Ocho Beer began in 2016 and is proudly based in Launceston, Tasmania. Their mission is to brew unique beers and deliver them direct to your door, fresh from the brewery. Their passion is hops, wild yeasts, and using oak barrels for fermentation.

Ocho is brewed using the brew house at Van Dieman Brewing.

For 2018, their third year of brewing, the focus is on releasing a series of mixed boxes - 24 beers across a range of styles - offered to subscribers via the mailing list.

Also produced are a series of Seasonal IPAs in cans, as well as plenty of kegs for wholesale.

Products

Green - Spring Seasonal IPA

Spring seasonal IPA (6.5%) is a lightly hazy amber brew crammed full of fresh crop Galaxy, Citra, and Mosaic hops to create a big pineapple/apricot character on top of a soft, malty base.

Packaged 27th August 2018.

Happy Place - Hoppy Farmhouse Ale

Happy Place (3.5%) is a bright and juicy little hop banger brewed with rye malt and bucketloads of Centennial and Simcoe hops. It was fermented with a traditional Norwegian farmhouse yeast ("kveik") which gives it a spicy, fruity character, with a pinch of sea salt to create a spritzy, refreshing beer.

Hopefully it takes you to your happy place, too.

Packaged 27th August 2018.

Reserve Imaginary Ale - Blend 2

Blend 2 of the beloved Imaginary Ale was bottled on the 20th March 2018 from a blend of three components: two different barrel-aged saisons and the same mature sour golden ale that went into blend 1 (called 'Melancholy'). Blend components were between 8 and 18 months old at time of bottling.

Again, the final blend comprised around 20% sour beer. All three blend components were dry (fully attenuated), and the final gravity of the blend was 1.001, with a pH at blending of around 3.7 (tart, but not sour).

Compared to blend 1, this release has a little more apparent sweetness from a wheat-heavy saison component, but it also has a little more apparent acidity, which can be put down to the extra age of the sour component. This aged component also adds an additional layer of musky, oaky 'funk'.

Tasting notes: tart/juicy, apricot/peach + oaky notes; tart/sweet mix, juicy lemon/peach note, peppery bitterness; straw-like, grainy notes underneath. Over all a tart + bitter beer with distinct fruity character.

This beer is a triumph of Ocho's efforts to create moderately tart saisons that will pair well with food and stand up against great wines at the dinner table. It should cellar well for 1-3 years if not more. Around 600 bottles were produced for blend 2.

Eucalyptus - Smoked Dark Lager

Eucalyptus (6.0%) smoked dark lager was brewed for GABS 2018. The aim was to capture the essence of the Aussie bush - earthy eucalyptus mixed with smoke - and did so in this moreishly malty dark lager. You'll find a rich canvas of sweet, roasty malts intermingled with the zesty balance of eucalyptus. An intensely enjoyable and rather unique beer! Think of it as something like an Aussie root beer.

Golden Double IPA

This cheeky golden IPA is bursting with apricot & mandarin hop aromatics.

The team took a long hard look at American IPAs, extracted their brash hoppy nature and had it transplanted onto an Imperial Golden Ale.

Reserve Bière de Garde

After spending over 10 months in a French oak puncheon, bière de garde was bottled with Brettanomyces. Again the result is something of a tribute to farmhouse ales of old, where accidental inoculation with Brettanomyces was no doubt commonplace.

This beer is decidedly complex - definite plum, pepperberry or juniper fruitiness on the first pass, then layers of oak come in, hinting at fortified wine, or even brandy. Malt sweetness dominates the mid palate, then the finish is bone dry, leaving impressions of oak, pinot must, and peppery/earthy undertones.

This is a rich and complex beer that should cellar well for 2-5 years if not more. Around 600 bottles were produced.

View full details of Ocho Beers range here.