St Kilda Ale Stars Brew their own beer!

After months of planning and a carefully constructed recipe it was time to make the magic happen...

Last Saturday an enthusiastic group of Ale Stars headed down to Mornington Peninsula Brewery for the first ever Ale Stars brew day.

Arriving early due to the new peninsula link, we ducked around the corner for a coffee and returned to kick off proceedings at 10am. Within seconds, head brewer, former Darlo Ale Star Tzar, and general friend of the Taphouse, Andrew 'AG' Gow, had us drinking his new single hop Mosaic IPA straight from the tank which was set the tone for a day that would be more tasting than brewing for most of us! The Mosaic IPA was delicious and fortunately we have a couple of kegs of it Taphouse bound very shortly.

Leading the brew charge for the Ale Stars was Derek a who moonlights at MPB as a part time brewer. Fosters may have misleadingly suggested that Crown Lager's 5th ingredient is time due to its long, careful brewing process (whatever), but we can say with confidence that Derek's sweat is the 5th ingredient in this little Belgian IPA.

We took turns in picking up a shovel or staring pensively at the brew, we ate pizzas, but mainly we sampled the delights of the brewery. AG took us through a tasting of his beers and told us the MPB story so far and the grand plans for expansion that is due to happen anytime now. After that we sampled some more. Then we took some samples for the bus ride home.

Thanks to all Ale Stars who took part in the day - we look forward to tasting the beer at our March Ale Star session.

Also, a massive thanks to AG and Matt for having us all down at the brewery. A big thanks to everyone else at the brewery for their hospitality on the day as well - we were all extremely well looked after. And thanks to Lauren (Cam's mum) for driving us down there and putting up with the noisy ride home.

UPDATE: Having just spoken to AG almost a week after the brew, he reckons this is "going to be a really good little beer". After a few days with the hops dominating it has mellowed a touch and the Belgian yeast character is starting to come through.