Beer Name: Big Shed Astra XPA

Brewery: Big Shed

Location: Adelaide, South Australia

Style: American Pale Ale

ABV: 4.9%

Beer Description:

This Extra Pale Ale comes to you from Beer Cartel together with Big Shed to showcase Ellerslie's New World tropical delight, Astra.

Astra hop profile: Flavours of Green Melon, White Peaches, White Wine, grapefruit, honey and a light grassiness. The hop balances out sweetness with a little bit of a bite.

Photo credit: @thecraftdispensary

Watch: Geoff Huens from Beer Cartel talks to Big Shed's Jason Harris and Craig Basford

About the Brewery:

"We began brewing in Jason’s shed in a rented property in the Barossa back in 2002. The shed was huge, a farmers shed with easily enough room for the brewing equipment, cars, the Scalextric track (yeah that’s right), hardware, tools, everything. It also had a mechanics pit which was perfect for keeping our brews at a constant fermenting temp. It was here we began our love affair with making beer. We loved the fact we could follow our curiosity, what happens when you added berries to your brew (good things actually), what does using a different yeast do to the flavours? We made some cracking beers that folks loved, we also made some abominations never to be seen again… That’s part of the journey and not something we would remove from our experience.

It was while brewing that we would talk about making this a business. We got ourselves an ABN number and a business name, but it was a while before we did anything with it beyond getting a cheaper price on materials. We actually had three business names picked (the other two escape me) and BSBC won out as it was the only one cleared for business registration. We’d had it for a while and not really done anything other than dream. The trigger for action was when we got the renewal of the business name in the post. It was then we realised all the lost time talking and dreaming rather than doing. Sure in that time we’d made some good beers, had a great time doing it and sharing our wares, but we were no closer to our goal. It was put up or shut-up time!

We rented a small warehouse in Royal Park, moved in and used our R and D setup to further design and refine our starting line-up. It has also been our business base and we have had many discussions with local brewing legend, Stephen Nelsen who helped with the design of our commercial setup.

It all arrived and we put our first beer through the system in December 2013, FrankenBROWN. Since then we have added F-Yeah, Californicator and Kol Schisel to our core range.

In September 2014 we launched our tasting bar and kitchen. Comprising of 6 taps and food that goes with our beer and you can eat with your hands. We are open Wednesday through to Sunday, slinging brews and food to eager locals and visitors alike.

Hopefully this gives you an insight to our beginnings and what we have been doing this last wee while. Contact us on twitter Instagram, Facebook, or just call."

Cheers

Craig and Jason