It's a "dark time" for brewers, says Modus Merewether founder Grant Wearin, but it's also the perfect time of year to enjoy a dark beer.
The Merewether brewery is hosting Dark vs Dark on August 2, where you can sample dark beers from six Newcastle craft breweries, feast on wings, burgers and fries, and interact with the brewers themselves at a Q&A session. There will also be live music and giveaways on the night.
Modus, Method Brewing, Grainfed Brewing Company, Foghorn Brewery, Good Folk Brewing Co and Shout Brewing Co will contribute a dark beer to each tasting paddle.
"Dark vs Dark is an opportunity for us to get together with all our local mates, have a good night with our customers, and drink dark beer," Wearin said.
"It's a toast to what we've all been going through."
And what they've been going through is, he says, "absolute hell". More than 100 breweries have either "gone under or changed hands" over the past six months.
Cost increases in a high inflation environment have created a "perfect storm of commodity price increases".
"It's not like chicken going up a dollar a kilo; literally in the past couple of years grain prices have doubled and glass and aluminium prices have gone close to doubling, so all our input costs have gone up," Wearin said.
"And because we're essentially competing against the big multinational guys who can absorb these cost increases, and are more efficient than us, we haven't been able to raise our prices at all, or much, to recoup these costs. So breweries are going under, that's the reality.
"I get a notification a day about a brewery entering involuntary liquidation or changing hands, or having a fire sale."
But rest assured, Dark vs Dark isn't all doom and gloom. It's a celebration of dark beer and a chance to connect with other dark beer lovers in the "warm and wintry" barrel room at Modus Merewether.
Both Modus Brewing and Foghorn Brewing have won awards for their dark beers: Modus for its Silent Knight Porter and Foghorn for its Sligo Extra Stout.
"You can't win a bigger award for dark beer than these two did, and I thought it would be a good idea to put the new up-and-coming breweries up against the former champs and see what happens," Wearin said.
"We'll be showcasing our 12.5% Earl Distilling Co rum barrel-aged Imperial Stout which will really blow people's minds. It really is an exquisite beer.
"This is a very interactive event in terms of brewers talking through how they made their beer, what they like about it, commenting on other beers. And it's all inclusive: buy your ticket, come in and you'll be well looked after."
Grainfed Brewing Company
Grainfed Brewing owner and head brewer Lachie MacBean said Dark vs Dark would "showcase the myriad of styles and flavours to be discovered in dark beer". He'll be contributing Grainfed's Coal Porter Dark Ale to your tasting paddle on the night.
"It's a beer we made in 2014 intended as a one-off batch for winter, but it's been so popular that we've never stopped making it," MacBean said.
"Just like at our taproom in Lambton, it'll be pouring on a nitrogen tap. This gives the beer a softer, smooth mouthfeel with a dense white creamy head and a very smooth finish."
Foghorn Brewery
Foghorn Brewery chief executive officer and chief brewer Shawn Sherlock will be talking punters through his Sligo Extra Stout at Dark vs Dark.
"The Sligo Extra Stout is a big, roasty, full-bodied stout with a strong, high cocoa percentage and dark chocolate flavours, almost leaning into espresso coffee notes," he said.
"Sligo has been on tap here at Foghorn pretty much since we opened in 2015. The name refers to County Sligo in Ireland ... there's plenty of Sherlocks around the village of Ballisodare in Sligo! I love the beer and I hope it does well on the night."
Sherlock said dark beer had a long history here in Newcastle and winter was the perfect time to showcase it.
"Dark beers aren't generally as popular as the paler styles, but those that drink dark beers often drink them almost exclusively," he said.
"The richer, darker malts are naturally more full flavoured than pale malts and give us, as brewers, more oomph to play with in our recipes.
"They are also great food beers. Chocolate is the obvious match, but roasted meats, anything with a little char, and in particular the spiciest chilli-based dishes all work really well with dark beers."
Method Brewing
Islington's Method Brewing will be showcasing their Coffee Oatmeal Stout, a beer made in collaboration with Floozy coffee roasters in Newcastle.
"Hal from Floozy created a custom blend of beans for the brew and took us through the process on-site at Floozy while the blend was getting roasted," head brewer Sean Costigan said.
"After consulting with [Floozy] on how we could expect the coffee to react with the beer at various stages of the brewing process, we settled on add the ground coffee into during the lautering process.
"Rich aromas of coffee integrate beautifully with the roast and chocolate aromas and flavours coming from the specialty dark malts selected for this beer. The generous use of malted oats give the beer a lovely smooth mouth feel."
