Sister’s Are Brewing It for Themselves

Women have been brewing since the start of time, but it’s pretty much been a macho thing for the past four hundred years. In ancient societies, mythologies stated that beer was a gift specifically to women from a goddess (not a god) and women remained bonded to complex religious relationships with female deities, who blessed their brewing vessels. In fact, many celebrations were based on female events such as the brides-ale for her wedding and groaning-ale for the midwife and labouring mother to drink during the ordeal. I love ancient medicine stories. So when it came to pass that not one but two lady brewers were operating pub breweries not 2 kilometres from each other in Melbourne, Victoria, we just had to see them in action.

I arrived at Bells Hotel in South Melbourne to find Samara Fuss and Josephine Horn frowning and scowling at a defective keg washer. The frustration was evident and their determination to fix it themselves equally apparent. When my editor Katrina Holden and I met with them a fortnight ago, they were averse to highlighting their feminine side in the beer industry, but agreed if the story wasn’t demeaning to the male brewers and highlighted the beer they are so proud of.

Samara ‘Sam’ Fuss is a determined, confident young lady with an athletic build who was brought up on the southern coast of New South Wales. By her own admission, she was sports mad as a kid gaining selection to the state soccer team and an invitation to the Academy of Sport in Canberra for her volleyball skills. Sam was influenced by her dad who encouraged her interests which included work as a blacksmith and welder. Her first taste of the brewing bug occurred when Sam had the opportunity at the Fremantle icon pub the Brass Monkey. She spent a year in Europe, but returned to Australia for the Olympics in Sydney. Her father informed her of a new brewery opening up in Fremantle called Little Creatures, so right after the games she headed west. Wasting little time and displaying a lot of persistence, Samara got a job behind the bar. She eagerly volunteered to be a participant in their ‘Adopt a Brew’ programme. In fact, she ended up doing twelve brews before getting the opportunity to work in the brewery full-time after one of the assistant brewers severely burnt his leg requiring extensive time off the job.

Under the direction and inspiration of female brewer/winemaker Janet McDonald, Samara worked at Little Creatures for three years. According to Sam “I really enjoyed the team environment, and from Janet I gained the knowledge and passion to brew.” Ready for a new challenge, Sam was offered the position as head brewer for the Melbourne ALH pub breweries Gunn Island and newly opened Three Degrees at the QV Square in January 2004. Like anyone taking over a new management position, Sam was keen to get involved with the change, in this case to re-badge the in-house beers at the Gunn Island Brewbar in Middle Park. The timing was stressful as at the same time, the hotel was gearing up for the Grand Prix at Albert Park across the street from the hotel.

Josephine Horn grew up on the south island of New Zealand in the town of Christchurch. She arrived in Australia in 1996 after completing her post graduate diploma in Winemaking to take up the position of cellar hand at Coonawarra in South Australia. After the harvest it was off to Europe to vintage in Spain. This to and fro from Australia to Europe became a lifestyle for Josephine involving herself in vintages in France in ’97,’98, ’03, and Italy in 1999. During the same time she was involved with the vintages at Rosemont in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales in 2001-2003. Her interest in beer making came from the positive beer culture in Europe where dining and drinking beer are part of life. She even went so far as to attend a ‘meet and greet’ at a remote monastery to ‘pick the brains’ of the resident brewing monks only to find they had taken the vow of silence!

In 2000 Josephine met her partner Michael who wanted a stint in his hometown of Melbourne after the eight years of shifting from Europe every harvest season. Josephine obliged the request and took on a seven month contract with the Master Winemakers in the Yarra Valley. It was while she was working with Peter Florence at Master Winemakers who is also a partner in Buckley’s Brewery in Healesville that the beer bug bit again when he offered her the opportunity to brew with them. As her contract was about up, Josephine started ‘doing the rounds’ of all Melbourne breweries large and small with no success. In June of 2004, she read an article about Bell’s Hotel in South Melbourne with a quote from Bill Bell about not being able to keep up with the demand for his in-house beers. Her first task was giving the mini brewery a good ‘scrub out’ to make some room cause “I know how to clean and get things organised”.

So what are the beers made by the girls like, I hear you say. Josephine’s beers have made a good start as her newly developed Hell’s Bells strong lager won the title of Best Lager at this year’s Festival of Beers in Brisbane. With 40% wheat in the recipe and 6.4% Al/Vol this beer makes an impact. New American Amarillo hop provides the aromatics while Australian Superpride gives the beer its bitterness without fumy alcohol traces from a beer, a common problem with high Alco levels in a lager.
Sam has the responsibility of brewing for two pubs and is making a good fist of it with her Gunn Island Pale Ale, Red Ale and Amber Ale on tap. Here are some brief tasting notes on her products.

Gunn Island Pale Ale-5.6% A/V
Brewed with Aust pale malt and light crystal malts, this hoppy North American style pale ale has a clean citrus flavour and distinct floral aroma imparted from the late hopping of imported Cascade hops.

Gunn Island Red Lager-5.0%A/V
This Bavarian style lager uses imported carared and melonoidin malts, with its unique red hue, peachy and redwood undertones, the honey malty bursts, is complemented with the soft spicy bitterness from the hallertauer, hersbrucker, and tettananger hops.

Gunn Island Amber Ale-4.5%A/V
With a blend of 5 distinct types of mal, this medium bodied Amber Ale presents a spectrum of malty flavours starting off sweet and toffee like, it gives way to mocha, toasty finish with a slightly roasty aroma.

3 Degrees Clear-4.8%A/V
Three is made with pale and Vienna malts, balanced by the generous late addition of Hersbrucker hops; the result is a rich brew with a waxy soft mouthfeel, complex floral and spicy aroma, with a burnt golden hue.