R.S.B. Launch

Tonight I launch my beer instore at Regional. I will be degassing some of it and serving it through a handpump to the public. I’m excited and also a little hesitant; it will be interesting to see what the punters think of it. It has got off to a good start with it featuring at last night Emerson’s Masterclass , the first of three, and scoring a third equal placing in the public vote, remarkable considering the calibre of the beers it was up against. I’m pretty rapped with the beer, it has a lovely complex malt character and some nice orangey hop flavour, although it is a lot less aromatic than my home brewed version. I made the decision not to dry hop the beer but in hindsight I think it could use some more hop aroma, and would have been better with the Fullers strain rather than the American one. Still it's a good beer and it's my beer.
I have loaded my beer here on ratebeer, the beer nerd in me is extremely proud. Let me know what you think.

Grandiose Filmatic Beer Content

It seems if you want to see the full screen you will have to go here damn technology

R.S.B. - Day One

I step off the plane to an icy Dunedin morning. It’s the shortest day and I’m excited, not only because of the 3 days of fun with stainless that lies ahead of us but also because I love this city in the winter. Richard Emerson is there to pick me and Jed the photographer up. As always he is positively bubbling over with enthusiasm. As we drive through the rural hinterland that divides Dunedin from its airport Richard chats about other brewers, the weather, and how quickly the provincial airport is growing. We quickly find ourselves at the brewery , the warm smells of fresh bready malt fill the air as we sip coffee from large mugs and chat with Production Manager Chris O’Leary or Father for short. Then it’s into overalls, and gumboots and the weighing of grain begins, the old mill is started and we crush the grain, cleaning, cleaning and some more cleaning, yeast is fed and stainless tanks are doused in caustic before we head off to a prolonged lunch and several pubs. Japanese Restaurant for dinner another pub, degassed Fullers London Porter from the handpump divine, a refreshing walk to the motel, talk made easy by drink, alarm set for 5 and a good night’s sleep.

Research: E.S.B

In the process of fine tuning my recipe for the Emerson’s brew I sampled a number of E.S.B.’s in order to confirm in my mind what I wanted from my interpretation of the style (As if I don’t drink them regularly anyway!). Extra Special Bitter is a style that sits in the gap between session beers and strong beers. While in the alcohol fuelled world of New World craft brewing between 5 and 6%abv often gets classified as session beer in reality beers of this strength are not designed to be drunk all night by the pint. However they are also not strong enough to wow with huge alcohol supported flavours and aromas that stronger beers might provide. The style does provide the opportunity to present a lot of character in a reasonably drinkable format. The reason I chose my E.S.B. recipe to brew on a larger scale rather than one of my lower strength session beer recipes was that it has more chance of presenting well from the keg where as I think it’s a lot harder to get a bitter or best bitter show its character chilled and fizzy.

Here are the E.S.B’s I tried over the last 2 months

Founders God Knows Best ... Bitter
A very malt accented interpretation of the E.S.B. style. Aroma features complex cara/munich malt characters with bready, light cocoa biscuity notes and a very clean neutral fermentation profile. In the mouth the beer is rich and malty with more light cocoa, sweet caramel and a touch of fruity hop character before a finely balanced finish. Over all a decent beer, would love to try it fermented with a characterful English yeast.

Titanic Captain Smiths
A great strong bitter with a very firm bitter finish. Aromas of caramel malt, dark fruit (plum), and earthy hops. In the mouth the beer presents a big crystal malt character with toffee and caramel which is more than balanced by a big earthy fruity hop flavour and a lasting bitterness which demands another sip. Good beer.

Charles Wells Bombardier
Aroma features burnt sugar, dark toffee, a hint of dried fruit and a hint of zesty earthy hops. In the mouth the dark toffee burnt sugar character is pronounced with a mid palate flash of hop flavour and a dry toffee bitter finish. Decent beer but somewhat one dimensional.

Fullers E.S.B.
A complex aroma of bright fruity hops with some citrus and berry fruit notes, the trademark Fuller yeast note of Marmalade and warm malt. In the mouth the beer has a rich complex malt profile with nutty caramel and toffee, bright citrus, ginger cake, bight hop notes and a perfectly ballanced finish that displays hop bitterness lingering malt in unison.

Cinderella

So it seems I’m the only person involved in the New Zealand Craft Beer Industry who isn’t about to jet my way to Melbourne for A.I.B.A.
It sounds like it going to be a hell of a party and I’m certainly a touch sad that I won’t be there.
However the pint of Brooklyn Bulldog E.S.B. that I took from the last pilot batch of beer to be brewed before I do it for real at Emerson’s is making me feel better. I have just racked it into a keg to cask condition, and filled 3 bottles so there is a sample of the pilot for Richard to try on brew day. I think it’s one of the best beers I have ever brewed, certainly the best draught beer I have brewed. A good omen I think.

Weekend Warrior

Every homebrewer has that moment when they nail their first successful ferment or their first smooth mash and run off where they fantasise about doing it for real running a real commercial brewery. Most small commercial brewers warn the fool hardy amateur off, saying it’s a hell of a lot of hard work and a good way to make a small fortune out of a large one. Then there are the well meaning yet totally clueless bystanders who taste your beer, like it and ask when you are going to go pro like it’s as simple as converting another stockpot or ten and buying in few more sacks of malt. Others like Stu McKinlay have used the contract brewing model to launch a pro career while still holding down the day job. For me I have found my own way into the beer industry through retailing, judging and writing, it’s a pretty good place to be and I only have to clean stainless when I feel like it. One day in a perfect world (and sometimes the real world can provide a little perfection) I would like to run an outfit like the Wassail Brauhaus where I could brew what I wanted and share it with people for a modest financial return towards the brewing costs, time will tell. Anyway I digress, every homebrewer dreams of doing it for real and next month I will get to play at being a real brewer. I will be flying to Dunedin and with Richard Emerson I will brew a version of my Brooklyn Bulldog E.S.B recipe on the 200 litre pilot plant at Emerson’s Brewery. To say I’m excited is to say the Popes a papist. The beer will be a strong English style bitter brewed with New Zealand Pale Malt, English Crystal and Belgian Crystal Malt, New Zealand Goldings and New Zealand Styrian Goldings hops and the Fullers yeast. It’s the sort of beer I want to see more of through the Autumn and Winter months, its also the sort of beer I love!