Lunar New Year at Dickson is a highlight of the cultural calendar. Photo: City Renewal Authority.
Lunar New Year celebrations in Dickson have become a highlight of the calendar, and things just got a whole lot tastier with a brilliant beer collaboration between Bentspoke Brewing and the Asian restaurants on Woolley Street – Canberra’s unofficial Chinatown.
Bentspoke is brewing a Lunar Lager exclusively for the festival, and they’re making use of a staple ingredient of Asian cuisine: rice.
“We were thinking of ideas for a beer to brew for the festival, and obviously, Dickson is synonymous with Asian cooking,” Bentspoke owner Richard Watkins told Region.
“I know when we cook rice at home, we’ve always get leftovers, so I figured that restaurants would definitely have leftovers too. So we started thinking about how to use that rice to make a beer that people could enjoy on a hot day during the festival.”
Richard contacted a few Woolley Street restaurants and received a load of leftover rice to brew.
Richard Watkins of Bentspoke Brewing created the Lunar Lager with leftover rice from Woolley Street restaurants. Photo: Bentspoke Brewing.
The brewing process follows the same method as any other beer, but 20 per cent of the malted barley is replaced with rice. The starches in the rice are converted to sugar, which can then be fermented. Rapid boiling and the fermentation process remove any risks of spoilage, so the beer is totally safe to drink.
So what does it taste like?
“We’ve kept it really session-able. It will be well-balanced, light, and have a subtle malt aroma. We’ve been really restrained with the hops, so there will be a light bitterness and low hop aroma to keep that lightness.”
“It’s actually pretty tricky to brew because you’ve got nowhere to hide, so you’ve got to get everything right.”
Woolley Street will be closed for festivities on 21 February, with two stages showing live music, dance and DJs all day, including live performances by Sydney-based RnB artist Jade Kenji and bilingual tunes from Isabella Wong.
Drawing on the popularity of K-Pop, there will be an hour-long performance from K-Pop Heroes – a supergroup of performers from around Australia performing K-pop hits aimed at children and families.
And, of course, it wouldn’t be Lunar New Year without traditional lion dancing and drumming, which will be performed by Canberra Dragon Dance earlier in the evening, and Prosperous Mountain will perform their lion and dragon dances as part of the zodiac parade at 8 pm.
A large lantern will replace last year’s wood snake with a ‘hero panel’ featuring the zodiac fire horse. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Over 20 street food stalls will be selling a range of Asian foods, including Korean pancakes, Malaysian roti, jianbing-style Chinese crepes, bao buns, grilled skewers, dumplings, and more! There will also be bubble tea, traditional asian sweets and fruit boxes for sale, which are a traditional Lunar New Year gift.
Another addition to this year’s festival is the mini mongkok (bustling market corner) which will have stalls selling gifts, as well as workshops in calligraphy and traditional Lunar New Year activities and games for kids.
In previous years, a statue has been commissioned for the festival, which is displayed for 12 months. This year, a special Chinese lantern has been commissioned from Ironbark Metal Design, with a ‘hero panel’ featuring the fire horse, and it can be swapped out each year to feature a new zodiac animal.
Due to production delays, the lantern won’t be unveiled on the day, but it should be in place sometime in March.
Dickson Lunar New Year will feature K-Pop performances and traditional dragon dancing. Photo: City Renewal Authority.
The festival has drawn big crowds in past years, and this year is expected to be similarly well attended.
“We’re expecting a fair few people to be there, so we should sell pretty much all of the Lunar Lager at the festival,” Richard said,
“I think it will be the perfect day for people to enjoy some great food, and wash it down with a nice light lager.”
The Lunar New Year celebrations at Dickson are organised by the City Renewal Authority. They will be held at Woolley Street, Dickson, on Saturday 21 February from 10 am to 10 pm. Visit the Lunar New Year Canberra for more details.
