CT Column 31/08/2011:Wellington Revolution

IN a former life I played bass in a hardcore band. During the late 90’s early 2000’s Wellington was home to a thriving underground punk, ska, hardcore music scene with Thistle Hall on the corner of upper Cuba St and what was then Arthur St, playing host to many legendary gigs. The scene was about music but it was also about left leaning politics and social justice. I bring this anecdote up not because of the beer we used to drink at gigs, which was certainly not of the sort that I would usually write about in this column, but because a new Wellington beer has just been launched that brought these memories flooding back.
Wellington homebrewer and beer writer Brendon Mackenzie has just launched Wellington’s newest contract brewing company, Revolution Brewing and has named his first beer @ntifa. @ntifa refers to the antifascist movement and was a patch that would often adorn leather jackets at the gigs I attended. @ntifa is a diverse mash up of a beer that takes the malt character of a malty red Vienna lager, the yeast profile of a clean crisp Altbier and the hop character of a fruity American amber ale. The end result is a clean fruity red ale that combines a rich malt backbone with a big hop aroma and clean balanced finish. A perfect beer for spring and one which will pair beautifully with barbequed meat from the first intrepid BBQ’s of the season.
Naturally Revolution Brewing have a manifesto which sets out what they are aiming to achieve and what form future beers might take, check out http://revolutionbrewing.co.nz/ to read it.
Cheers