SOAPBOX BEER CHIN WAGEN
Paddle Pops and pints! What I love about them both is how they bring us together. As is the case for this cracking craft.
Origin – Fortitude Valley, QLD
ABV- 5%
Size- 330mL bottle
Style- Kölsch
By volume, today's cars are produced from about 50% plastic. More clothing is made out of polyester plastic than cotton. Each year, the world produces enough to fill every skyscraper in New York City. It's everywhere, yet suddenly we have decided that it is an evil thing - the UN has declared a 'war' on single-use plastic, with Kim Kardashian going one step further and calling on her insta followers to give up plastic straws!
Maybe it’s time we go back to corrugated cardboard, or perhaps all the way back to the wooden crate that was hauled around by the wagon load in Buffalo Bill's day. It's the crate that was made famous in the 20th century by the likes of Franklin Roosevelt, who in his early years shared his political views while standing on one. While these days, it's not so common to see someone standing on a soapbox flamboyantly preaching to passers-by, metaphorically it’s gathering momentum, particularly on social media.
However two Brisbane craft-beer enthusiasts with something to say have not merely wound back the clock and stepped up onto a creaky old wooden box, they’ve gone above and beyond and converted a dilapidated factory into a platform for conversation. Working in the telecom and film industries respectively, Scott Robertson and Luke Nixon first struck up a conversation about the merits of craft beer as a social lubricant while waiting for their kids at the school gate. Many conversations, and a lot of planning later, Soapbox Beer was born in Fortitude Valley's Gipps Street. Not surprisingly given how things came about and the chosen name, Soapbox has an emphasis on conversation. It's a topic close to heart. 'Men need to talk', Robertson's wife Amy shared with me, knowing first-hand the consequences of that not happening – tragically her father took his own life when she was 21. It is an emphasis brought to life with Soapbox beers’ names including the Pep Talk dark ale, the Loud Mouth American amber ale, and this Chin Wagen kölsch. On the first sip, there’s no doubting that head brewer Greg James has put together the perfect drop for a warm conversation while also winning over the uninitiated to the craft beer cause. Light straw in colour, with subtle aromas of mint and evergreen on a light malty palate, it finishes crisp and clean.
This Chin Wagen’s certainly not a fully flavoured gun tote’n Buffalo Bill, instead something more along the lines of a hoe-down lovin’ Bubble O’ Bill!