Bar & Bites: Otherside releases Gilded Ale, 111yo beer recipe for Liquid Gold exhibition at State Library

Otherside head brewer Rhys Lopez has gone all Tenacious D with his latest brew. The Jack Black of WA brewing has made Gilded Ale, a 4.4 per cent ale based on an Emu Brewery recipe from 1913. “This isn’t a historical recipe, this is a recipe inspired by,” he explains. In other words, this is just a tribute. Gilded Ale was brewed in conjunction with Liquid Gold, an exhibition at the State Library of WA tracing the history of beer and brewery in this great State. Otherside are the official brewery partners of Liquid Gold, which runs from February 17 to June 2 and is free. Lopez says he was tapped to collaborate with the State Library because “everyone thinks I’m a big old nerd — and they’re right”. The brewer pulled on cotton gloves and entered a hermetically sealed room at the State Library to scour precious papers and parchment dating back to early Swan Colony to find his beer recipe. “The oldest recipe I saw was from 1833 and it was this stream-of-consciousness homebrew thing of how to make beer as cheaply as possible,” Lopez says laughing, adding that the recipe included treacle. “That was a bit more extreme than what we were keen to do.” To narrow down their hunt, Lopez and his Otherside hombres chose a bunch of recipes from Emu Brewery in 1913. The smaller rival to the dominant Swan Brewery was enjoying a gilded era under head brewer Ernest Terry, who joined Emu in 1909 and went on to win top awards at the Royal Show. While more legible than the treacle homebrew recipe, Terry’s brews needed translation in terms of ingredients and portions. For example, hops were listed by region rather than name — the 1913 version of Gilded Ale uses hops from California, Tasmania, Kent and Bohemia. Thus, today Lopez threw Strata from the US West Coast, Eclipse from Tassie, East Kent Golding from the UK and Saaz from the Czech Republic for a surprisingly smooth brew. “Of course, Strata and Eclipse are completely different hops from what would have been available then, but there’s not much you can do about that.” Lopez consulted with veterans of WA brewing including Hugh Dunn, Andy Scade, Roger Bussell and Ken Arrowsmith to create a balanced, mild, orange-hued ale that was “fairly close” to what Terry would have made at Emu more than a century ago. “It was really cool,” the brewer adds, “but quite nerve-wracking because most of my beers are American craft beers.” Liquid Gold opens with a panel discussion on Saturday February 17, moderated by writer Julian Tompkin and starring legendary co-founder of Matilda Bay and Littles Creatures Phil Sexton (via satellite), Michael Payne from non-alc brand Lightning Minds, Spinifex co-founder Mark Little, beer expert Pia Poynton and branding guru Mark Braddock. The panel is part of the launch party, which is free and runs 6pm to 8.30pm. PISCO DISCO Since opening in August last year, family-run Peruvian diner Lima Cantina in Leederville has sold 10,000 pisco sours. Owner and operator Miguel Bellido shared that fun fact during a recent friends and family event at the popular restaurant. Guests, including Ambassador of Peru Vitaliano Gallardo Valencia, also discovered that no other venue in Australia sells more pisco than Lima Cantina. That’s down to Bellido’s knowledge and passion for pisco — Peru’s national drink and the only spirit in the world distilled to proof (no water is added). Bellido and his Aussie wife Mel took us through a pisco masterclass, tasting three top-shelf drops from Santiago Queirole — two mosto verde (“top of the woz,” according to Miguel) and one puro (made from a single grape variety). Our hosts also shared the amusing tale of visiting a pisco distillery south of Lima where they received unusually obsequious treatment. The centimos dropped later — the locals thought Bellido was a mafia boss. I’m not saying that Miguel and Mel resemble Tony and Carmela Soprano, but others might. THE WOODY JOINS AVC STABLE Australian Venue Co.’s foray into the WA pub market shows no signs of slowing down. After recently acquiring The Court and Tiger Lil’s and opening the BrewDog brewpub in West Perth in collaboration with the Scottish craft beer kings, B&B hears that the nation’s second-biggest pub operator has purchased the Woodbridge Hotel in Guildford. My source confirmed the sale but said AVC has no plans for immediate refurbishment, adding that the Woody is a great local pub that will carry on as normal for the immediate future. For those playing at home, AVC now runs 23 venues in WA. AN OLD FAVOURITE CLOSES Nearly a decade after opening on King Street in the city, Old Faithful Bar and BBQ served its last pork ribs on February 3. Co-owned by his parents, Rob Paolucci has run the barbecue joint since 2017 and opened a short-lived output in Fremantle. “We’re bidding adieu to our beloved spot to make way for an exciting rebrand,” read a post on Old Faithful’s social media, which added that the venue would “close this chapter and prepare to unveil something fresh and fabulous.” New Faithful Vegetarian and Vegan, perhaps?