Summer in a Glass - Doctor's Orders' double wit for GABS

Here's the story behind Doctor's Orders Brewing's Zephryr double wit for GABS by brewer Darren 'Doc' Robinson. Warning: Doc gets a bit technical in his report!

10/11/10 Recovery from the Strong Lagers Ale Stars session in November at The Local Taphouse Darlo was made bearable with a confirmation email from Steve requesting Doctors Orders Brewing in the lineup for the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS) announced at Ale Stars the blurry night before.

Following 18 months of creative seasonal collaborations with the Schwartz Brewery and Hunter Beer Co, it was great timing to scale Doctors Orders Brewing up, lose the training wheels of collaborations and get the beers on the taste buds of a wider audience.


Summer release meant a summer beer and seeing as Doc's Gose had already been released in summer 2010 [it was on at Hart's Pub and sold out VERY quickly! - Ed] it was the time for Doc's Double White Ale (Zephyr). The recipe was locked in, brewday scheduled and then the curve ball. The special botanical was no longer being imported into Australia. Many phone calls and specialised supermarket visits to find commercial brewsize quantities of the prized botanical failed.

Recipe formulation was urgently revisited for the core botanical ingredient without time for a pilot re-brew. Dilution and potency extrapolation research conducted based on other brewers memories of the NEW core botanicals' properties and Zephyr was ready for brewday.


11/01/11 It wouldn't be a Doctors Orders beer if the brewday/brew process went seamlessly. That is the downside of challenging traditional brewing practices with non-traditional ingredients. But that is also the edict of Doctors Orders. Suffice to say after a few tense moments another cracker beer worthy of your taste buds has been produced.

Zephyr is a Double White Ale with a native Australian botanical proudly brewed especially for GABS on Feb 12th in both Taphouses. The final touch is from Darlo Ale Star Burnsy with his talented design skills to produce the Zephyr artwork (seen here).

Hope to see you all there on Feb 12th!