15th Anniversary: 15 beers for 15 years
We’ve brewed a LOT of incredible beers in Bright over the past 15 years – and a few dodgy ones!
So, in celebration of our 15th anniversary, we’ve put together a list of some of our most iconic – and most memorable – beers over the past 15 years…
๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ (2011)
Debuting in 2011 at a highly drinkable ABV of 7.5%, our original Stubborn Russian Imperial Stout was the brainchild of former brewer Jon Seltin. Stubborn, so
named because of its refusal to ferment, has become our most iconic beer and is now brewed annually to warm up every winter (it’s also grown to a beefier ABV of over 12%!).
๐๐ข๐ง๐ค๐ฒ ๐
๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ข๐ฌ๐ (2011)
Brewed with 60kg of fresh local raspberries at the start of 2011, our Lambic-style Framboise was a beer that won a lot of hearts over the years, and even inspired our current Sweetart range of sours!
๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ค๐จ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ซ (2015)
Named for our neighbouring hamlet of Smoko, never has a beer been more divisive than this Rauchbier. In fact, we still argue about it today. Are smoked beers great or revolting? Most people feel pretty strongly one way or the other!
The good news is that Rauchbier is making a comeback in 2021 so we can keep arguing about it for at least another year!
๐๐๐ณ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ณ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐๐ข๐๐ซ (2007)
Cloudy, unfiltered, and full of aromats like clove and coriander, Razor Witbier was like the quiet, reliable friend in our core range group. Always there, always consistent but never making much noise – until, in 2019, out of nowhere, she was named Australia’s Champion European Style Ale at the Australian Independent Beer Awards!
๐๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ซ (2009)
Brewed with locally grown hops, Australian pale malt and pristine Alpine water, few beers summed up Bright Brewery better than our Bright Lager. A staple of our core range for many, many years – and the craft beer that many mainstream beer drinkers cut their teeth on – Bright Lager was as crisp and refreshing as the mountain air.
๐๐๐ง๐๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ (2015)
Just down the road from Bright is the Heritage-listed hamlet of Wandiligong. A quiet, sleepy village renowned for its beauty and its nuts, “Wandi” comes alive every Autumn when the people of Bright and surrounds descend to celebrate the annual Wandi Nut Fest. We brewed our Wandi Nut Brown Ale in honour of festival – originally with Wandi chestnuts and, later, without – when we realised the beer tasted even better without them.
๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐จ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ (2013)
(adj) Derived as follows: super – “above”, mucilaginistic – “of viscid nature”, expiali – “to atone”, and docious – “educable”, with the sum of these parts signifying roughly “Atoning for educability through above viscid natureโ
This massive barley wine was viscid and gloopy. Layers of malt derived flavour (spicy rye, crust, shortbread, oats, caramel) meld with sweet vanilla and coconut lactones from French oak.
๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ/๐๐๐๐๐๐ (2011)
When you’re the closest brewery to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest hop farm, hop harvest season takes on a new meaning. While brewers from around the world descend on Eurobin – just 10 minutes from Bright – to get their hands on fresh hops once a year, we revel in popping down the road to our neighbours, grabbing our fresh hops, and throwing them into our annual Hop Harvest brew within a couple of hours. It literally doesn’t get any fresher than that!
In 2021, we took this even further by adding local mountain-foraged botanicals to the fresh-hopped brew to create our North East Victoria IPA.
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๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฅ / ๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฅ (2006)
Not one for the faint-hearted but another legendary Bright brew, Fainters Dubbel is a personal favourite of Scott’s (which partially explains why it’s been around so long!).
A Belgian Abbey-style beer with raisin and clove flavours, Fainters is as sacred to Bright as it was to Belgiumโs Trappist monks. We’ve even released it as a freeze-distilled Super Dubbel version on occasion.
๐.๐.๐. ๐๐๐ (2011)
What began back in 2013 as an annual, limited-release beer grew a cult-like following over the years until, in 2019, it was promoted to ‘core range’ status.
Brewed by former brewer Jon Seltin, M.I.A. IPA was also named after him – legend has it, Jon went paragliding in his lunchbreak (as you do in Bright) on the day this IPA was due to be kegged, and didn’t come back! Allegedly, he was found about 8 hours later, having had to make a forced landing on Mount Feathertop!
๐๐๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ (2019)
When our current head brewer Reid landed in Bright in early 2019, he brought with him a few genius
ideas. One of his first was Affogato Stout, brewed with Bright’s Sixpence Coffee, which he rolled out just in time for Darker Days.
His next genius move was to suggest we serve it over ice-cream – and all our lives were changed forever.
Affogato Stout, which we’ve brewed every year since, has gone on to become our fastest-selling seasonal beer.
๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ข ๐๐๐ฒ (2017)
The Great Australasian Beer Fest gives us many things each year – but the best is the chance to brew a wacky, crazy beer that we’d never sell at any other time of year.
Cue our 2017 entry – Yippee Thai YAy: a red curry pale ale. Actually pretty mainstream in 2021 but groundbreaking for its time!
๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ซ (2019)
In 2019, we let, nay, ENCOURAGED, our brewers to brew a beer without telling anyone what it was. Then our sales team, who didn’t know what it was, sold it to our customers who also didn’t know what it was – and we made them try and guess! We offered a year’s supply of beer to the person who got the closest and we all had so much fun that we’ve done it twice since!
It’s our brewers’ favourite time of the year as they use it as payback for all the other crazy stuff we make them do the other 11 months of the year!
๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ (2013)
A highlight of our brew calendar every year is the High Country Brewery Trail collab brew, Rule 47. Created and brewed by all the brewers of the High Country as they work side-by-side in the brewhouse, Rule 47 is a signature brew that changes every year but always represents the very best of the High Country.
๐๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ซ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ค๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ (2021)
No list of memorable beers would be complete without our exploding Pineapple Dream Nitro Milkshake Ale of 2021! The first beer we’ve ever had to recall, Pineapple Dream kept fermenting in the can, causing a pineapple flavour sensation with slightly too much alcohol and a little bit of bang! Despite its explosive start to life, Pineapple became a crowd favourite in its short lifespan and we’re planning to bring it back in a less-explosive way soon.