A Walk Through The Boneyard

Last year I heard about Boneyard brewing and the excellent beers they were creating however it wasn't until recently I realized just who was behind Boneyard.

Chris Badenoch and Julie Jenkins both of Masterchef fame opened this brewery after finding success in the restaurant business and subequently meeting an excellent brewer in Brendan O'Sulivan.



Masterchef Australia's first season was the only one I ever watched and Chris and Julie both clearly had talent and adding a good brewer into the mix can only be a good thing.


Part of Chris's vision seems to be to brew beer that matches food from the beginning rather than matching the food with the beer (although he is doing this too) which I think is an excellent concept.

Currently they offer 3 great brews with Grapefruit IPA, Golden Ale and their Red Ale, all are quite low in alcohol with the highest being 4.5% which is impressive given some of the flavour and complexity to be found in these beers.


Golden Ale (4.5% 50 IBU)
Aroma: Good strong fruit smells, lingering passionfruit and citrus.
Food Pairing: Seafood, Chicken and any warm day really ;)

This beer got around a lot at summer and from other write ups on it sounded like a great refreshing drop, and thankfully it is!  Pours a nice cloudy golden colour with a great fruity aroma on the nose with a big hoppy punch of bitterness on the back palette. All of this adds up to a really great beer and a good start to my session of Boneyard.

Grapefruit IPA (2.9% 38 IBU)
Aroma: citrus and other sweet fruit
Food Pairing: Chicken, Pork and fruit (Grapefruit maybe?!)



I was expecting to get a lot more of a grapefruit kick from this beer given its description but it is still there and seems to help smooth out the bitterness in the back palette. Another fairly refreshing beer from Boneyard, pouring a nice golden colour again but clear this time leaving nice lacing around my glass as I drank it.

Worth a tipple if you can get your hands on it, purely for its uniqueness.


Red Ale (2.9% 38 IBU)
Aroma: Toffee\caramel, coffee
Food Pairing: chocolate, chocolate or coffee based desserts

This one surprised me, I think because I had no expectations when I began drinking it but boy was I impressed. Pours a fantastic dark rich malty colour with strong toffee aroma. I seemed to get a caramel or coffee finish from this one and for some reason it was rather moreish, definitely a beer to enjoy with or after dessert or on its own in the cooler months.

I am extremely impressed with Boneyard's offerings and for a less than 2 year old brewery they are doing very well. I enjoyed the food both Chris and Julie cooked on Masterchef and it seems they continuing to have their hand in good food and pairing that with good beer.

I do wish though that they were easier to find in Brisbane which at least as far as I can tell they are not readily available but if you live in Melbourne or Sydney you should have no trouble finding some.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more beers from Boneyard in the future!