SOBA NHC 2010

This weekend the judging of the 2010 SOBA National Homebrew Competition takes place. I will be flying to Hamilton to help judge over 300 beers in two days. This is a pretty staggering task, at the pro brewing competitions I have judged at we would usually do 60-80 beers a day , even with three tables working independently we will have to be knocking off far more than that a day.
I always look forward to judging the NHC (even if I didn’t really want to this year as I wanted to enter!) as the range of beers on offer is always far more interesting than in pro comps. The overall standard might be lower but the standard rises each year. Several years ago the most common fault was bacterial infection with some absolutely intense infections still featuring in some judges nightmares, however more recently it has been the more subtle faults of the sort you find at commercial competition. The best beers are always absolutely fantastic and a tribute to the standard of homebrewing culture that is developing in this country.

Good luck to all who have entered and wish us judges luck in the task ahead!

SOBA Matariki Winter Ales Festival 2010

The last fortnight has been intense with my first pro brew experience, a trip to Dunedin and catering for 3 different events and hosting 2 tutored beer tastings. Things have calmed sufficiently to do a bit of writing.
I will start with SOBA’s first pro beer festival. On Saturday we managed to pull off a winter ales festival without a hitch. 250 punters managed to get through 650 litres of 20 different beers. I catered the event cooking up a Beef Mushroom and Ale Stew, a Chicken Vindaloo and a Aloo Gobi curry. This was undoubtedly the biggest catering gig I have ever undertaken .
The festival had an awesome vibe everyone in really good form, the two security guards we hired had nothing to do all day.
There were some fantastic beers on offer, My picks of the festival would have been the Golden Bear Winter Ale (tasting like a NZ hopped slightly toned down version of Sierra Nevada Celebration) Townshend Dubloon (rich malt accented strong bitter with a good hoppy finish) and the Rogue John John barrel aged Dead Guy. There were a lot of beers I missed as I was in the kitchen for most of the day keeping the rice supply going and heating the currys and stew to keep the bain marie full.
I think the festival offered something unique to the NZ beer scene. Hopefully this model for SOBA festivals continues and prospers because it offers the opportunity to take great beer experiences around the country rather than having everything based in Wellington.

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.

Beer and Cheese Column #1

Recently I have been writing a column for “The Pursuit of Hoppyness” which is the S.O.B.A. newsletter and magazine. With the second issue to feature my column having just been released I thought I would publish the first column here on the blog. If you are interested the current issue is available for download here.

BEER AND FOOD MATCHING
Ale and Cheese – The Perfect Partners
While the words ‘wine and cheese’ may confidently slip
off the most sophisticated of tongues the combination
itself often pales in comparison to the pairing of beer and
cheese. The sharp, fruity, tannic notes that wine offers
often provide contrast to cheese but there is seldom the
element of harmony that can create a match that is greater
than the sum of its parts. Beer on the other hand contains
a complex array of aromas, flavours and sensations that
can both contrast and accentuate the character of the
cheese.
It is no coincidence that beer and cheese make good
partners as they share both a history and a purpose. Both
beer and cheese are fermented foods where a raw product,
in the first instance grain, the second milk, are transformed
in order to prolong their ‘shelf life’. In the days prior to
refrigeration this was extremely important. Both also can
trace their history to the chores of the farmhouse wife
whose responsibility was both to ferment the grain into
ale and the milk into cheese. Techniques for the production
of both experienced significant improvement at the hands
of Monks who had to provide sustenance for both
themselves and travelling pilgrims, and more recently
both have experienced significant industrialisation resulting
in standardised characterless products. Thankfully both
have experienced a craft revival with increasing interest
in characterful living artisan products.
In each issue I will present a different match of beer
styles and cheeses, drawing on my experience as both
homebrewer, cheesemonger, beer drinker and cheese buff.

The Traditional Ploughman’s

It has been suggested that the ‘Ploughman’s Lunch’ is nothing
more than a cynical fiction created by advertising executives
in the 1960s as a way of growing the food sales in pubs. On his fantastically informative blog
http://zythophile.wordpress.com the English beer historian Martyn Cornell has explored the history of the ‘Ploughman’s Lunch’ concluding that while the name
may be recent - 1957 seems the oldest reference yet found - the tradition of bread, beer and cheese is certainly well established.
But enough with the controversy of history and let us get on to the glorious match that can be made between traditional cheddar and ale. The combination of sharp crumbly aged cheddar and traditional English ale is both the one which jumps to people’s minds when you mention
beer and cheese and the one which I count as closest to my heart.

The Cheese

Much as the New Zealand beer market is awash with mass produced lagers the cheese market is
inundated with young mass produced cheddar. However, characterful products are out there if you hunt. My favourite example comes from Barry’s Bay just out of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula. Barry’s Bay Cheddar is produced in traditional rounds rather than the square blocks that other cheddars are produced in. The rounds are wrapped in cloth before being aged for 2½ to 3 years.
The cheese that emerges is rich, meaty and creamy at the core while closer to the rind it develops earthy notes reminiscent of horseradish and bonfires. The overall impression is of a complex cheese which is sharp with out being overly salty.

There are other examples of Cheddar that are produced in less artisan ways that nonetheless through aging achieve a high quality character. Kaimai Mature Cheddar from the Waikato, Totara Tasty from Whitestone Cheeses in Oamaru and Linkwater Cheddar from my employer Moore Wilson’s in Wellington all sit in this category. All are produced in large cheese factories but gain significant character from several years of aging. With Linkwater, the cheese is aged from 3 to 4 years and emerges with a creamy yet crumbly texture, a rich savoury palate and a sharp finish developing salty protein crystals with time.

The Beer

There are several criteria a beer must tick to stand up to the more characterful of cheddars. Firstly, there needs to be a distinct malt profile, typified by the rich body of the likes of Maris Otter, with its nutty and caramel notes. Secondly, there must be an evident earthy hop character whether it reveals itself just as bitterness or as flavour and aroma also. Finally the fruity character of an English ale yeast helps to bind the whole experience together.

Stylistically the beers best suited to this task range from Best Bitter through Extra Special Bitter and English style IPA’s, with some of the best matches coming from the family of Old Burton winter warmers, an old style now represented by the Old Ale and Strong Ale categories.
English imports such as Fuller’s 1845, Marston’s Owd Roger, Adnam’s Broadside, Theakston’s Old Peculier and Black Sheep Riggwelter do the trick. For a local match try Tuatara IPA or Emerson’s Old 95.

The Match
As with any beer and cheese match, the balance between the flavours involved needs to be considered. Accordingly, the stronger the cheddar, the stronger the beer should be.
With the ‘milder’ aged cheddars such as Kaimai Mature cheddar, where the emphasis is on rich creaminess, a good match can be found in Fuller’s E.S.B. The rich creamy character of the cheese can find a harmony in the nutty English malt profile of the beer, while the marmalade fruit
provides a contrast. Finally, the earthy bitterness cleanses the palate, while the carbonation lifts the milk fats from the palate preparing you for the next sip.

With stronger, sharper, funkier cheddars like Barry’s Bay, a bottle conditioned strong ale such as Old 95, with its rich malt and orangey New Zealand hop character, or Fuller’s 1845, with its biscuit like amber malt character and its assertive bitterness, both provide harmonious
moments where cream and malt blend together. A true union of earthy notes where hops and funky rind character combine and ultimately contrast as the bitterness lingers.

It is a testament to fermented food that such a complex range of flavours are to be had from one of the world’s simplest pub snacks. In the next issue I will look at the combination of goat cheese and wheat beer.