Dinner by Heston Blumenthal chefs release a beer

The head chef and sous chef of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in Melbourne have teamed up with local brewery La Sirène to release a farmhouse style ale brewed with wild yeast to be exclusively served in the restaurant.

Head chef Evan Moore and sous chef Max Gauthier-Beaudoin both began brewing on days off during their time working at Heston’s London site.

Now living and working in Australia, the pair decided to take it up a notch, partnering with Melbourne brewery La Sirène to produce Two Penny Farmhouse Ale exclusive to the bar at Dinner.

The beer is brewed using wild yeasts native to Victoria and is brewed in a saison-style. As well as the brewers, the chefs worked alongside head sommelier Loic Avril and head barman Darren Leaney to create a beer appropriate for the setting.

La Sirène, a family-owned urban brewery, used the chefs, sommelier and barman in the tasting process and guided them through the brewing process, encouraging them to be hands-out throughout.

Brewer Costa Nikias developed a recipe which combined Australian hops with a traditional British-style ale and the addition of rolled oats. ‘Two Penny’ refers to the price at which the style of beer would have been sold.

The beer is described as “crisp and easy drinking with hints of bright spices, yellow peach and yellow flowers like buttercup”. The beer is bottle-fermented and head sommelier Avril believes tit will “evolve” with time to become more savoury and less floral with notes of pine, wax and citrus oil.

The beer is priced at AU$14 per 375ml bottle and is available both at the restaurant and the bar at Dinner.