The Forage Winter Solstice launches new Vietnamese-inspired beer

They gathered at Fyshwick's Dairy Road, lining up for the local vendors, and mingled around the warm fire pit to enjoy their meals.

Inspired by Vietnamese flavours, the new craft beer is a collaboration between BentSpoke Brewing Co, The Forage, and Miss Van's Restaurant.

Launched at the street food festival by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the beer combines unique Vietnamese flavours inspired by Miss Van's restaurant and champion Australian brewer Richard Watkins.

Miss Van's owner Andrew Duong was dishing up tofu khai soi at the winter event and was proud to have collaborated on a new local beer with a Southeast Asian twist.

"We used a lot of Vietnamese flavours - some toasted rice powder, lime, galangal, and rice paddy herb, which is a very unique Vietnamese herb," Mr Duong said.

The Forage founder Belinda Neame and husband Tim Beane were prevented from operating the winter solstice event for nearly three years.

The new beer collaboration was a unique idea to launch the event after a long hiatus. Connecting the community and exposing Canberrans to local products was something The Forage aimed to achieve, they said.

"When we knew we were coming back, we wanted exclusive products, so we approached BentSpoke and Andrew from Miss Van's and that's how our three-way collaboration came about," Ms Neame said.

BentSpoke Brewer Richard Watkins hadn't used the new flavours in a beer before and said working with Mr Duong taught him new brewing methods.

"He used some interesting things that I hadn't come across before, like rice paddy herb," Mr Watkins said.

The new flavours impressed Mr Watkins and he worked on finding a way to get those aromas into the beer.

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Mr Duong approved of the beer while he was serving hungry customers. He said it had a unique taste different to generic Asian beers.

The Vietnamese herbs made the "beer very tasty and drinkable", Mr Duong said.

The beer was described as a Vietnamese journey that provided a good infusion of all several flavours without one prominent taste.

Mr Bean said the new release would appeal to people who might usually not be fans of beer.

"For a person that doesn't drink beer, I think it's a refreshing beer that anyone can drink," Mr Bean said.

The new beer is available at Miss Van's restaurant and at the BentSpoke brewery in Braddon.

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