Thus Let Us Drink Beer – Your Mates Brewing
Mateship is an intrinsic part of the Australian cultural fabric and an important national value, as is Australia’s love for beer, so would be more obvious to conjure a name like Your Mates Born when in 2014 ago a bunch of friends conceived the idea to channel their alchemy in the creation of accessible craft beers in a bid to celebrate the simple pleasures in life.
Eight years later Your Mates has evolved from a coastal gypsy brewing style garage operation to one of Australia’s more popular independent beer companies.
My first exposure to Your Mates range was via their Sally IPA, which constitutes the first female addition to their cast of characters that their liquid emissions are named after.
Sally is not exactly subtle as she is a West Coast style IPA that derives its punchy floral aromas with piney and citrussy highlights from a heady melange of El Dorado, Simcoe, Citra and Chinook hops. Clocking in at 6% ABV, Sally proves to be a borderline ideal companion for an early BBQ session.
Things get interesting with Your Mates’ Red IPA as the hops do not take over the show but dance closely with caramel malt notes against a backdrop of a delicately balanced bitterness, without any ingredient claiming dominance. With its chewy mouthfeel and resinous piney highlights flanking toffee and butterscotch flavours, it makes for a rich and full-bodied brew. Delicious.
On the more exotic end of the spectrum of Your Mates’ portfolio, however, is their recent limited release known as Karen’s Shandy which despite being named after what has become the personification of white woman privilege, flavour-wise I find to be one of the more interesting creations I have recently sourced from a brewery.
More akin to home-made lemonade in nature, we find ourselves knee deep in refreshingly sour, citrussy and tarty territory, which is rounded out by culminating in a sweet, sassy molassy finish that leaves one lusting for another sip. The top of my mouth was celebrating as I paired it with a dram of cask strength Bunnahabhain.
Given the quality of Your Mates’ releases, which are complemented by a formidable merch range, I am looking forward to more of their experimental releases and can only hope that they will try their hand at Double and Triple IPAs in the foreseeable future.
