Brew Age | Q&A

Are you curious to know about the people behind the beers you buy? Or perhaps you want to know what inspires brewers to brew and beer bloggers to blog? Our “Q&A” posts are a light hearted way of getting to know people working in, and connected to, the beer and alcohol industry.
Today’s post features a brewery that we have just started stocking called Brew Age who are located in Austria.

Who are you/what do you do?   At Brew Age we are gypsy brewers from Vienna. We are partnering with a brewery from Salzburg, Brauhaus Gusswerk and brew and bottle almost all of our beers there. So we like to call ourselves “settled gypsy brewers”. We are planning to open our own brewery in Vienna within the next two to three years.
The Brew Age Team is:
Raphael: Finances and book keeping
Michael: Sales and distribution
Thomas: Sales and distribution
Johannes: Brewmaster

What was the inspiration for starting the brewery?   As with so many other craft brewers or micro brewers, Johannes started as a homebrewer. After two years of home brewing, Johannes decided to make a profession out of his hobby. Therefore he went to Weihenstephan, University of Technology Munich and studied Brewery and Beverage Technology. During the studies, Thomas and Johannes started to work on the project that later became Brew Age. Soon Thomas’ brother Michael and Raphael joint the team.

What are you hoping to achieve with Brew Age?   We want to raise our own brewery and brew the beer that we like to drink. That beer is different from mass produced lager, which we have too much of in Austria. Luckily for us there are a lot of people that seem to have the same idea of how a beer has to taste, so we do not have to drink all of our beer ourselves.

Where do you see, or hope to see, the brewery in 5 year’s time?   In five years, Brew Age will have settled from gypsy brewing into the own brewery. Our tap room will be crowded every day and we will have to add in new fermenters to keep up with demand.  Our sour beer facility (that we are just about to start) will hold lots of barrels and foeders filled with funky wild ales.

Are there any other breweries which have influenced you?   Yes there are:
Brauerei Hofstetten: Austria’s oldest brewery, still one of the pioneers of “new” beers.
Firestone Walker Brewing Company: As a former intern at Firestone, I am still amazed by the passion that everyone there puts into everyday work to brew the highest quality beer possible.
Brauhaus Gusswerk: The brewery we are brewing at. Owner and Brewmaster Reinhold Barta has always been a pioneer of creative brewing.

Out of all the beers you brew, which is your favourite? Why is that?   That depends strongly on the occasion. We like all of our children. Our Pale Ale – Hopfenauflauf still suits every situation.

What is the hardest thing to master when learning to brew?   Keeping it clean and maintaining consistent quality.

A large number of breweries have started experimenting with unusual flavour additions to their beers. Are there any interesting ingredients you think work particularly well?   Our seasonal beer called Garten Eden, brewed with fresh elderflowers, is an example of what we think works very well. The brewing process has a lot in common with brewing wet hop ales. We drive to the farmer and pick up freshly harvested elderflowers just to rush back to the brewery and add them directly to the brew.

The craft beer movement seems to be going from strength to strength. Why do you think brewing and beer making has been such a great success in recent years?   People have become more curious and like to try new beers. Also there is a big movement towards small and local companies.

What do you see as the latest beer styles to look out for in 2016?   Sour and funky beers. The IPA trend seems to keep going. Also there is a focus back on traditional styles like Pils or Vienna Lagers.

We know it’s a hard task, but if you had to choose your all time, top 3 favourite beers what would be on the list?   I will not include our own beers in that list, to make things easier:
Firestone Walker – Pivo Pils
Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait
Firestone Walker – 14^th Anniversary Ale

What was your first drink and where were you when you had it?   It probably was some generic Austrian Märzenbier around my 16^th birthday

What drink can you no longer face having had one too many?   Not because I have had too many, but because some are super boring: German “TV-Pilsners”

What is your favourite style of beer?  Again, there is no style that I absolutely prefer. It strongly depends on the occasion.

Thank you to Brew Age for chatting to us.

You can view and buy beers from Brew Age here.
Images used are from the Brew Age website, with thanks.