Quaffers: Bridge Road Brewers' stout beers

Beechworth or bust became bust, with a flat tyre, just two kilometres short of our destination – Ben Kraus's Bridge Road Brewers in Victoria.

Our 25-centimetre wheel brace proved no match for the locked-on nuts. So, red-faced, in a what-sort-of-man-are-you kind of way, we called for the RACV – which arrived minutes later in a 1960 Holden panel van – a working centrepiece, it turned out, of a quirky main street museum.

We later saluted the museum as we strolled down to a very busy brewery – with workers among tanks, staff serving an already crowded bar and more customers in the beer garden enjoying Kraus's tasty ales and hefty, home-cooked, Austrian-style pretzels.

Bridge Road first fired up its kettles about 10 years ago. In that short period, Kraus created 1000 excellent brews. Little wonder, then, that Bridge enjoys so many fans, even among the ranks of other brewers.

Bridge Road Brewers Enigma Pilsner 330ml
★★★★½
$6

Bridge Road Enigma gives an Australian slant on New Zealand's fragrant, refreshing pilsner style. Australian-bred Enigma hops, from Rostrevor Farm, Myrtleford, weave their aromas, flavours and gentle bitterness through this brisk, pale-lemon-coloured, uber-refreshing lager.

Bridge Road Brewers Brew 1000 Imperial Stout 330ml
★★★★★
$15

"This challenging beer combines much of what we have learned from brewing the previous 999 beers," writes brewer Ben Kraus. With the blackness of coal and an alcoholic content of 11.2 per cent alcohol, it delivers waves of coffee and dark-chocolate flavours – deliciously bitter–sweet, and cutting through the beer's layered, harmonious palate.