Lion has launched a one-off, limited edition porter-style beer called 'The First Brew' in collaboration with Tim Charody, The Beer Pilgrim, to celebrate Australia Day.
Just 1000 litres of 'The First Brew' was created as a tribute to Captain Phillip's toast to the new colony in 1788 with a porter-style beer.
Lion's head brewer, Peter David, said the porter style beer was a nod to the past, but it included a contemporary twist to the recipe to cater to today’s modern palate.
“With the Aussie climate in mind, The First Brew is lighter and mellower than the heavy English porter recipe originally enjoyed in the early 18th century, but still uses the same natural ingredients. We have used English-style malts like Crystal and Roast to give this porter a moderate character of chocolate and coffee, which is nicely balanced with the citrus-notes of New World Citra hops,” said David.
David worked alongside Charody to create the beer following his recent trip to discover the story behind Australia’s first beer.
“Once our team knew that it was beer that toasted the colony in 1788, we decided to find out more about what this beer actually was. Once we started digging around, we discovered that beer actually played a pretty important role on ships during the time of the First Fleet and Captain Cook’s voyages," David said.
In another Australia Day-inspired limited edition, Haverick Meats is showcasing its specially created Australia Day lamb sausage. Haverick Meats collaborated with executive chef John Pye and created a custom flavoured Lamb Merguez sausage.
According to the company, the sausage is earthy and spicy in flavor, and will available to customers at both the Haverick Meats Saturday Store and the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel on Australia Day.
Sydney master butcher and operator of Tender Gourmet Meats, Adam Stratton, has also created ten special edition Australia Day sausages, which include beef vegemite & cheese, LAMBington with chocolate and Beef & VB.
On a sweeter note, Gelatissimo is celebrating 26 January with the release of a special "green and gold flavour delight" called the Great Australian Gold Rush.
The flavour, created by master gelato maker, Anna Temellini, of a combination of honeycomb nuggets folded through green pistachio gelato, will be available at all its gelateria on Australia Day.
BigLolly.com.au, meanwhile, is spruiking its special limited edition Australia Day joojoo collection including red, white and blue buds; green and gold buds; red, white and blue jelly beans; and green and gold jelly beans.
