Lost in Translation

The number of handpumps in NZ seems to be constantly growing although the numbers are still low. For someone like myself who loves cask beer this is great. Of course the vast majority of beer that passes through these handpumps is not cask conditioned but degassed keg beer or unconditioned bright beer. There is nothing wrong with this and it’s a great ½ way house between keg and cask. It is in my opinion not as good as cask at its best but it is a realistic product for a nation of pubs and bars without cellars or staff with the knowledge to condition and care for cask beer. So far so good. There is however a growing trend for putting seriously strong beers through the handpump which I do find strange. For me drinking from a handpump is all about session drinking preferably by the pint. When I see 10%abv Imperial Stouts and 8%abv strong porters being served on the hand pump it makes me think that we are missing the point a little.

Berhampore Best Bitter

Maris Otter Pale, Dark Crystal, and Medium Crystal malts, Fuggels, Goldings, and NZ Styrian hops, Brooklyn water, cane sugar, S-04 yeast, agar cask finings, 1.044, 4.4%abv. The first batch of beer of 2009 and it’s a cracker.

Condition, Glorious Condition

A week ago Nick Paige contacted me asking whether I would be able to lend him one of my beer engines and help him set it up in order to serve a firkin of Twisted Hop Challenger that he had shipped in for a workmates party, I was of course welcome to help in its disposal. Needless to say I jumped at the chance, even without the offer of free real ale I would have been there to have a crack at conditioning an actual cask. Unfortunately Nick had forgotten to ask for a tap and spiles so we decided to serve it on end by running a beer line through the keystone with a piece of wire attached to the end to keep the line clear of the lees. On Friday Nick and Dougie whose party it was picked me up from work we assembled what we needed and headed to Dougie’s kitchen which was doubling as the cellar. Martin from the Twisted Hop had told us that since we didn’t have spiles he recommended venting the firkin by piercing the keystone with a needle. We gently hammered the needle in and then slowly removed it with a pair of pliers…

Woosh we weren’t quite expecting the fountain of beer which erupted from the hole covering the kitchen ceiling with beer and raining back down on us, Dougies partner came to the door, looked on with a bemused grin and said in her fantastic Scottish accent that she had never been all that homely so it was fine (remarkable woman), his beagle just got stuck in drinking ale from the floor. We let the fountain subside a little before returning the needle to its hole reasoning that once we knocked the keystone out we would be losing condition out the tap hole around the beer line.

Last night I showed up at the party to enjoy the fruits of our labour, the party was fantastic with a good mix of people from different back grounds and ages , a mixture of regional council employees, neighbours and beer lovers, it was a little like a British Isles club b\meeting with Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Oxfordshire all represented. The BBQ was going, the ale was pouring and it was fantastic! There was a slight haze and the beer was perhaps just a little over lively but it tasted fantastic, it provided a healthy head without a sparkler, in fact it was so fantastic that we drained the cask in 3 hours. Cheers

Auckland Trip Part 1: Galbraith’s Ale House

When I stay in Auckland I stay in a backpacker called Bamber House in Mt Eden a large central city suburb which is known for housing one of Auckland’s major sporting venues, a large almost medieval looking prison, a mix of working class tenements and large expensive 1900’s villas and the best pub in the country. Yes the Twisted Hop in Christchurch comes close and the Inch Bar in Dunedin is certainly a fantastic local but for my money ‘The Braith’ still takes the top slot.

I walked into Galbraith’s on Thursday shortly after touching down in Auckland. I was counting on a pint or two and a meal, with perhaps a word to Ian the Brewer before retiring to my backpacker to return that evening to meet with Martin Bridges. Instead I walked straight in to see Luke Nicholas, brewer of Epic Pale Ale, and Keith Galbraith the landlord. I then proceeded to enjoy an afternoon session which stretched out to meet the evening, with me finally stumbling home an hour of two before closing to inflict my drunken snoring on a dorm room of young Irish girls. Inevitably I returned for dinner the next day and lunch and dinner the day after soaking up as much Galbraith’s as I possibly could in my short time in Auckland. By the last day the staff were commenting on my recurring presence.

The Beer

It was at Galbraith’s that I tasted my first ever pint of real ale. Back then the sudden rush of complex flavour presented in such an utterly drinkable format changed my ideas about beer and irreversibly changed the direction my life has taken. Back then the Galbraith’s beers were the best beer I had ever tasted, I had nothing to compare them to and I certainly had not started brewing and conditioning my own real ale.

So how did the beers fare with the benefit of a little knowledge?

Bob Hudson’s the pale ordinary bitter that I would nominate for my desert island beer was good on the first day although had a very grassy aroma when served through the sparkler, when served ‘au natural’ or ‘without bling’ as a certain Nelson bar woman puts it, the complex stone and citrus fruit shone through over a gentle morish pale malt background.

Bellringers is the staple best bitter which is Galbraith’s flagship product. Fittingly it is always the most consistent. It’s a beer which manages to sit in the balance between rich complex crystal malt flavour and assertive earthy hop character, the casks are dry hopped and accordingly you get varying levels of ‘raw’ hop character depending on how long the dry hop has been in contact. It’s a complex and satisfying pint but one which I seldom can session on as the dry hop certainly builds in the palate.

Bitter and Twisted is Galbraith’s take on an E.S.B. Bitter and Twisted is an exceptionally hoppy and bitter yet also richly malty interpretation of the style. A revelation when it’s fresh, I suspect the summer months mark a significant down turn in the sales of this warming beer and the pints I had while certainly of saleable quality were marked by a dulling of the hop profile and a bit of autolysis on the palate.

Finally the Grafton Porter fills the dark beer slot in the Galbraith’s range. Grafton Porter is full of intense roast malt flavour, almost like chewing roast grain before you have mashed it. The full on roast character mark this beer out as one which appeals to some such as Stu and not to others such as Greig, I’m probably in the middle somewhere but you definitely need to be in the mood for roast character.

All the beers varied in condition across the 3 days as you would expect with cask conditioned beer. However I would agree with those who feel that in general a touch higher level of carbonation would be good. On the third day my first pint of Bob Hudson’s Bitter was I suspect from a new cask. The barwoman was having trouble pouring it even with the sparkler removed and I ended up with a spectacular pint full of condition and with its hop profile intact.

The Pub

Despite the fact that Galbraith’s is obviously a destination pub, drawing beer fanatics from all across the country, it is also a local. The best bitter Bellringer is named after a bunch of Bellringers who used to frequent the bar. There is often a community feel with friendly after work drinks occurring over pint and the odd family having a meal. I always feel comfortable pulling up a chair and having a pint with a book on my own, just as I love being there with group tying one on. On the Saturday we arrived before the doors had opened and were left waiting on the door step where I saw a fantastic sight, one which others may think terrible. Slowly assembling were a group of middle aged gentlemen in anoraks and walk shorts, one even sported a pirates eye patch, all of them had glass flagons ready to be filled from the cask. Eccentricity in all its glory.

A Pint and a Book , marriage made in heaven.

“The yeasty fruitiness, suggestion of sweetness in the Pale Ale malt and the hoppy acidity attain a height of complexity”

That’s how the late Michael Jackson described a cask conditioned English bitter when the cask is at its peak. Well that’s exactly how I would describe the pints of O.S.B. I drank tonight while reading the new book from Mr Jackson, the “Eyewitness Companions Beer”.

This corny-cask of O.S.B. is just coming to the end and its tasting brilliant. The hops are just starting mellow, there is the faintest touch of sour acidity, the malt sweetness is just peaking through on the palate, before a firm bitterness begs another sip, and then another pint. The changes from when the corny was first tapped are staggering, this is the magic that turns perfectly normal people into real ale obsessives.