What does a small Valley Heights brewery do to wage their own war against the Russian invasion into the Ukraine? Join a global brewing movement and brew up an anti-imperial stout called Resist.
Breweries around the world have been invited to brew a Ukrainian stout by the Ukrainian breweries to raise awareness and general solidarity.
"I could not overlook this," said Brew Mountains Brewery owner Craig Talbot. "The situation in Ukraine I found really shocking and appalling," he said.
The beer was set to be kegged on Friday May 13 - ready to be served that evening at his brewery and also at Bootlegger and Aunty Eds in Katoomba, Bramble Bar in Blaxland and Reminiscence in Springwood.
"When I heard about how the Ukrainian breweries were reaching out for a solitary brew I immediately decided to join them.
"It's obscene how we can have a war in Europe in the 21st century. I found it so close to home being European myself and knowing quite a few Ukrainian and Russian people. How people's normal comfortable lives could be destroyed so easily ... how normal peaceful and affluent cities could shelled into rubble so easily, I found very upsetting."
Mr Talbot said "100 per cent of profits of the beer sold in the brewery bar will go to the Red Cross to help the Ukrainian people". The beer took about five weeks to make, as stout - dark beer - takes longer to mature after brewing and fermentation. It's a limited release - 400 litres - and will go on tap by the glass ($10 a schooner) and takeaway.
The program was launched by Drinkers for Ukraine, a fundraising campaign for war-affected Ukrainians. A small team of European beer industry experts started it because like many around the world, they were watching the war in Ukraine with a sense of helplessness.
Part of the project involved releasing an open-source recipe for the fundraising solidarity brew. The stout could be spiked with beetroot, chocolate malt, but brewers were encouraged to be creative and include the Ukrainian flag on the bottle.
Mr Talbot is very pleased with the taste and said the recipe given by the Ukrainian breweries was pretty flexible and "in the end we did not put the 15 kilos of beetroot".
Brew Mountains Brewery is at 4 Taylors Road, Valley Heights industrial area (behind Bunnings) and produces about 40,000 litres annually. He has 12 taps and eight fermenters and usually has a focus on local ingredients.
He grew up in England and started brewing at age 12 with his granddad. The brewery is open 4-8pm Friday and 12-8pm Saturday with food trucks on site. The beer will be available for a month with all profits to the Red Cross.