Fermenting: 05/04/06
Bottled: 23/04/06

In July 2004 Cascade started making their own homebrew kits. Brewery branded homebrew kits aren’t overly great – Coopers being the exception. Coopers is actually the largest single manufacturer of home brew kits in the world, exporting to 36 different countries and in five different languages.
But we aren’t talking about Coopers, who I have no trouble with. The real problem in Australia, as far as brewery branded homebrew products go, is Lion Nathan. Lion Nathan, originally a New Zealand company, owns a malt producing company called Maltexo. Maltexo produces homebrew kits (usually 1.7kg cans of hopped malt) and starter packs (including fermenters) under many different brands.
In Australia the main two are Tooheys and Malt Shovel Brewery. Visit their shop if you’d like. Other brands made in NZ by Maltexo are Black Rock, Brewiser, Wander, Brewtec, Mac’s, Beermakers and Goldrush.
The quality of these kits, though, is not great. Black Rock make some nice beers, as do Malt Shovel but all the rest are standard supermarket stuff – your Bilo or Franklins no-name kit is probably exactly the same. As an aside, about the only thing the malt shovel beers share with the James Squire range is the parent company, although they claim that brewing ingredients are selected by Malt Shovel brewers.
But on to Cascade Homebrewing – The CUB/Fosters Group’s entry into homebrew supplies. Fosters chose cascade as the branding for the hopped malt kits, but I’m not sure why. I guess Cascade comes across as a beer appreciators brand, as opposed to posers brands (Crown or Fosters) or bogun brands (VB, Melbourne Bitter, even carlton mid and draught don’t come across as posh).
The kits are made at the Cascade brewery in south Hobart, where Cascade premium, light et al is made. The marketing guru’s have made up some fictional twaddle to put on the labels. This is the blurb from the can of Cascade Imperial Voyage
Pale Ale:
At day’s end, as guards muster convicts below deck and the captain retires to his quarters, a small band of sailors retreat to a dark cargo hold in the creaking barque’s belly.
By lamplight, they behold their illicit bounty – barrels and sacks of barley, hops and sugar. Encircling a makeshift fire, they brew a familiar beer: a pale, earthy ale with spicy aromas to magically carry them home to the comforts of England. Most evenings they laugh and sing and enjoy the fruits of their labour. The robust brew sees them through the four-month voyage to Van Diemen’s Land…and safely home again.
You can view the other ripping yarns
at the Cascade Hombrew website.
Made this one up pretty simply with a bag of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 – 500g Dextrose, 250g Maltodextrin and 250g Light Dried Malt. I might add some english hops for aroma in a couple of days. The Bohemian yeast
is probably a bottom fermenting lager, so if the Lord would provide some cooler temperatures over the next week or so, we should get a very nice, crisp & clean beer.
Starting Gravity (SG): 1036
Final Gravity (FG): 1008
Alcohol: 4.2% by volume