JERVIS BAY BREWING BAY OF PLENTY
Beheadings by axe for crimes such as stealing a bottle of beer were popular public spectacles as late as the 1900s. Although it will no longer be for sneaking this beer, take a moment to check that there's nothing else happening in a mate’s life that he may be losing, if not his head, sleep over!
Origin – Jervis Bay, New South Wales
ABV – 6.5%
Size – 375mL can
Style – Indian Pale Ale
Monuments to the nowadays-startling fact that there was a time when we didn't always know where we were, the lighthouse has become a relic of an ancient civilisation. But long before the tall white towers became a historical attraction, they were navigational necessities. Each day the lighthouse keeper would climb the steps to pour whale oil into a lamp to keep ships off reefs.
Similarly, history records our local pubs as lighthouses within the hearts of the community. They were a safe place where you could share with mates - helping avoid the shipwrecks of life. Yet these days, the schooners, conversation and counter meals have been replaced by the ding of soul-destroying poker machines.
It's not a trend that sat well with four mates from NSW's South Coast. Deciding to do something about it, in late 2019, they opened the doors to Jervis Bay's first brewer. The image that looms large above the bar and adorns every can is a schooner-glass-become-lighthouse. The branding is a reference to the local Point Perpendicular lighthouse that has provided safe passage to the bay for over 100 years. The lighthouse mark is also a nod to the community first approach in which the lads have created a space where all walks of life can come to share a beer and an ear. Financially they couldn't have picked a worse moment to open their doors – just as the fires that ravaged much of the east coast of Australia hit Jervis Bay and its surrounds, immediately followed by the COVID19 – the beacon of light the brewery has provided for the community couldn't have come at a more critical time.
And one of the beers that you'll find those locals crafting a conversation over is this Bay of Plenty IPA. While the title itself references the name given to Jervis Bay by the traditional owners, it also hints at the bountiful and beautiful contents within. Bright and radiant, the boatloads of hops deliver wave after wave of mango, stonefruit and citrus aroma before a welcome bitterness gently washes the pallet clean.
Be you a frontier stoic maintaining a crucial fortress against the forces of wrack and ruin or just the self-appointed sheriff of your lighthouse, you've found your beer!
