The GABS People’s Choice Festival Beer of 2022 is Atomic Beer’s Lemon Whip from Sydney’s Redfern and word is it will be on the canning line soon.
GABS says the 4.5 per cent Lemon Meringue Pie Kettle Sour, packed full of fresh lemons, was a stand out from the 120 drops that were eligible for the prize at the festival which took place in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne during May.
The Atomic Lemon Whip was created especially for GABS but after its success, the brewery has made it available on tap in Redfern.
Atomic Brewery opened in 2020 and Head Brewer, Nick Ivey says, “I was surprised about how popular it was. We had people lining up at our stand before the event had even started. It was really nice to get the feedback from punters about how much they enjoyed it. One of the best things about brewing beer is getting to make things that make people smile and there were a lot of smiles at GABS.
“I never wanted to make a gimmicky beer, just for the gimmick and not have the liquid stack up. The beer is delicious even without the meringue on top and it delivers as a full flavour experience, not just something that looks cool.”
Although it does look very cool. Mr Ivey describes his prize-winning brew as:
“Lemon Whip is a dessert style sour modelled off the classic lemon meringue pie. It’s a sour beer that uses lactose in the brew to provide body and sweetness and is packed full of fresh lemons to provide that lemon flavour and aroma. To finish things off, we top it with a soft whipped meringue that is then blowtorched in the glass.”
As he says, it’s “dinner and a show”!
Atomic is owed by Western Australia’s Good Drinks. Its other brands and venues include Gage Roads Brew Co and Matso’s Brewery in Broome. Good Drinks recently signed to become the exclusive distributor of Molson Coors which includes Miller Genuine Draft. Molson Coors’ beers will be crafted at Coopers Brewery in South Australia.
Mr Ivey moved to Italy thinking he would fall further in love with wine after a busy time working in hospitality in Perth but it is clear that brewing that has stolen his heart. When he moved back home, he talked his way into a job at Gage Roads Brew Co, eventually becoming a senior brewer.
In late 2019, Mr Ivey was appointed Atomic Beer Project’s inaugural Head Brewer and crossed the Nullarbor to set up its Sydney home to explore and experiment with hop flavours and beer styles, while delivering beer full of depth, but without complication.
