Coming up:

March 26: Faith Lutheran College

April 23: Battle of the Shiraz Wine Regions

May 28: David France Wines & the Greenock Tav-

ern

June 25: AGM Cooper Burns Wines

July 23: Birthday TBA

August 27: Vertical tasting of Cabernets

September 24: Home 2nd tier wines

October 22: Remember Bruce with Nipper + Rory

November 19: Laughing Jack

December 10: Christmas at The Sandy Creek Golf

February 2019 Newsletter

We were pleased to welcome the following guests: Laurie Rundle ’s sons Brandon & Todd. Aivars Bognanvos (Laurie) Ian Cooper’s son Nick, Bog Greening ’s son Adrian, Chas Calandro & Terry Wendlebourne—guests of Ron Tomlinson and past member Cliff Nicolai. We hope they enjoyed the night and will come again! See invitation below.

Twenty four members and seven guests were welcomed by

Robyn Rehn with a cold glass of Rehn Bier’s South Australia

1837 Ale—very much appreciated on a warm night. This was

accompanied by some finger food supplied by Bob Heinicke.

Once we were all gathered Laurie Run-

dle welcomed members and all the

guests, then handed over to Brenton

Rehn to tell us the story of Rehn Bier.

We learned that Brenton and Robin be-

gan brewing in 2012 in a shed at home

and grew the business so they needed

the purpose built microbrewery we

were visiting. They moved in in Novem-

ber 2017 and currently produce about

GUEST INVITATION

You are invited to join a group of like minded men at a Bruce Thiele Red Wine Club dinner meeting to

taste, talk about, learn and enjoy wine. Inquiries Peter Frick btredwineclub@gmail.com

Rehn Bier continued

25,000 litres of beer. Brenton noted that Coopers would not have

a fermenter that small! Brenton and Robyn are strong willed and

independent-”we did it ourselves with nothing from outside”.

Craft beer may be made on contract and then labelled by the

customer or it can be real craft beer brewed from start to finish

on the premises. A lot of craft beer is influenced by America with

hop driven flavours.. The Rehns prefer more European styles.

These are the styles Brenton likes—and if he cant sell it he can

drink it.

The welcome beer, Rehn Biers 1837 South Australian Ale, has a

nice malt and reasonable hops and is based on an American sum-

mer style. It has a mild citrus aroma, with the flavour being hoppy

upfront with a malt drying finish.

Traditionally the hops are added to the boil to give some bitter-

ness and act as a preservative. Adding hops after the boil I termed

‘dry hopping’.

After initial fermentation the beer is allowed to sit for up to two

weeks. They are able to ‘crash’ chill the fermenters to stop the ferment. The 1847 Ale is 4.7% alcohol, a

standard beer.

Rehns use Cooper’s and Barossa Valley base malts and 5-10% speciality grains which are malted and

roasted. The base malts are pale to amber with roast malts providing chocolate colour and flavour.

They use 7 or 8 varieties of hops mostly from Tasmania with a few imported. Yeast is obtained dry

from a French company.

Some brewers make ‘sour’ beers using wild yeasts and allowing bacteria (Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces,

and Pediococcus) into the ferment. Brenton does not do it. Some beers (Strong ales, stouts and por-

ters) are barrel aged—3 months to 4 years. Barrels are easy to come by in the Barossa.

The Process.

On brew day 600 litres of water are heated to 70°C and put in the mash tank with 200kg grain (malt)

and mixed. The brew is kept at 62 to 68°C. The mash is heated and stirred to turn the starches of the

malt into sugars. The sugar level is read and when it reaches the desired level the temperature is raised

to 74-78°C to ‘mash out’. The sugary solution or ‘wort’ is strained through the false bottom of the mash

tun in a process known as lautering. The resultant clear liquid is transferred to the ‘kettle’ to be steri-

lised and the hops are added along with any other additives such as fruit or pumpkins. After boiling for

one hour it is transferred back into the tank bottom where a whirlpool action is used to remove solids.

The whirlpool lasts about 10 minutes then it is allowed to sit for another 10 minutes before the liquid is

Rehn Bier continued

gently drawl off the compacted hop ‘trub’

(lees). The wort then passes through a heat

exchanger . The heat exchanger uses chilled

water which hots up and is used in the next

day’s brew. The wort is cooled to 20-24°C

and is put into temperature controlled tanks

to ferment. Chilled glycol (18°C ) is used to

maintain the temperature at the desired lev-

el e.g. 14-15°C for Pilsner, 22°C for stout

25°C for Tripel or Wheat beer. It can take up

to 24 hours for the brew to start to ferment and fermentation may take 3 to 7 days depending of the

beer style and the yeast type. The final step is carbonation and possible filtering. In the ‘bright beer’

tank CO2 is pumped in at 20 PSI. The carbonation may take 2 or 3 days before the beer is put in bottles

or kegs.

The Rehn’s small bottling machine does 220 bottles per

hour and they can hire an additional bottling machine if

needed. Generally a brew of about 900 litres goes half

into bottles and half into kegs. They can bottle from a

keg if demand is high.

They will do special brews and labels . Their small size

and flexibility allows them to satisfy their customer’s

particular requirements.

Their production currently is 1800 litres per month i.e.

36 kegs and 5,500 bottles. They still have the small

home brew kit they began with which allows them to

experiment with new recipes, however some adjust-

ments are needed when scaling up. They have not gone

into cans as while they are lighter they can only be purchased in very large quantities. Brenton feels his

clientele prefer bottles. He does not use secondary fermentation for carbonation as it takes extra time

and may alter the taste.

Laurie thanked Brenton for his explanation and acknowledged Robyn. Brenton emphasised they were a

team and he could not have done what he has without her.

We then proceeded to a tasting of five more of Brenton’s beers. The first was an Apricot Weizen, a very

different beer with a remarkable apricot nose. This was followed by a Pilsner. This was not on our order

form as it was the last of a special batch. The next beer was Rehn XSB—deliciously malty with earthy

English hops. Then it was the turn of Love Potion #1 an US style IPA with lots of citrus aroma and hop

flavour. Beer number five was the Smokey IPA. It had a prominent smokey aroma and flavour. Our final

tasting before our meal was the Rehn Extra Stout, perhaps Brenton’s best known and most awarded

beer. The full body black beer, full of roast, chocolate and vanilla with a touch of bitterness, was a

fitting climax to our main tasting.

Rehn Bier continued

Before we ate our dinner there was a special prize draw—just for guests.

The idea suggested by Bob Heinicke is for the winning guest to receive two

bottles of wine, one for himself and one for the member who invited him.

The club is always looking for new members and guests are a good source.

We want to encourage

members to invite

guests, hence the special draw. It was won Ron Tom-

linson’s guest Chas Calandro. Ron had two guests

and promptly passed on his bottle to his other guest

Terry Wendleborn.

Our main course for the evening, supplied by Tom’s

Catering, was Chargrilled Chicken Fillets, homemade

Burgers, BBQ Sausages with Caesar Salad, German

style Potatoes and Salsa Salad. It was accompanied

by more beer or wine if that was preferred.

Door Prize Winners The winners of our door prizes were Ron Tom-linson, Laurie Rundle and Brendan Rundle. Each prize was a four pack of Rehn Beer se-lected from the wide range in the fridge.

We then had a special treat, a glass of Santa’s Reward. This is an old strong ale infused with Christmas spices. It was accompanied by platters of fruit cake and other ‘Christmassy’ delicacies.

Finally there was a special prize for those who had ordered a least a carton of Rehn beer. This was also won by Ron Tomlinson. He again gave it to one of his guests Terry Wendleborne.

Club Website: https://btredwineclub.org.au/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1834613763477498/about/

Rehn Bier Beers

1837 South Australian Ale STYLE: Aussie Pale / Bitter ABV: 4.7% IBU: 37 MALT: Pale, Pilsner, Crystal HOPS: Topaz, Cascade YEAST: US-05 FILTERED: No ADJUNCTS: None SERVING TEMP: 5-7⁰C APPEARANCE: Golden AROMA: Mild Citrus FLAVOUR: Hoppy upfront ,malt drying finish IMPRESSION: Light to medium body with prominent early hop and malt balance. Enjoy anytime FOOD: What ever is close

Apricot Weizen

This seasonal beer takes our Weizen bier and adds a another dimension in the form of Apricot. The aroma and lightly sweet taste of this beer is like a cool breeze when the temperature soars. Apricot is a link to the Barossa orchards that used to be prevalent in the region.

ABV: 4.5%

Pilsner

The grain for this crisp, bright, clear, refreshing Lager was grown and malt-ed less than 15Km from the Rehn Bier brewery. Australian Ella hop for bitterness and aroma make this a sessionable after work winner with a long dry finish

ABV: 4.5%

“A long dry finish. A clear golden brew “ Untappd

XSB

STYLE: eXtra Special Bitter ABV: 5.4% IBU: 45 MALT: Pale, Pilsner, Crystal, Amber, Chocolate, Roast barley HOPS: Super Pride, East Kent Golding YEAST: US-05 FILTERED: No ADJUNCTS: None SERVING TEMP: 7-10⁰C APPEARANCE: Copper / Brown AROMA: Dark fruit, Earthy grassy hop, Nutty FLAVOUR: Malt forward, Nutty, toffee, Earthy IMPRESSION: Medium body malty brew and robust Hop presence FOOD: Bangers & mash, Pizza, Fish & chips, Indian, Cheddar cheese

Rehn Bier continued

Love Potion #1

One sip of this American IPA and you will be in love. With its classic fresh, summer hop flavours it is like sunshine in a glass. ABV: 6% IBU: 43

This palate friendly American Pale Ale from Rehn Bier pours with a big lasting head and a slight haze. It smells of honey, toast and citrusy hops. At 6%ABV it has a rich malty body that’s too easy to drink. Give it the respect it deserves and pour it in-to a glass to get the most from the hop aromas. The best way to enjoy this beer is to pay the brewer Brenton Rehn a visit on

Magnolia Rd in Tanunda and drink a fresh Love Potion #1 at the brewery.

Smokey IPA

STYLE: IPA-Rauch ABV: 6.6% IBU: 90+ MALT: Pale, Smoked, Pilsner, Crystal HOPS: Columbus, Citra, Cascade YEAST: US-05 FILTERED: No ADJUNCTS: None SERVING TEMP: 7-10⁰C APPEARANCE: Copper AROMA: Smoke, Smallgoods FLAVOUR: Intense, Smokey, Bitter IMPRESSION: Light to medium body, U.S. hop bitterness and a clean smoke screen overlay FOOD: Cured meat, Spicy dishes, Ginger cake, Caramel, Crème brulee

Extra Stout

STYLE: Australian FES ABV: 6.0% IBU: 60 MALT: Pale, Amber, Chocolate, Roast Barley HOPS: Super Pride, Ella YEAST: S-33 FILTERED: No ADJUNCTS: None SERVING TEMP: 9-14⁰C APPEARANCE: Black AROMA: Dark Malt, Vanilla, Chocolate FLAVOUR: Full body, Roast, Chocolate, Bitter / Sweet IMPRESSION: Full body robust black beer FOOD: Stews, Oysters, Chocolate, Vanilla, Rich desserts

Santa’s Reward

The 2018 Santas Reward was a 3 way blend of4 year barrel aged strong ale Barossa Valley Pilsner. Christmas spiced tea.

Sources

Rehn Bier website: https://www.rehnbier.com.au/

Untappd https://untappd.com/RehnBier

Rehn Bier Photos

Rehn Bier Photos

Rehn Bier Photos

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Rehn Bier Photos

Photos: Ian Cooper & Steve Blee