A Post in Praise of CAMRA and Food for thought for SOBA

There has been a fair bit of criticism of CAMRA in the blogosphere recently. Pete Brown has had a crack over his perception of the opening ceremony of the Brewing Centre in Burton, Greig has packed in his membership citing political differences, and others have weighed in with comments. Others like Ed have also made a point of looking at the positives. Roger Protz has come out in defence making sweeping statements that probably weren’t the wisest.

My CAMRA membership lapsed a year or so ago when it no longer became possible for me to renew my membership online, from memory it had something to do with having to enter your county branch as a log in or password and obviously as an overseas member I don’t have one and the disappearance of a web support email address. Anyway there was no political or theological falling out between me and the campaign. I have finally got around to signing up myself and Sarah with direct debit using Sarah’s UK bank account.

From my vantage point on the other side of the world much of the criticism of CAMRA seems somewhat unfair. The worst being that the organisation has a culture of entitlement. It seems to me that the Campaign as a whole amasses large amounts of volunteer labour on a regular basis in the interests of cask conditioned beer. Thousands of CAMRA members regularly donate time in the interests of the cause, that there will be some members who don’t and expect some of sort of payback for simply being a member shouldn’t outweigh the thousands that do. I think a big part of this is how the Campaign presents itself. This brings me to the second main criticism levelled against the campaign which is that it narrowly campaigns for cask conditioned beer rather than craft beer in general. I think this one is pretty much nonsense. CAMRAs core reason for being is cask conditioned beer, it’s like criticising the SPCA for not campaigning on Child Poverty. I of course am biased. I agree with Martyn Cornell when he says “nothing is capable of beating the best cask ale” and accordingly I agree with CAMRA.

As for some of the criticisms of policy there is probably more just cause. It would probably be good if the take it to the top campaign was quietly retired, from a New Zealand perspective it’s amazing how affordable good beer is in the UK. The super complaint against the tie seems dangerous as history seems to teach us that tackling the tie only ever results in unexpected often negative consequences.

The point of Greig’s post was that there are lessons to be learned for SOBA, in that, I suspect he is right. With new Memberships running at a rate of one a day we are growing and we will gather both members who want to contribute, those who won’t but still support the cause and those who just want a cheap glass of beer at Hashigo and a discounted rigger at Regional. It's up to the organisation to balance these kinds of members and preserve the image and intent of the organisation.

Real Ale at the Races

Never let it be said that we let a bad beer selection get in the way of a good time. This weekend I made a mad dash to Otaki for a very short weekend away for my good friend Mulchin’s 30^th Birthday. I had to be back for work on Sunday and ended up having to race the train an extra stop in order to catch it home!

On Saturday we visited the Otaki Maori Racing Club meet at the Otaki racecourse. We knew the usual suspects were on offer from bar so decided to sort our own beer out. We set up a beer engine in the back of the van and enjoyed the good stuff

To make the weekend special I had organised 3 soft packs, a concept similar to nasty cask wine but bigger and without the nasty wine, filled with bright moderately conditioned beer. So my title is a little disingenuous as it was really bright ale at the races but that didn’t have the same ring to it!

Through the weekend we enjoyed Twisted Hop Goldings Bitter, Three Boys IPA and Three Boys Oyster Stout. All were tasting absolutely fantastic. We had the IPA at the races and it certainly hit the spot.

Cask Epic to be brewed at Everard’s

The next J.D. Weatherspoons International Real Ale Festival will feature a cask conditioned version of the New Zealand APA heavyweight Epic Pale Ale. Brewer Luke Nicholas will fly to the UK and brew a batch of the beer at Everards in Leicester. A Kiwi brewer brewing a beer with American ingredients in England, truly a global ale. I think Epic will be pretty good cask conditioned, it will be interesting to see what’s made of it in the UK.

Is that poster really saying the pints will cost over 8 pounds ?!!! or is it a blank for altering in the bar.

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

Wassail Brauhaus- Beer, Bed, and Breakfast

I first stayed at the Wassail Brauhaus last year while on a beer hunting road trip with the boys. Last week I returned with Sarah to celebrate her birthday. Wassail Brauhaus is a unique entity in New Zealand, a home stay that includes an attached brewery which produces a range of strong English ales which are provided complimentary with your night’s accommodation.

The Brauhaus is the creation of George and Marline Busby. George originally wanted to run a small scale professional brewery that would pay for his homebrewing and allow him to scale up. After George investigated the ‘red tape’ it became clear that it would be easier and cheaper for him to give the beer away for free than to comply with the requirements for a professional brewing operation.
The result is the Wassail Brauhaus a stand alone holiday chalet where each night George and Marline open up the bar in the wall between the living area and the brewery, put on an antipasto platter and everyone enjoys a few beers and each others company.

On my first visit I was privileged to sample the very last of an outstanding batch of smoked porter that had aged for a couple of years and was quite simply the finest smoked beer I have ever tasted. Alias due to its required long maturation time it seems never to be repeated. George regularly has a Pale Ale, an E.S.B. and a Dark Ale in the Stout/Porter ball park. All tend to be relatively strong partially as that’s what the Busby’s like but also in order that the beers last through out the summer once the brewing season ends. I didn’t take any tasting notes as that’s not really what its all about but the Dark Ale was probably my pick of the bunch with a lovely chocolaty dark malt character, the E.S.B. was rich in crystal malts and with a very notable character imparted from the yeast (Saf US-05) and the Pale Ale was malty and fresh.

The accommodation its self is of an extremely high standard, the bed is extremely comfortable with dramatic views of the Mountain (the picture above was taken from the bed!) and surrounding farmland. I highly recommend booking a stay, 2 nights weren’t enough.

Three Pints of Bitter

There is nothing like a freshly tapped bitter shared with those that count. Brooklyn Water, Maris Otter, Crystal , Sugar, Fuggels, Goldings, Styrians, a touch of yeast and a whole lot of contentment.

Townshend’s Brewery Rosedale, Upper Moutere

In May I was in the Nelson region judging at the New Zealand International Beer Awards. While I was down there Sarah, Craig Bowen and myself visited the Townshend real ale Brewery and Cider Press, undoubtedly the most farmhouse brewery I have ever visited, and promised to write a piece on it on my return. Stupidly I left my camera at the hotel and as a result took photos on Sarah’s cell phone; Luddite that I am it has taken me until now to work out how to download them.

Townshend Brewery is situated in Rosedale, a rural area outside of Nelson. The brewery is the work of English ex-pat Martin Townshend and is situated next to his family home tucked away in a wooded valley. The brewery fits into an eclectic mix of businesses the Townshends run which stretches from running the village chippie to raising seedlings. In addition to the fantastic spontaneously fermented cider that Martin ferments each year the brewery produces a range of English style real ales and a continental style wheat beer. The brewery is housed in a shed to the side of the house, with fermentation occurring in an old commercial chiller unit. Bottling and cellaring occur in a shipping container down the bank.

Martin's beers are all session beers designed for draught consumption, however with the change in ownership of the Prince Albert there is no outlet at present that will take his beers in cask conditioned form. Accordingly all the beers are presented bottle conditioned and in large part thanks to Craig Bowen's distribution are available in certain outlets. The tasting notes below are for the beers I was given for review and from those that are on sale at Island Bay New World (good old Maurice). The most notable omission is for the No 9 Stout which took out the Stouts and Porters Class at the NZIBA this year. I tasted it at judging and it was superb, however I don’t remember enough to rehash a tasting note.

Its an interesting and I think positive development in the NZ beer scene that truly small breweries like Townshends are opening up and finding a place in the market.

Cheers Martin!

Cathcarts NTA 3.8%avb

Pours a hazy burnished gold with a thick creamy head. Aroma features berryfruit, red apple, and a sweet rich crystal malt note. On the palate the over all impression is of a fruity, malty character. Red apple, and berries are joined by plum, and caramel leading to a balanced dry finish. Good stuff.

Dinner Ale 3.8%abv

Pours a deep copper with a slight haze. Aroma features crystal malt, restrained earthy hops, a touch of wood and a hint of apple fruit. On the palate there is sweet nutty malt, berry fruit, citrusy hops and a medium bitter finish. Perhaps a little more subdued than the description suggests, decent session beer that could probably use the dial being turned up a touch.

Weston’s Best 5%abv

Pours a clear deep amber with a creamy ’soft’ head. Aroma features earthy zesty hops, a hint of red apple and a nutty bready note. On the palate there is rich nutty malt, a little like whole grain, a powdery chocolate note, a slight stewed malt character, a touch of astringency leading to a firm bitter finish. Smart ESB, with only perhaps a little bit of malt astringency letting it down.

Travels

Sarah and myself are off to the Taranaki next week to celebrate her birthday. We are going to stay at the Wassail Brauhaus, a beer bed and breakfast run by George Busby. George decided some years ago that he wanted to take his home brewing a step further but not deal with the hassles of full blown commercial brewing. As a result he has set up a fantastic home stay where you pay for your nights accommodation and the corny-cask conditioned ales that flow from his brewery are complimentary. I have bought a new camera after drunkenly dropping my last one (one of the reasons my blogging has slowed significantly recently) so I should be able to do a good piece on it when I get back.

Bali Bitter

It’s not often that I veer from the topic of English beer and the English inspired beers that I brew. However recently at the supermarket I found three Indonesian real ales in a bottle, I knew I would have to not only check them out but also write something on them.

Located in Denpasar, the capital of the Indonesian state of Bali, Storm Brewing Co seems to be a fully active top fermenting craft brewer. I assumed on seeing the label that the Storm was a reference to the Boxing Day Tsunami, however upon checking out the website I see a far more fairy tale England explanation is given, check it out here.

The bottles encouragingly all display (the same) ingredients and I quote “Air, Gandum, Otter, Cristal, Jagung, Ragi, Karbondioksida, Hops/Rasa: Starian Golding (pahit)”. Now while I flatted for a year with a chap from Bali I never picked up a word of the lingo, but I think it can be deduced that Maris Otter pale (or I suspect extract), crystal malt and Styrian Golding hops went into these beers making a refreshing difference to usual Asian/Tropic lagers to come from that part of the world.

Now what were the beers like ? well of course I didn’t actually expect them to be very good, in fact I half expected them to fob and foam the minute I opened them. While they weren’t quite that bad they were like a decent early extract homebrew attempt. Regardless I’m glade I tried them.

Storm Beer Bronze Ale 5%abv

Pours a light brown with a big white head. Aroma features a hint of resiny hop, a dirty butterscotch character, and a grassy note. On the palate there is aggressive carbonation with a creamy mouth feel, dry caramel, more butterscotch, and a dry finish. My bottle was property of Mauritius Breweries. Interestingly Mauritius features in the totally absurd ’history’ of the brewery on the website.

Storm Beer Golden Ale 5%abv

Pours a dirty hazy gold with a fluffy white head. Aroma features a massive cherry character with a hint of iron. On the palate the big confected cherry character continues with a creamy mouth feel and a bone dry finish.

Storm Beer Pale Ale 5%abv

Pours a hazy gold with a fluffy white head. Aroma features huge tropical fruit character, lychees and pineapples which turns into a sherbety lemon lime as the beer warms. On the palate there is more sherbety citrus, a watery mouth feel, a super dry finish.

SOBA Homebrew Fest

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 Christchurch for the event. I served my Chilka IPA, while other highlights included Brendan’s Smoked Porter, Stu’s American Stout and a very popular Automotivly themed Belgian ale from organiser Rob Owen.

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.

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.