If there is one thing that makes my friends who have lived in the After a bit of research I decided on a recipe of vinegar, habanero chilli, cumin seed, black pepper, and cardamom. After 2 weeks in the solution the eggs are rich, tart and spicy, perfect with a pint, even better in a sandwich with crisps and mayo. I’m a fan.
And neither does Stonch it seems. Back in October Stonch ran the Sophie’s Choice Poll asking the question if you were in a pub where the beer selection ran to GK IPA, standard draft Guinness, Wife Beater, Carling, John Smith Smooth, and Marston’s Pedigree which would you choose? Not surprisingly Pedigree romped in. Mr Stonch then promised to seek out a pint of the famous Marston’s Pedigree 4.5%abv
Overall a pretty subtle but moderately interesting pint, not for those who cant stand sulphur as the “Burton Snatch” is certainly there adding to the experience. I certainly would take this to a pint of Wife Beater…
Sometimes it’s hard buying gifts for the beer enthusiast. It seems on the face of it an easy task, an impressive bottle of lager from the off-license, a novelty bottle opener or a gimmicky slogan t-shirt. All of the above are pretty common under the tree, however once in awhile something special turns up. This year in addition to a couple bar towels to go on the wall in the bar I was given something very special. It seems that more recently there was a micro operating in Masterton by the name of Burridges, no doubt referencing the brewing history of the area.
What better way to spend a wet rainy Boxing Day than drinking the left over Landlord and Broadside, brewing a batch of O.S.B. and watching Midsomer Murder dvd’s?
On the Thursday before Christmas we generally tie a few on at the bar in my house. While the ritual of Thursday night drinks usually attracts a varied and revolving cast of ladies and miscreants the Christmas edition tends to get friends who wouldn’t usually come along. This year due to some of the events of the last couple of months I had no draft beer ready so everyone brought along ‘riggers’ (plastic containers) of Emerson’s Bookbinder along which were 
then poured into a keg and served through a beer engine. The communal ‘people built’ keg appealed to my lefty nature.
For the toast I pulled out a 2006 bottle of Emerson’s Taieri George, a 6.2%abv spiced ale that’s released for Easter each year and is often described as tasting like liquid hot cross buns, it could equally be described as tasting like Christmas cake. With a year and a bit of bottle age on, the spices had mellowed and blended perfectly, a fantastic tipple for Christmas.
With the silly season upon us I thought I should choose a cheese that will sit well on a board next to the traditional dried fruit mince pies and Christmas cakes of the moment. It’s an oddity of living at this end of the world that due to our European heritage we end up eating rich warming cakes and puddings while the mid summer sun beats down on us. Linkwater Cheddar is a brand created and owned by my employer, Moore Wilson’s. The cheese is produced in industrial blocks like almost all cheddar in this country, however unlike most cheddar we aged the cheese for at least 3 years, our current stock sitting at about 3 and a ½ years old.
With this level of aging the cheese develops crunchy ‘eyes’ where minerals and lactose crystallise into salty deposits. The cheese is rich, savoury and almost meaty while also being sharp and tangy.
I have enjoyed linkwater with strong bitters, old ales and imperial stout, for the photo above I cracked a bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale. The fortified vinous fruit flavours contrasted with the richness of the cheese and matched the Christmas Mince pie perfectly.
On Sunday we ran the first SOBA Homebrew festival, which also happened to be the first beerfestival run by our organisation. It was a fantastic success, all our worries about liquor license infringements, violence and assorted other troubles proved to be unfounded. On offer was a range of craft brewed beer and one cider, and homebrewed beer. There were six beer engines in action which I suspect is more than were employed at the recent Hops and Glory Real Ale festival. There was even a pin of Twisted Hop IPA sent up from The festival served as a prize giving for the recent SOBA National Homebrew Competition. The competition gathered some outstanding entries including a barley wine which had 10 years of bottle age on it. I took out best in class English style IPA with a silver medal for Chilka IPA.
A great day and a lot of hard work for a good cause, great beer.
Last night we ducked into the Malthouse after work to recover from the horrors of working in retail during the massacre that is Xmas. After a somewhat ropy pint of handpulled keg Tuatara IPA (odd woody medicinal character that didn’t make for ease of drinking) we ended up drinking Rodenbach Grand Cru. It fit the hot muggy night perfectly , the acidity was incredibly refreshing with the fruity flavours hitting the spot perfectly. It got me thinking about beers for summer. This summer has already seen a itched legal battle between DB and Lion with the former seeking to secure the term Summer Ale as a trademark for its ginger and honey flavoured lager, a ‘beer’ I would not wish on my worst enemy, while latter wanted to use the term Summer Ale for a rather toned down but inoffensive blond lemon grass flavoured beer. Lion won and right fully so, a style should not be trademarked. However I don’t think either beer from the big two has much to do with the English Summer Ale style. Of course Rodenbach has little to do with that style either but my word it hit the spot on a sweltering night.
It’s a contradictory time of year for me at the moment. I seem to be writing and reading winter and experiencing high summer. I’m not big on summer, my ferments become difficult to control, I can only tap one corny at a time as there is only room for one in the cellar fridge and my stout build seems far more adept at keeping southerly gales at bay than handling heat waves. And hot it is at the moment, with official temperatures in the high 20’s my house has been venturing way into the 30’s. So it was yesterday when I came upon a bottle of Shepherd Neame Master Brew. Shepherd Neame get a fair bit of flack for producing less than interesting beers, bar the much celebrated seasonal porter. Their bottled beers are hindered by the inexplicable decision to use clear bottles. All in all I’m not a huge fan of the brewery but when I saw a bottle of Master Brew sitting at Rumbles I couldn’t resist, partially because it would constitute a tick in Protz 300 and partially because the heat was making me want a simple pint to slack my thirst.
Pours a light copper with a tight dense head. Aroma features citrus, lemon and lime fruit essence, a touch of nutty malt and a touch of light strike. On the palate the lemon lime character is continued, a slight caramalt character, and a decent bitter finish. A light quenching pint, would be better from the cask
Over all Master Brew was what I expected, a simple quenching pint, or as I said to Adam when he got home, not as bad as it could have been.
This Session posed something of a problem to me as it demanded a post about winter when here in the Ever since the first time I leafed through Michael Jackson’s 1988 ‘The New World Guide to Beer’ , incidentally that occurred in mid winter beside an open fire, I have been captivated by Russian Imperial Stout. I travelled to Auckland in an attempt to try the Romanov Stout brewed at Galbraiths by the Australis Brewing Co, only to find the beer retired and my first ever pint of real ale waiting to change my life forever. I scoured bottle stores searching for Sam Smiths version, I eventually had to travel to
I try to brew 2 vintages of The Merchant a year, its not a light undertaking as the brew day tends be at least 12 hours long, sometimes more, maturation time prior to bottling tends to last at least a month, tying up precious kegs and then there is the monotonous task of bottling to be carried out. There is however no question as to whether its worth it.
I use a multiple mash method to achieve the 1100 plus original gravity required for this intense ale. This means that first a grist of pale malts is mashed and the wort from this is then used to strike a second mash containing a mix of pale malts and roasted malts. It’s a time consuming method dictating a 4.30am alarm call but it results in unique rich enveloping malt character.
The recipe calls for a base of marris otter pale ale malt with a touch of pilsner malt with large amounts of roasted barley, dark crystal and chocolate malts providing the roasted coffee chocolate, leather and tobacco character that makes this style so special. There is a huge amount of New Zealand Super Alpha hops added all at the 60 minute point of the boil providing plentiful bitterness but leaving the malts and yeast to dominate the aroma and flavour of the beer.
5/11/07 Day beforehand prep. Grist for the first mash is weighted out and put through the mill.
6/11/07 Brew Day. 4.30 am and the gumboots are waiting.
The finished product. OG 1106 first kettle, OG 1094 second kettle.
