By BRIAN MCIVER

IT is the nation famed for the amber nectar and not giving a XXXX for any other drinks.

But Australia’s new king of beer is an oil and gas engineer from Brechin, Angus, who only started home brewing as a hobby in his spare room four years ago.

Steve Russell, 43, turned his passion into a fast growing business producing more than a million litres of drink every year, and he has just lifted the biggest prize in the Australian beer industry.

His firm Blasta - Gaelic for ‘delicious’ - won four major honours at the prestigious Perth Royal Beer Awards, including the overall winner Champion Beer, and said he can’t quite believe how quick his drinks have taken off.

He has gone from making a few bottles of booze in his apartment to a capacity of almost 1.5 litres every year, and said he was blown away by his historic win at Australia’s beer Oscars against 394 competitors from across the country.

He admitted: “It’s still a bit surreal to be honest. 

“It was a very, very welcome surprise. We’ve only been going for two years and four years ago I was home brewing with a kit my wife got me. 

 “We put in a huge amount of effort and I’ve had a lot of folk that say it’s jammy but it’s not - you’re working till 4am researching and critiquing your own beer to make it better, but if you really want your business to make it you have to take those steps. 

“I’m totally chuffed - I’m just trying to enjoy it and see where we can go.”
Mr Russell, 43, emigrated to Perth in 2007 where he lives with wife Katarzyna and children Logan, 10, Luanna, three, and Loui, 10 months.

As an industrial engineer and a keen amateur chef, he combined his passions to produce his own beers at home as a hobby, and then entered the amateur beer awards in 2017.

“As an engineer I’ve always been used to procedural things and always loved cooking, researching and understanding every ingredient and for Christmas 2016 I asked my wife to buy me a brewing kit, and started to research different grains and hops and it all grew from there.

 “As an amateur brewer I put a beer into a commercial competition and won the top IPA out of hundreds of others. I remember looking across the table at one of the major brewers in Australia who cleaned up nearly every major trophy and I said, ‘That’s cool, one day I’d like to be sitting there.’

“We’ve entered many competitions and won gold medals but I’m always striving to get to the very top and we’d make adjustments and keep working on it - and we did it ourselves so I’m really, really chuffed.“

He now runs the brewery and an award-winning gastro pub beer hall venue in the Perth suburb of Burswood.

He sells a range of seven core beers and several rotating seasonal flavours across Australia and Singapore - and only quit his day job at fuel giants Chevron two weeks ago.

He admits that one of the secrets of his success is another Scottish import - special grain only farmed in the north-east of Scotland.

“Four of our award-winning beers use grain that only comes from the north-east of Scotland, it’s called Golden Promise grain, from Dundee, Arbroath, and as far as up to Stonehaven, it’s known as one of the best for certain beers and is in great demand. 

“I wanted to show my roots back to the homeland.

“Australia is a great place to live and bring up kids, but the sacrifice is that you do leave behind family and friends. We go back and visit and bring them out, but with Covid, it’s been sad not be able to fly home and see them.”

Now an Australian citizen, Mr Russell is just as proud of his adopted nation and describes Blasta as an Aussie brewery with Scottish heritage.

The Blasta beer hall, which features his company logo of a unicorn, Scotland’s national animal, is home to very popular Burns Night and St. Andrew’s Day celebrations, and his daily menu features various fusion Scots dishes like haggis spring rolls.

He has recently started selling his beer brands back in the UK and has big plans to expand in his homeland.

He revealed: “The Australian beer scene is extremely strong. I’m an Aussie citizen now, but I’m still a completely proud Scot, it’s in the name and the logo, but it’s also about all the workers and the staff here.

“I’m proud that I’m a Scottish person that’s made this over here - and I’m also proud it’s an Australian brewery.

“A goal would be to bring Blasta products back to Europe and it’s definitely in the pipeline. We are selling beer to some UK places already but we have big plans and I want to get more of our beers there soon.”