TALLBOY AND MOOSE PUT A BOOT ON
It seems the pandemic has pulverised the art of talking. My tip to get started again. Grab a few of these beers, lend a mate your ears and take a moment to ask how they have really been going. The answer might just save a life.
Origin – Preston, Victoria
ABV- 5.0%
Size- 375mL can
Style- Wattleseed Amber Lager
'On my honour, I promise that I will do my best, to do my duty to my God and the King of Australia, to help other people, and to live by the Cub Scout Law' recite Scouts across the country. Now, I'm not encouraging underage drinking or condoning the time when as a young Boy Scout myself, I snuck a few cans of XXXX from my dad's fridge before heading to camp. But I can't pass on the coincidence that the two leaders of my wolf pack had the scouting names Tallboy and Moose. Given Dan Hall's towering height of two metres and Steve Germain's Canadian accent, it's clear that the inspiration for naming their brewery didn't come from the movement with over 50 million boys and girls around the world.
Yet the connection between good beer and good times outdoors has been evident in the pairs' beers since kicking off their brewery in suburban Melbourne in 2016. Both the core range and the limitless amount seasonal releases are seemingly explicitly designed to be taken into the wild and shared with friends. The Sunray XPA is adorned with a picture of a kettle BBQ in a park. While the Cascade Cascade features a canoe on a river or rapids. And this Put A Boot On is illustrated with the sand hills of Waradjuri Country. A collaboration with Indigenous artist Kevin Williams, it's a can design that was inspired by a family story an Elder told him. His grandfather, he was told, came to their tin humpy, kicked the door open and said to his father, 'Put a Boot On. I want to talk to you'. And they set off to the sand hills where men would go to discuss their differences.
Brewed using roasted wattleseed from Kevin's farm, combined with Vienna and Caramunich malts, it resembles a classic bottom-fermented lager despite its amber colour. The light toffee, bready and somewhat biscuity notes interplay with the substantial nutty and earthy flavour of the wattleseed to serve up a light and easy, drinkable and delicious, trail-friendly beer.
So next time you head into the woods with the Scout patrol, don't forget to sneak in a few seemingly outdoor-inspired lagers. It goes without saying, don't crack them until the littlies are tucked up tight in their sleeping bags.
