Ryan Molesworth & David Fisher
Interview with Ryan
What first peaked your interest in home brewing, how did your passion first come about it?
It started for me when I was a poor university student. One of my friends from university was a keen home brewer and he got me sucked in. I found it nice and easy and it came out quite good so I just kept going after that. It all slowed down for a little while because life got busy. It was not until just recently, maybe two and a half years ago and friend of mine gave me a whole bunch of his home brew gear. He was not going to use it because he was going away for two years for work and yeah, decided to give it all to me and that is really what kicked me into gear. The last two and a half years I have been brewing like crazy.
How long have you been brewing from home?
I think I started brewing in 2010, it was when I made my first batch. It has really picked up in the past few years.
What do you do for work outside brewing beer?
I am a land surveyor at the moment.
What does winning the competition mean for your future?
For me, it is just pretty exciting. I really enjoy brewing beer and I have entered in a few, sort of local competitions and I’ve done pretty well with those as well. A lot of my friends and family have told me they enjoy my beer. I think it sort of gives me the excitement and instance to maybe do a career change. It is something I have always had as a fantasy in the back of my mind. However, with a mortgage and all that, changing careers can seem a bit more daunting. It has definitely ignited a little spark, hopefully to make me do something with it.
How often would you brew beer in a week, once or twice a week etc.
Probably every three weeks or so? Once it is finished brewing and I have an empty fermenter sitting there I kind of have the mentality that there is not much point having it just sitting there, it might as well have something in there. I try and brew something every three weeks but definitely at least once a month but sometimes more.
Before hops aboard. Did you ever intend to create a commercial product?
No I haven’t ever sold it. I did just recently brew a batch for my cousins wedding, sort of a wedding present. It was for the wedding itself and it went down a treat, everyone loved it but I have not ever done anything commercially.
What is unique about the winning beer that you submitted? Why did you choose to go with this a German-style Hefeweizen brew?
It was something that I quite enjoy, I have had a few commercial Hefeweizen brews that are out there and my friend from university who got me into home brewing, that was probably one of my favourite beers that he ever made. I enjoyed it that much that I always wanted to make one a little different to that one but yeah it still quite good and I really enjoyed that style.
How would you describe the flavor of your beer to someone who has not had it before?
It is probably a bit different to what a lot of people would expect. With the Hefewizen style brings a whole bunch of amazing characteristics. The number one question I get asked by people who try it is “Is there any Banana in this?” because it sort of has this banana flavor from the yeast, and people often think that I have put banana in the beer but there is not any banana in there. It Is just purely the yeast and the malt bringing out that characteristic. It is quite a light beer, it is quite refreshing, I think it is a good beer to have in summer time because it is quite light, and with that one in particular it is quite sessionable, is a word you can use. It is definitely very refreshing, you can have a few of them without leaving you quite bloated or too heavy.
In what situations do you imagine people drinking this beer?
Not really, I mean I guess the beer itself kind of lends itself to warmer weather so any of those summery type of things. Whether it is just relaxing at the beach or with mates around the pool, something like that it works well.
Is there any advice you have for other home-brewers that you would like to share?
There is so many things, I think the biggest piece of advice is that anyone can do it if they are into it. Whether its being into craft beer or brewing their own beer, its is such a cool hobby that you get to share with people. One of the things that I enjoy the most about it is hearing other people’s feedback about what they like. I know what like but then other people kind of give me some feedback about what they do like because of this, or what they don’t like because of that and it might have been something that I would of never really thought of before. A lot of my other friends have all these kind of crazy hobbies, like Kiteboarding and downhill mountain biking and stuff like that. Those kind of hobbies aren’t really something you can share with someone aide form maybe showing a video of wakeboarding, and you might find it pretty cool so be it but I think brewing is a good hobby to share with people. It is just kind of nice to have a hobby that other people can enjoy as well.
What is your favourite beer outside your own?
Not really, I generally try to be very exploratory with my beer choice, I more often than not will choose a beer that is new, one that I haven’t tried before rather than stick with a specific brand. I often go to a lot of craft beer bottle shops rather than just a liquor land or Dan Murphy’s or something like that, but then Dan Murphy’s has pretty good range but I like to drink local beer. I just got back from a trip in Torquay where I went to about four different breweries and tried a bunch of different beers so I like to do that. I definitely don’t a particular brand or range or anything I prefer more so than anything else, I just like trying something new.