MEDIA RELEASE

BANANA BREAD WITH ESPRESSO BUTTER BEER?

PIG & FIG PIZZA BEER?

YES, IT’S TRUE.NO, WE’RE NOT LYING.

What do you get when you combine one of Australians’ great loves, beer, with another great love, food, specifically coffee, banana bread and pizza? Who the heck knows, but we’’re about to find out when 4 Pines Brewing Company launch their collaborative Beer Mimics Food creations with Single Origin Roasters and the East Village Hotel in Balmain on Thursday 24 October, with simultaneous public events at 4 Pines Brew Pub in Manly and East Village Hotel, as part of the Sydney Craft Beer Week.

The team at 4 Pines are quite partial to a double shot espresso or a café macchiato, so it was a natural fit for them to collaborate with all-round coffee good guys, Single Origin Roasters in Surry Hills. ‘But coffee isn’t food’, we hear you say? Maybe not, but when you spread some delightfully delicious espresso butter on banana bread it is, and that’s exactly what Single Origin Roasters Head Barista Sean McManus and Coffee Buyer Wendy De Jong did. Then they added it to beer.

That is where 4 Pines Head Brewer Andrew Tweddell stepped in to help. Dressed in banana suits (something to do with aiding the brewing process?), the trio spent the day conversing in half fluent coffee/half fluent beer and it turns out they can make a damn great tasting brew. It’s a wheat style drop but instead of adding the usual grain recipe, they added 16 kg of crumbled banana bread and a smattering of Brazilian coffee beans (specific ones) at each stage of the brewing process. The result? They’re pretty sure they’ve nailed the ultimate breakfast beer.

Next up in the brewery was the team at East Village Hotel who know a thing or two about food given they serve up more than 2,000 meals to hungry locals in Balmain every week. One of the favourites on the menu at this inner west local is the Pig & Fig Pizza generally enjoyed with a nice cold beer, so, why not make it into a beer? Well they did, and it smells amazing, and it tastes delicious, and they called it Porky Fig, which we think is quite funny. It’s basically a Sunday-night-with-mates-at-the-pub brew you just have to try.

4 Pines can’t bear the thought of anyone having to travel too far to taste these limited edition magnificent brews (nor do they want to force those north of the harbour to socialise with those in the south) so they’re staging two launches simultaneously.

Event:4 Pines Beer Mimics Food

Date & Time: Thursday 24 October, 2013, from 7:00pm

Locations:4 Pines Brew Pub,29/43-45 East Esplanade, Manly, NSW andEast Village Hotel82 Darling Street, Balmain, NSW

Entry: Free

If you can’t make the launches, fear not. Both 4 Pines Brew Pub and the East Village will continue to stock the beers until they run out but we’re guessing once the word gets out how good these are, it will be a matter of days before they’re a distant memory.

For more information, visit the event page on the Sydney Craft Beer Week website.