ALTHOUGH I am one who keeps his hand firmly on the pulse of craft beer, I am nonetheless still astounded that these new breweries, bars and beers can spring up on me with me completely unaware. The latest such brewery to do this is Nomad Brewing, a micro brewery sitting on colloquially termed “insular peninsula” that is the Northern beaches of Sydney.

Nomad Brewing’s chief brewer is Italian Leonardo Di Vincenzo, who is also the head brewer for Italian brewery Birra Del Borgo. Leonardo is somewhat of a cult figure in the world of craft beer, known for being one of the key figures in helping to reinvigorate Italy’s once uninspired craft beer scene. His nomadic ways (brewing between Australia and Italy) are possibly the inspiration behind the Nomad Brewing Company name.

As well as brewing classic pales ales and the like, Leonardo is also responsible for brewing unique beers like a saison pale ale (think sweet bananas and a hint of bitterness), a porter “tobacco” style beer and the hugely flavoured My Antonia; a 7.5% Imperial Pilsener, brewed with Sam Calagione, one of the world’s most well-renowned brewers from American brewery Dogfish Head.

Will Herborn, NSW territory manager for Nomad Brewing Company recently visited Canberra to talk up his product. Currently the brewery has three beers in their portfolio. The first beer is their pale ale (named the SideWays Pale Ale). The beer has an intense piney bitterness which is surprising with the lower alcohol (4%) with which it exhibits. Will informed me that the Nomad Brewing Company crew see this as their entry-level pale beer.

A step-up from this is the aptly named JetLag IPA (India Pale Ale). The beer has a perfect balance, with a beautiful malty, caramel backbone and a strong, hop based bitterness (55 IBUs for the beer nuts out there.) It also poured with a smooth copper colour and a white, fluffy head.

The final beer currently available in their core range is the Long Trip Saison. For the uninitiated, a saison is a unique style of beer not commonly found in Australia (hence my surprise when I found out that they were making one). Saison’s are a style of pale ale that display more spicy, fruity flavours with more of an effervescent mouth-feel than traditional pale ales. These beers are particularly delectable on a hot summer’s day, and the Long Trip is no different. A sweet aroma of lolly bananas is complemented zesty fruit notes including coriander and orange.

The Nomad Brewing Company has recently opened the doors to its tasting room. The Transit Lounge in Brookvale has the three beers available for tastings and is just down the road from another of Australia’s top breweries, 4 Pines.

In Canberra, the beer will soon be available on tap at the Transit Bar, as well as bottles available from Urban Cellars, Curtin, Denman Cellars in Tuggeranong and Plonk.

What’s impressing me?

• Experienceit Beverages– As well as Nomad producing great beers, they also have an amazing distribution business and distribute great brands like Australia’s
• BrewCult and Boatrocker, as well as American beers like Clown Shoes, Six Point, Deschuttes and many more. They are really trying to help expose Australia to more and more quality beer.
• Frozen Summers – Check out Dan’s youtube channel to know what beers are worth drinking. Www.frozenbeerreviews.com

Adrian Moran has been pouring beers for over nine years and runs a weekly podcast devoted to craft beer
Twitter: @ausbeerjourney
Website: www.ausbeerjourney.wordpress.com