EDEN BREWERY BIRCH WIT
Our dogs will be there in the most challenging times of life. To ensure the same could be said of us, grab this craft, start up a conversation, and be a man's best friend.
Origin – Mittagong, New South Wales.
ABV – 5.5%
Size – 330mL bottle
Style – Witbeir
This beer tastes like shit! While it's not often a phrase used to describe craft beer these days, if governments could overcome the public distaste for water made from effluent, it could quite literally be true. As far back as 2008, the then NSW Liberal leader Peter Debnam downed cup after cup of water made from sewage for the cameras before the state election. Calling bullshit? Google it. While you’re doing so, search ‘NEWater’. It’s the term Singapore gives to water made by drawing moisture from the nation's sewage, that now makes up 40% of the nation’s water supply.
It’s just one of the many creative ways that governments all over the globe are looking at to address water shortages that have already left one in seven people on the planet without safe drinking water. It's undoubtedly a topic close to Jacob and Deb Newman's heart. Before founding their picturesque Southern Highlands brewery, they spent more than seven years as volunteer aid workers, witnessing firsthand some of the 6,000 people who die each day from diseases caused by lack of clean water. So, having returned from helping Oxfam build an aquaponics system for a local orphanage in Mexico, the pair pondered how to continue supporting the issues that matter to them the most, albeit in a slightly different way.
‘That’s when it came to me', shares Jacob, an avid homebrewer for two decades. ‘a glass for a glass, it’s just so simple’. With that idea, the wheels were set in motion, and with funding from friends and family, the husband-and-wife team established Eden Brewery in early 2017. As soon as they launched, they began to donate 10 per cent of the profits directly to Oxfam clean water projects. Albeit there's plenty of options to drink while you provide a drink for someone else, it’s this Birch Wit beer that those looking for something a little unique reach for. Inspired by fields of golden sunflowers in Texas where he grew up, Jacob mixes sunflower seeds, orange peel and coriander with more traditional ingredients. The result is a light and restrained Belgian style witbier with hints of coriander, juniper berry and bitter orange that lend themselves perfectly to the welcoming fruity aroma.
And the best bit? It doesn’t even taste a little bit nutty!
