A taste of things to come

WARRNAMBOOL brewer Gerard Meares is living the life many blokes dream about.After 10 years caddying professional golfers, Mr Meares is now indulging another of his passions - making beer.Mr Meares, 37, has moved to Warrnambool to take up the position of chief brewer with the Flying Horse Bar and Brewery.The first public offering of his products will be at the Day On The Hill at Flagstaff Hill this weekend.After some private tasting Mr Meares and joint bar managers Matty Stewart and Matty Monk are hopeful some of their finest will be met with enthusiasm.Mr Meares said he was in the process of finetuning Whale Ale, Lady Bay Lager, Dirty Angel and Apostle White.He said all four were very different but only tasting opinions allowed a brewer to tweak their brews to public satisfaction.The opening date for the bar and brewery has now been pushed back to possibly the May Racing Carnival, but Mr Stewart said work had been progressing at fever pitch.He said it had been frustrating not having a firm opening date but it was important to have everything in place before up to 50 staff were employed."It's a seven-day-a-week business and there's a lot of shifts to fill," Mr Monk said.Mr Meares left school to spend the best part of a decade caddying for Terry Price, Brad Hughes and Ossie Moore. A round of golf with South Australian brewing chief Bill Cooper led to Mr Meares developing an interest in brewing, which he has pursued during the past seven years in Sydney.He said the new Flying Horse bar would give him the opportunity to test his creative skills."But the bottom line is you have to brew beer that people love and want to buy," he said."We have the opportunity to make something better than what's mass-produced, an attractive alternative to Carlton Draught or the other main mass-produced lines."He said he was looking forward to people testing his beers at Sunday's Day On The Hill function.The brewer said he had been delighted by Warrnambool's water quality, which was a key component in beer production."The water is awesome. We're also looking at food lines to go with certain beers," he said. "Drinking our beers is not about how many you can drink."It's about providing a great family atmosphere so everyone can enjoy the experience. "One of the greatest challenges is coming up with something women like and I'm pleased with how it's all going."Mr Meares said the brewery had the capacity to produce about 1800 litres of beer a week.