Norway brewer Ingrid Skistad gets some tips from Holgates head brewer Paul Holgate. Photo: Chris Fleming
On Friday, Nick Rhodes, one of the brewers from Woodend's Holgate Brewhouse, flies back to Melbourne from Norway, while leaving Holgates and taking the long way back to Norway via an Aussie holiday is Ingrid Skistad a junior brewer at Nøgne Ø.
The two of them have just spent a month at each other's respective breweries, sharing and gaining experience, as the result of a project that, in Nick's case at least, began over lunch at Josie Bones during the last Good Beer Week in Melbourne with Nøgne Ø founder Kjetil Jikiun.
"We had a chat about brewing and travel," says Nick.
"I asked if I could work at his brewery and Kjetil said he had a young brewer who was keen to travel too, so why didn't we swap?
"That's how craft brewing works - often it comes down to a conversation and an idea. A week later, when he got back to Norway, my email was sitting waiting for him; then I just had to get Holgate interested in the idea."
Nick has been brewing at Holgate for nearly two years, while Ingrid has been at Nøgne Ø since graduating from Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh in 2011. As part of their swap, they will be creating a collaboration brew on either side of the world: an Imperial Red Ale that they have devised between the two of them via email over the past eight months.
It's nearly all bottled. Nick will make the last batch then it will probably be launched in mid-April under the Half A World Away label.
"This has been a chance for me to spread my wings," says Nick.
"It's been a bit of an adventure as well as a chance for some professional development, both for myself and for Holgate. I have a lot of respect for the way in which Nøgne Ø goes about brewing and marketing their beers. They are very much about quality - they are the uncompromising brewery after all - just sticking to what they want. I'd drunk Kjetil's beers and seen a few things about him on YouTube and it seemed he had the same basic ideas about how craft beer should be made as I do."
As for Ingrid, the trip Down Under is the result of an even longer period of pestering her boss.
"The brewer's exchange started when Nøgne Ø's head brewer, general manager and the production manager all were going to a brewing convention in the USA," Ingrid says.
"Before they left I told them I would not mind it if they found someone somewhere who would take me in for a brewer's exchange, and the further away, the better - I was in an adventurous mood! When they came back, Kjetil had found three possible breweries who were interested.
"As it turned out, Holgate Brewhouse was the first of the three to give a positive reply. And as I've never been to Australia, but always wanted to go, I was thrilled!
"I've been able to gain some insights to how a small brewery is operated in an other part of the world. Seeing how Holgate resolves issues in the brewhouse and in other aspects of the production and sales has given me valuable experiences to take home, I think."
But the swapping of the brewers isn't the only thing in Holgate's diary for Friday. It's also the launch of its 1000th brew, an Imperial Indian Pale Ale named the Melenium Falcon, after the fact it is the 1000th and because of the hop variety. Indeed, many will find it their 1000th good reason to drop by Holgate Brewhouse on a Friday night!
The two of them have just spent a month at each other's respective breweries, sharing and gaining experience, as the result of a project that, in Nick's case at least, began over lunch at Josie Bones during the last Good Beer Week in Melbourne with Nøgne Ø founder Kjetil Jikiun.
"We had a chat about brewing and travel," says Nick.
"I asked if I could work at his brewery and Kjetil said he had a young brewer who was keen to travel too, so why didn't we swap?
"That's how craft brewing works - often it comes down to a conversation and an idea. A week later, when he got back to Norway, my email was sitting waiting for him; then I just had to get Holgate interested in the idea."
Nick has been brewing at Holgate for nearly two years, while Ingrid has been at Nøgne Ø since graduating from Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh in 2011. As part of their swap, they will be creating a collaboration brew on either side of the world: an Imperial Red Ale that they have devised between the two of them via email over the past eight months.
It's nearly all bottled. Nick will make the last batch then it will probably be launched in mid-April under the Half A World Away label.
"This has been a chance for me to spread my wings," says Nick.
"It's been a bit of an adventure as well as a chance for some professional development, both for myself and for Holgate. I have a lot of respect for the way in which Nøgne Ø goes about brewing and marketing their beers. They are very much about quality - they are the uncompromising brewery after all - just sticking to what they want. I'd drunk Kjetil's beers and seen a few things about him on YouTube and it seemed he had the same basic ideas about how craft beer should be made as I do."
As for Ingrid, the trip Down Under is the result of an even longer period of pestering her boss.
"The brewer's exchange started when Nøgne Ø's head brewer, general manager and the production manager all were going to a brewing convention in the USA," Ingrid says.
"Before they left I told them I would not mind it if they found someone somewhere who would take me in for a brewer's exchange, and the further away, the better - I was in an adventurous mood! When they came back, Kjetil had found three possible breweries who were interested.
"As it turned out, Holgate Brewhouse was the first of the three to give a positive reply. And as I've never been to Australia, but always wanted to go, I was thrilled!
"I've been able to gain some insights to how a small brewery is operated in an other part of the world. Seeing how Holgate resolves issues in the brewhouse and in other aspects of the production and sales has given me valuable experiences to take home, I think."
But the swapping of the brewers isn't the only thing in Holgate's diary for Friday. It's also the launch of its 1000th brew, an Imperial Indian Pale Ale named the Melenium Falcon, after the fact it is the 1000th and because of the hop variety. Indeed, many will find it their 1000th good reason to drop by Holgate Brewhouse on a Friday night!
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