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There is a Bendigo flavour at Torquay’s Blackman’s Brewery.
Jess Blackman and her husband Renn opened the surf coast brewery one year ago.
They will celebrate its first birthday this weekend, while their exhibit at the Bendigo On The Hop festival.
“It’s been a massive year. Very fast and busy but amazing. Better than we could have hoped for,” Jess said.
“My brother went (to BOTH) last year and loved it. People said we have to be there next year.”
“It’s a good excuse to come home and see everyone. There are so many beer lovers that get around these events, it’s important to be there getting people tasting our beers.”
Renn said BOTH has a good vibe to it.
“It’s a different style of beer festival. It’s not on an oval in summer, you get to walk around the city,” he said.
“In the country Bendigo has the best awareness of craft beer in Victoria. It’s ahead of even where Geelong is.
“Everyone knows about craft beer and is into it.”
Jess and Renn met while working at Mt Bulla during a ski season. Shortly after Renn headed to Perth to study brewing and Jess followed.
The couple travelled to England and Europe and came back inspired to start their own brewery.
“We looked at heaps of breweries around Europe, came back and got inspired,” Jess said.
“We thought we just got to make it happen. After 18 months in Melbourne the stars aligned and we started Blackman’s.
“I think we were working towards it for about a year. While we still had full time jobs, we were also working hard on (the brewery).”
A love for beer bought them together and eight years later the pair are still together, living above their popular Torquay brewery.
”We started with three beers of our own and a guest beer and within four months we had six (beers). Now we have seven and a cider,” Renn said.
Blackman’s brews are named after Renn’s family – Reginald (an IPA), Ernie (a golden ale), Bob (a wit beer), Arthur (a smoked porter) and Winnie (a cider).
“Reginald was my grandpa and Ernie and Bob were his brothers. Their parents were Winnie and Arthur,” Renn said.
“All the beers reflect what they were like.”
The personalities of the beers also make them more approachable to new customers.
“We wanted to make it about the Blackman family because we had chosen to put our name on it,” Jess said.
“Some people say: ‘My dad’s called Arthur, I have to have one of those’. Even if someone doesn’t drink dark beeer, there is an interesting connection there for them.”
Since Renn began studying brewing, the craft beer industry has exploded with more than 45 independent brewers being stoked at bottle shops and pubs through Victoria.
“There is awesome awareness about it. It’s building in Melbourne, Bendigo and Geelong,” Renn said.
“It used to be Carlton Draught but now there is something different for all people.”
This was highlighted to Renn a couple of weeks ago when a lady who preferred chardonnay was persuaded to try beer.
“She tried the wit beer and didn’t like it, she tried the golden ale and thought it was OK. Then she tried the IPA and had three pots of it,” he said.
“She had told me she wasn’t a beer drinker, so it was great.”
To help celebrate the brewery’s first birthday, Renn and Jess have brewed up an imperial smoked porter.
Their regular smoked porter won a gold medal but Renn says this is a bigger version.
“It’s nine per cent and we scaled up the recipe with more malt and hops and a Manuka smoked malt from New Zealand,” he said.
“It adds a point of difference and is really roasty and chocolatey. We only have about eight kegs of it and four of those are coming to Bendigo.”
Find out more on Blackmand’s Brewery at www.blackmansbrewery.com.au
Bendigo on the Hop is on August 1. For details visit www.bendigobeer.com/event/bendigo-hop-2015