Will Recommends - Pirate Life has landed.
Finding out that not all treasure is silver or gold, it’s a Pirate’s Life for me.
‘Maaate, you can’t do this without a beer in your hands!', the first thing said to us when we arrived at Pirate Life Brewing.
Set in an industrial site in the suburbs of Adelaide my brother and I stumbled across a relatively generic looking building with reflective glass as a front cover.
‘Are we here?’ I said, looking over at my brother, confused. It wasn’t until Henry pointed across my shoulder that I noticed 30ft high wall of graffiti branded with Pirate Life.
We jumped out of the barely road legal Jucy camper and made a beeline for the front door. Once inside we were greeted by Matt, a cracking Aussie lad. We were whisked off to the tasting room, handed a chilled can of Pirate Life’s NZ Pale Ale and the show began.
This wasn’t the first time in a brewery for me, yet I felt like it was. The atmosphere was electric and clean, these brew masters were loving life. It made me realise why this beer tasted so good. They say wine is made in the vineyard… now I’m saying that beer is definitely made in the brewery; tunes were pumping, brewers were brewing and the mash ton churning. Everything was so shiny and clean, the energy and excitement was tangible. So was the beer we got to taste directly from the fermenters… for a brewery only two years old this was a serious set up. The Brewhouse, a stainless steel creation of beauty, stood at the head of the brew room overseeing two rows of spotless stainless steel fermenters. Beers from Pirate Life’s 3.5% Throwback IPA to their sharing is caring 50cl can of 8.8%IIPA are made here. In addition a number of ‘experimental’ numbers were ticking over, inclusive of a few heading for further maturation in their barrel room, top secret obviously!
To finish off the tour Matt took us to the canning line. This was a highlight. Pirate Life Brewing only supplies beer in cans so this is a busy part of the operation. Watching the cans freshly tinned at 4200 cph was great and only made better when Matt cracked a couple open straight off the line… freshest thing I have ever tasted. Too easy!
Now what struck me looking at the production line, was the sheer capacity to brew beer. For comparison, a wine vintage and consequently the grape harvest come’s once year. During this time a winery will see serious action and hours crammed into just a few weeks. Brewing beer on the other hand has no restriction on when it can happen. The team at Pirate Life work flat out from Sunday night to Friday night each week, and provided the raw materials are available that’s 312 days of the year. I suppose the beauty of brewing is that they brew what they sell so they can sell what they brew.
I certainly enjoyed my tour/tasting/experience at Pirate Life Brewing. The beauty of all of this is that we have just received our first shipment and it is on the shelves RIGHT NOW, so come ‘fill ya boots, me hearties’.
Do what you want, when you want, wherever you want. We plan to live the life of Pirates!’ ~ Pirate Life Brewing
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