Interview: Sam Johnstone & Andy Mitchell on the Beyond the Black Stump Release

The Australian Beer Company is charting new territory in its exploration of domestic craft beer with the launch this month of an exciting new limited release beer brand.

Combining Tall Tales and Cracking Ales, Beyond the Black Stump will bring to life the stories and characters behind some of Australia’s classic rural tales, as interpreted through the creativity and expertise of Australian Beer Company brewers.

In early Australian history, the black stump was symbolic with the exploration of new territories. The cut and charred stump of a native tree was a marker used by explorers to signal the boundary of discovered lands; to pass beyond the black stump meant, quite literally, to venture into uncharted territory.

Characterised by premium packaging, the Beyond the Black Stump range gives Australian Beer Co brewers free rein to tell Australia’s untold stories through great tasting beer that heroes native ingredients.

“Tall tales and cracking ales is the motto behind Beyond The Black Stump,” explains Australian Beer Co’s Sam Johnstone, who works closely with brewers Andy, Rob and Greg.

“We are always looking to do something a little bit different – a little bit out there. So we came up with the idea of Beyond the Black Stump.

“When you start looking, you discover there are so many intriguing and even improbable stories out there from regional Australia, in particular the Riverina that we’ve decided to bring to life through our beer.”

The first beer, Wattle Seed Ale, is available now as a limited edition bottle and charts the cracking real-life tale of legendary Griffith hermit and Italian immigrant Valerio Ricetti.

The full yarn unravels across a seven-page foldout label that will form a distinctive and informative feature of the new range.

As legend has it, Valerio came to Australia in search of fortune in the Goldfields, but turmoil soon struck the luckless, yet well intentioned, sixteen-year old.

From a run in with a bouncer in Adelaide, to an incident with a guy who tried to pawn his jacket, then jail, Valerio eventually sought comfort as a hermit in the hills.

“During the storms he took shelter in these overhanging rocks and over seven years he carved out a private utopia,” explained Sam. “It’s a real place that overlooks the brewery today and the story is true.”

Brewer Andy Mitchell continues the story, explaining how he went about bringing the story to life.

“We felt that the poor guy’s life had some rather unsavoury notes, so we decided to do a sour beer,” explained Andy.

“They’re very on trend at the moment. We used wattle seed because it’s an Australian icon and we believe that a lot of the original black stumps would have been burnt out wattle trees.

“The wattle seed has beautiful flavour – hazelnut, vanilla and coffee – and in a beer, well, it just goes so nicely."

Distributed exclusively through CCA and stocked in specialty craft retailers nationwide, each Beyond The Black Stump beer will come in a 500ml bottle with a unique, first-of-its-kind storybook label, as Sam explains.

“With this packaging, you can open the beer, pour it into a glass, open the label and sit back and read a cracking Australian story. It’s been great fun bringing it all together and the feedback is beautiful.”

Contact your local CCA representative for more details, call 1800 112 337, or go to facebook.com/AustralianBeerCo.