Warehouse 28 (Kooinda Boutique Brewery)

Kooinda Boutique Brewery is branching out, growing even. Known best for their only "wide" release up 'til now, Kooinda Pale Ale – an American Pale Ale with some bite – the lads at Kooinda have moved into a new warehouse brewery and are adding a couple of brews to their arsenal.

We now find them in Heidelberg West, in an industrial estate, in an unassuming warehouse. If you're lucky and eagle-eyed you might notice their decal, no larger than a landscape sheet of A4 paper, on the glass door. Inside, a freshly-painted branded wall and a bar of corrugated iron against a large expanse of concrete floor with newly-stamped kegs stacked at its perimeter. There's a bottling and labeling station near the back, there's of course the brewery itself behind a large sliding door, and in this room, most tellingly, the old brewery. The reminder. Against the southern wall of Kooinda's new brew room, facing a series of shining new fermentation vessels, the old, worn kit. And seeing this certainly informs their new adventure. These guys are really taking the next step.

The name Kooinda, to me, seems to equally belie and befit the brewery's output. Although tending towards purposefully high-hopped and/or roasted-malt bitterness, such as with their new Full Nelson Black IPA, which one might describe as anti-establishment, there's also a very Earth-like quality to their beer. Sticking your nose into one of their brews – by which I mean the glass, obviously – the strength and quality of the aroma from dry-hopping evoked for me the feeling of holding freshly plucked hops in the palm of my hand.

This event was definitely more of a private family-and-friends occasion, so in that spirit, I won't comment too specifically on the taste of the beers on offer; to do so I feel would betray the continued process of refinement and exploration in their new home. But I will say that among those poured were of course the Kooinda Pale, as well as another release being bottled, a Belgian Witbier. (With a Kooinda twist, of course.) There were a couple of trials, including their Valhalla Golden Ale, and my favourite, a Porter that I forget the exact name of. More balanced and seasoned than their other offerings, the Porter was a classic alternative to their established theme, and a good one. There might be a little more work to go to keep it consistent – the second keg had a more pronounced bubblegum flavour – but it's something I quite enjoyed and I hope they'll think about releasing it at some point.

Good luck, guys. I'm sure this'll be a success for you, and I sure hope you don't mind me talking about the day.

(Thanks, Kim, for the lend of the camera.)