Saint John Craft Beer bartender shares Northern Tas beer highlights in 2020

The bearded beverage aficionado spoke to The Examiner about beer in 2019, giving his opinion on the best brews to come out of Northern Tasmania this year.

For Salter, nothing gets past Ocho's Rainbow Hills double IPA.

The personal brand of Miners Gold brewer Stuart Grant, Ocho burst onto Tassie's beer scene this year with a selection of flavoursome premium beers.

"The Rainbow Hills in particular is a double golden ale so it's a double strength beer," Salter said.

"Think about it as an IPA, but it's not a pale ale. It pours quite straw-coloured, strong and deliciously hoppy with a golden ale sweetness ... sort of different to your average IPA."

Coming in at a close second for Salter is Morrison Brewery's limited Baltic porter release.

"This is Paul Morrison's 500 batch, which he brewed in 2017 before barrel-ageing it for a 2019 release," Salter said.

The brew was aged in French oak barrels that also housed Morrison's 400 batch. Salter describes the Baltic porter as hefty brew, coming in at about 8.7 per cent in alcohol percentage.

"It's dry, it's big, it's a sharer," he said.

"A lot of the sweetness and alcohol for that size is hidden by the fact that it's barrel-aged - it drinks a lot dryer."

Another slow-drinker favourite to come from Morrison's is its cognac Imperial IPA.

"It's quite basically a triple IPA. To get them to be that strong you're upping the malt in the beer and alcohol content to balance that out," Salter said.

The IPA is aged in a cognac barrel which is what gives the beer its dessert beer taste.

"Drinking-wise you've got a boozy warmth straight up and a 'cognacy' feel as it's colder then as it warms up you get more IPA and even more cognac flavours coming through," Salter said.

"Starts out hoppy and IPA flavoured then the cognac flavours bloom as it starts to warm up because it's going to take you three hours to drink ... it's as strong as it gets, it's amazing and the perfect dessert beer.

"You've had a big night with the mates, you're ducking off for just one quiet night cap - enter the cognac IPA. And if you can find a cognac to match it, you're in a for a good time and a good sleep."

But the beer highlights for the North don't end there, with Salter showcasing the variety and ingenuity shown by some of the North's best brewers.

Gypsy brewer Will Horan's Peak Pils is one of two beers inspired by his adventures at the Overland Track.

"[Peak Pils is] Just a straight-up German pilsner style - what makes it special is he brewed it to take with him when he was guiding over the Du Cane ranges and doing the Overland Track with people - that was the beer he wanted to drink so he made it," he said.

Horan gypsy brews out of Van Diemen and Morrison breweries, with the Peak Pils being crafted at the latter.

Salter described the Peak Pils as "practically flawless" and labelled it as a "Boags beater".

"It's crisp, dry craft beer - it's not trying to do anything particularly special, weird or unusual," Salter said.

"When you think that he's [Horan] taking a small brewery that may have it's own quirks you may taste in his beers - he's brewed a clean, crisp pilsner that you would expect from anything in Europe or the big boys that are owned by multinationals - it's a cracker."

But 2019 wasn't all about the beer, with Salter throwing a cider into the mix in the form of Tamar Valley Apple's Lone Star Cider.

The cider was brewed especially for A Festival Called Panama.

"It's a dry cider that drinks more like wine, it doesn't have that sweetness that you expect so it can be a little polarising," Salter said.

"If someone doesn't like sweet ciders, that is just a pure expression of real good booze. It sits at about 8 per cent, but hides it dangerously well.

"If you're looking for a cider that's not for young adults and for a more refined palette, the Lone Star is really good."

Salter said, however, there was no going past Van Diemen Brewing's Spontaneous Ales this year in terms of creativity.

The ales are a product of Van Diemen founder and brewer Will Tatchell. A spontaneous ale is created using a process that involves natural yeast and bacteria from around a brewery to give the beer a unique, un-altered taste.

"He's [Tatchell] entirely on-trend with the green bottles, the reason they're green and not brown for this particular beer is that getting them light-struck is actually a positive," Salter said.

"The helps the funky character develop in unexpected ways. You might get one that's absolutely incredible, you might get one that's absolutely terrible but that's half the fun with them."

Salter also said there was no ignoring the success of newly opened Miners Gold Brewery in Beaconsfield, with its Grisette being one of the highlights

"The Grisette they do which is like a mid-strength saison, that's excellent. Crisp, easily drinkable with a lot going on in the mid-palette with belle saison yeast being used ... think of it like a slightly fancier pilsner," he said.