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Those of you paying keen attention to the Facebook and Instagram the last couple of months likely noticed that we have been pretty busy recently. A blogless couple of months or two might also have tipped you off. So with that in mind, we thought it was high time that we caught you up on all the action.
The month of May kicked off in pretty solid fashion with the Pirate Life Crew lucky enough to have the opportunity to cruise around the country with the Hilltop Hoods on their recent Restrung Tour, which saw the boys rip it up in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth accompanied by each capital city’s very own symphony orchestra. Each gig kicked off with a Warm-Up where the Pirate Life x Golden Era Golden Ale was flowing. We were stoked to see that fans all around Australia were keen to get around a few cans of Adelaide’s finest before watching The Hoods destroy on stage.
Straight off the back of tour shenanigans, Red and Jack jumped on a plane and headed to the States where the World Beer Cup and Craft Brewing Conference beckoned. It wasn’t all business of course and the boys managed to make a number of pit stops at some of America’s most iconic breweries along the way. The list is probably enough to give even the most parochial Aussie beer nerd a pang of jealousy - Hills Farmstead, The Alchemist, Brooklyn Brewing, Oscar Blues, Stone, Ballast Point, and St Archer are just some of the many spots the lads managed to get to as they spent a month immersed in the worlds most varied and vibrant craft beer scene. Late in the month on their second visit to Stone they put down Pirate Life Brewing’s first ever inter-brewery collaboration - a Rum Barrel Aged Blackstrap Molasses Imperial Baltic Coffee Porter which, all things working as they should, will hit Australian shores next year after some time in the cellar.
Most people would probably return from a trip of that magnitude and hibernate in an underground bunker filled with Berocca, liver cleanse and iced water. Instead, on returning to Australian shores the boys found themselves thrust into the middle of Australia’s greatest and most glorious celebration of beer - Good Beer Week. The week was an absolute success with plenty of awesome tap takeovers and events all around Melbourne. To top it all off, we were honoured to be awarded three trophies at the Australian International Beer Awards. Our Throwback IPA took home Best Low to Mid Alcohol Beer, The Golden Era Golden Ale won Best Packaging, and Pirate Life Brewing managed to come away with this year’s trophy for Champion Small Brewery, which gave us plenty to cheers to at GABS where our 14% IIIPA was blowing faces off left, right and centre.
Once again, a big thanks to everyone around Australia who gives us so much love. Cheers to the lads at Stone for having us at their Liberty Station Brewery to bust out a brew, and thank you to everyone involved in the fantastic celebration of Aussie beer that is Good Beer Week. Here’s to many more!
Cheers – PLB Crew
