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Cowaramup Brewing Company
Even the locals have come to call Cowaramup ‘Cow Town’, so don’t feel bad mispronouncing its name. Cowaramup is a fairly large swatch of the Margaret River region, one which until a year ago didn’t have anywhere decent to pull up for a decent pint.  In the spirit of home-grown produce comes Jeremy Good’s homebrew hobby gone mad (or sensible, depending on how you see things). These days, Jeremy and his wife Claire Parker even grow their own hops, and he’s the only one in WA who does. To the uninitiated, the hops look like sparse patches of weedy ground cover. To him, they run the full gamut of flavours in the brewer’s tool box. Hops are to the brewer what grapes are to the winemaker, and Jeremy has nine varieties at his disposal. All that goes into Cowaramup beer is malted barley, yeast, hops and water, in accordance with the German Purity Law of 1516. There are no added preservatives – hops have a natural preservative effect. Five brews are on tap when I come by, and each is matched with a specific food: the bitter Pilsener with spicy olives, olive tapenade and tomato pesto; fruity Hefeweizen with vegetarian spring rolls, dipped in tamarind sauce; malty Oktoberfest with sauerkraut-topped bratwurst; rich Special Pale Ale with a ham and pesto scroll; India Pale Ale with Bannister Downs cheddar. Part of the brewery’s appeal is its setting. Floor-to-ceiling glass in the bar looks out onto a small lake at the front of the property, home to a flock of geese (who are often kept on the tips of their webbed feet by the resident puppy Rosie). A bright playground is within easy child-minding distance, and comes with a playmate, Claire and Jeremy’s daughter, Bethany. If you’ve visited the brewery in the afternoon, head to Cowaramup Bay for a soft west coast sunset, with the hillside houses of Gracetown catching the waning light. Driving from the brewery, I turn left on the coastal road and stop at the car park on my right, which is on a rise so I needn’t even leave the vehicle for the view. Local surfers are coming up from the waves below, some of which are world class, though the very best spots are closely held secrets. Soon after I arrive, a convoy of 4WDs pulls up. At the end of a long day’s bush-bashing, a brooding bay at dusk is a soothing sight. The Cowaramup Brewing Company is on North Treeton Road, Cowaramup, WA, (08) 9755 5822, claire@cowaramupbrewing.com.au Taste the South runs microbrewery tours of the Margaret River region. Contact Mel Kent, 0438 210 373, www.tastethesouth.com.au Extracted from Gold, Amber and Grape by Andrew Harris, as featured in Motorhome World 18, January/February 2008.
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