Canberra Brewer behind Wayward’s Banoffee Wheat Beer

In the next week or so, Wayward brewing will have a limited release beer around town. It is their Banoffee Wheat beer and it is a result of the #mywaywardbrew competition they ran earlier this year that was won by one of our members Warwick Ferguson, AKA Woz, with a toffee malt inspired wheat beer. The focus was on the banana ester from the right yeast with a hit of rich toffee malt to give it a banoffee flavour. Banoffee pie is the classic British dessert that features banana and toffee.

Woz calls his backyard brewery Chook’n’Walrus, a combination of Woz’s wife’s and his nicknames for each other (too cute). He has been brewing since 2016 when Chook gave him the normal Coppers home brew setup. He soon hit the limits of that format and, early last year, moved up to a Grainfather.  His favourite brews are Pale Ales, IPA’s and Porters but he is not scared to get a bit out-there, hence the idea for the banoffee wheat beer.

The Walrus really enjoyed his time at the Wayward brewery. They looked after him every step of the way, including delaying things when he had a family medical emergency that delayed the brew day a few weeks.  Fay from Wayward was his main contact through the competition and planning and was incredibly helpful. On the brew day, good things got better. Woz worked with Shaun Blissett, Wayward’s head brewer to scale up the Banoffee Wheat beer to a commercial batch. As Woz put it “Shaun was great. Gave me an amazing run down of all aspects of Wayward brewing. Couldn’t be more helpful or welcoming.” They gave him the full brewery tour and even had him help decide some of the ingredients on their next ‘macadamia’ beer.

For Woz this was an amazing experience and something he can brag about for years. For Wayward, it was a chance to do something new and different again. Sound like a great combination but you can judge for yourself when you get to try some.

More info is here.

https://www.waywardbrewing.com.au/post/mywaywardbrew-winner