermented sparkling ale is a distinctive fruity style and notably fuller bodied than the increasingly popular, slightly less alcoholic, Pale Ale - a regular tipple at Schloss
Shanahan. We tend to move from one to the other over time, but good old red label Sparkling Ale remains the long-term favourite.
*****
355ml $5
This increasingly popular boom-box interpretation of India pale ale maxes the volume on all components - malt, hops and alcohol. Opulent malt provides, deep sweet mid-palate flavour and texture - the boom. Alcohol fills the mid palate. And hops deliver both the tweeting, citrusy high notes and a pervading, intense, lingering bitterness.
****1/2