Everyone’s favourite pub for discovering new beers – The Wheatsheaf – last night launched their own range of brews under label Wheaty Brewing Corps.

The inaugural Wheaty Brewing Corps range features three Wheaty beers and three collaborations. All were produced in-house and on premises in the pub’s very own brewing facility – a 600L brewhouse that, earlier this year, was somehow squeezed onto the suburban block the pub occupies in Thebarton.

Owners of the pub – Jade Flavell, Liz O’Dea and Emily Trott – have overseen the pub’s success for more than a decade and always had an eye to eventually running a brewery in conjunction with the front bar.

“This is the beginning of the next phase of the Wheaty,” said Jade as she launched the range last night. “There’s going to be lots of exciting stuff happening in terms of our own beers, in terms of collaborations and all sorts of things.”

The first three beers launched purely under the Wheaty Brewing Corps label are –

Corps Promise – Set to become the centrepiece of the Wheaty range after being listed as “the only beer we will never alter”, this rye pale has a subtle honey malt character and a dry, piney twang on the finish.

Marching Orders – Put into the style category of “Dark Ale”, the Marching Orders apparently did not come out as planned but is delicious nonetheless. A dry, clean taste with a huge herbal overlay takes you nicely through to the bitter finish.

Benatar – Described as being “somewhere between a Sweet Stout and a Black IPA”, the Benatar has a rich malt profile and a lingering hops taste and is also named after a cat.

The three collaboration beers were made as part of May’s Good Beer Wheaty Yeastie – a sort of mini beer festival where The Wheatsheaf brought together some great beer people and threw them all into a room so they could brew new and exciting things together. The resultant three beers are –

Rauch Alici – From the Wheaty Brewing Corps in conjunction with  Yeastie Boys, Birra del Borgo and Magic Rock comes this dark, dark beer which is billed as a “Smoked Anchovy Porter”. Yes, it has an anchovy flavour, but no, it’s not weird. It’s actually very accessible.

Fug Oats – For this Oat Pale, Wheaty Brewing Corps worked with Sixpoint, Yeastie Boys and To ØI and added what they call “overly fruity new age hops” to achieve “an intense pineapple pungency upfront with just enough piney bite in the finish”.

Tonic – Listed as a “credibility-bending brew”, this genre defying beer was made in collaboration with Yeastie Boys and Doctor’s Orders. Sharing many characteristics with tonic water – including some spicy juniper flavours and a little orange peel, it is actually mentioned that drinking it mixed with your favourite gin might not be a bad idea.

A huge crowd over-ran The Wheatsheaf’s front bar last night for the launch, and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive as punters repeatedly braved the rush on bar for another frothy fancy full of brew.