#Beersaturday - Hawkers Beer and Cheese Event

I went to a fantastic event on Saturday which involved Beer and Cheese so in the absence of a Cheese Saturday community I shall tell you about it here. The event was held at Hopheads which is a craft beer bar in the suburb of Yarraville in Melbourne, Australia. This is maybe 6-7km from my house. If from my house you travel about 10km in the other direction you will get to Hawkers Brewery, which is the craft brewery who were the feature of the event.

A quick side bar about Hawkers - they were founded in 2014 by Mazen Hajjar, who previously launched the Middle East’s first craft brewery. They are one of the larger craft brewers in Australia, I would say in the top 10-15 by sales, and they make all sort of beers, plenty of IPAs as you would expect, but also they have a great dark beer program with regular 'vintages' and a barrel program, which is what we would be exploring today.

The event has 8 'vintage' beers from various years from 2017 through until now paired with 8 cheeses, it would turn out to be about 5 hours of amazing drinking and eating. So without further ado lets get into a run down of the beers, plus some photos, although I must admit as most of the beers were stouts they all looked much the same

The 2018 Imperial Stout - very smooth, not at all boozy so gentle a hint of sweetness. This was I think our only beer which hadn't spent time in a barrel.

Oh and cheese, this was the first box of little treats, four cheeses to match the four beers and other random little fruits, nuts, and pastes

2021 Rum Barrel aged imperial Stout - this one was not as sweet as I would expect, it is smooth no alcohol burn which shouldn’t be possible from 12.4% beer, this is so dangerous, I could have drunk a lot of this.

2024 Maple & Bourbon Barrel aged smoked Imperial Stout really odd smells like a pile of maple leaves set on fire. The sip is such a journey from initial booze then a wave of sweetness and then somehow gets even sweeter in the aftertaste- a stunning beer. I should mention at this point that we are having 150ml pours of the beers, I mean full sized versions of these and we would be on the floor by now.

2023 Apple Brandy Barrel Aged Strong Ale - From the heights of the Maple and Bourbon Barrel this one was less successful, it was funky but not in a distinctive way, or maybe the cheese just overpowered it. The advantage though is this one did have a different colour than the rest so time for another photo

This wasn't a great time for the head brewer to pop over to speak to us, but he was lured in by the t-shirt my partner was wearing, which was from a brew day we did at the Hawkers brewery back in 2019. It was for a colloboration brew with Against the Grain brewery from Louisvillle in the US. Alex was was a lovely man, we spent time talking about that brew day, and remembering great bars which have closed down in Melbourne over the years.

But it was time for the second half and another box of Cheeses.

2022 Double Bourbon Barrel aged imperial stout outstandingly smooth again shouldn’t be possible for a 13% beer great layers and a changing experience as you drink

2019 Cognac Barrelled Barrel Aged Barleywine pretty standard barleywine, it not blowing my mind, maybe I’ve been ruined by too much beer, on any normal day you would be amazed by this but in this company I’m not so sure.

I'd also like to point out how reasonable I am, there is a fair amount of water being drunk along the way

2020 Willett Bourbon Barrel aged imperial stout This was paired with a smoked cheddar cheese which was excellent, The beer was very nice, surprisingly gentle very little booze, smooth although I'm not sure I’m getting too much whiskey flavours, but then again maybe Willett is a smooth Whiskey.

2017 Bourbon Barrel aged Stout okay by this stage things are perhaps getting a little lost on me, Eight (small serving, but high alcohol beers) beers might be 1 or 2 too many really, but this is another outstanding beer, unreasonably smooth, very enjoyable

This whole event has been amazing, great value and 8 beers that have all been in the better beers I’ve had this year, great parings with some maxing cheese good vibes and a great afternoon