SAY CHEESE: IT’S BEER O’CLOCK

Wine and cheese – two things that we associate together like bacon and eggs or Bundy and Coke. If you ask people what to have with wine in the afternoon, I suspect most would say cheese and biscuits – but what about cheese and biscuits with beer?

The brewers at Bruny Island Beer Company have made it their mission to convince us that consuming beer and cheese should be as natural as the aforementioned wine and cheese.

The business began after a cheesemaker and a brewery got together to produce quality cheeses and beers using the fresh ingredients for which Tasmania is famous.

I had never heard of them until a colleague gave me a couple of bottles to try. Hugh the Neighbour was across them as one of his sons has a house on Bruny Island, so when we sat down to try their 2018 Fresh Hop Harvest New England India Saison Ale, he had a fair head start.

This beer is made using fresh (not dried) hops straight from the vines, and it really is a revelation to drink.

It pours a cloudy gold in the glass with a generous head and you are assailed with loads of citrus and tropical fruits on the nose. It delivers a whack of flavour but without the bitterness you would usually associate with a US-style IPA.

At 6.8 per cent alcohol it is not a beer for the faint-hearted, but both HTN and I found it to be really drinkable – complex, flavoursome and refreshing.

Bruny beers are a bit hard to come by in regional areas though you can order online from the factory. Try blacksheepbottleshop.com.au or brunyislandcheese.com.au.