Australia’s original craft brewery, Matilda Bay, has announced the re-launch of its much-loved Brass Monkey Stout.  

First brewed by Matilda Bay at Fremantle’s Sail & Anchor Hotel in 1986, Brass Monkey Stout provided a craft beer option to Australian consumers in the 1980s, when the vast majority of the beer market was made up of mass-produced lagers.

The 2023 version of Brass Monkey has been reimagined as a high-end, high ABV (11%) brew that’s spent the last nine months resting in French Oak wine barrels at Matilda Bay’s Yarra Valley brewery, linking the brand’s heritage with its current home in one of Australia’s premium wine regions.

Matilda Bay Head Brewer – and accomplished winemaker – Harry Sexton said: “In the winter of 2022, we borrowed some
French Oak barrels from our friends across the road at one of the Yarra Valley’s best wineries. 

“We filled the barrels to the brim with our Imperial Stout and caressed them over the last nine months. It’s a new take on an old recipe that has been handed down from head brewer to head brewer over the last 35 years.  

“The French Oak, still dripping in Cabernet and Merlot, gives this new Brass Monkey a burgundy tinge and subtle vanilla sweetness. 

“The complex blend of dark malt combines to deliver rum and raisin chocolate, and toasted coffee notes followed by warm stewed fruit smoothness. The beer will also develop well with age.”

The limited-edition Brass-Monkey Stout is available in Victoria and Western Australia at select liquor stores including Nilumbik Cellars, Nardi Cellarbrations, Park Hill Cellars (in Vic), Mane Liquor, The Liquor Shed (in WA), and from the Matilda Bay Brewery in the Yarra Valley.

It has a RRP for $30/750ml bottle.

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