Are we importing the wrong beers? - IPA not really a traveller

With the current big thing in the NZ craft beer scene being heavy use of hops it’s hardly surprising that imports of big hopped craft beers from overseas are on the rise. Big hopped IPA’s and Double IPA’s from America, England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway and Japan are increasingly popping up around Wellington. I’m as involved as anyone in the import of these beers through my position at Regional where I range these sorts of beers and direct importers to source them. However recently in private I have started to wonder if these sorts of beers are really the best ones to ship the length of the earth.

What’s that I hear you say? But IPA is historically a travelling beer style?

Well there are two issues here. Firstly while the IPA’s of the India trade used to make the arduous journey to India they most likely bear precious little resemblance to the beers we call IPA today. While Martyn Cornell and Ron Pattinson are better qualified to talk about what historic IPA’s were like, I think I can safely say that the beers we call IPA today, heavily late hopped with modern resinous hop varieties, are a far cry from the IPA’s of the colonial era.
Late hop characters (i.e. flameout, whirlpool, and dry hopping) create striking aromas and flavours which are wonderful when experienced fresh, however these un-isomerised hop characters are moments in time. These beers fade really fast, they fall out of balance quickly as the stabilised hop compounds fall away and the considerable malt that was required to balance the hops is left sitting bold and prominent, the hop compounds oxidise and turn minerally leaving acrid unpleasant flavours.
The second consideration when thinking about IPA’s being a travelling style is that once the beers of old reached their harsh tropical destination the expectations were probably significantly low, any ale that didn’t resemble vinegar was probably hailed as a success and worthy of fetching a premium price. Today in an environment where we have some very good fresh locally produced options and are paying a premium price for these beers our standards are and should be higher than the ‘doesnt resemble vinegar’ threshold.
So often when I taste these modern imported IPA’s they are either heavily oxidised, or pleasant enough but obviously shadows of their former selves when compared with reports of them from their countries of origin.

What’s the solution?

I don’t know. I’m not suggesting we stop bringing these beers into the country, there is a market and it will be supplied one way or another. There are brewers who attempt to prevent their beers from being exported, Stones Greg Koch for example but to little effect considering despite his best efforts I could buy 7 of his beer brands right now if I wanted to. Small scale imports that will move through quickly are also a good idea but this often prevents the economy of scale that helps these imports work financially.

Hhmm.

Kings of Keg – Meantime

With their rejection of cask conditioning, Meantime is one of the more controversial English micros to find success in recent times. Alistair Hook’s training at Weihenstephan and Herriot Watt clearly shows its self in the range of Continental and New World styles he brews rather than the more traditional English session ales brewed by Brewlab trained micro brewers. Alistair gets a fair bit of flak from traditionalists and as an enthusiastic proponent of cask ale I can’t help but feel sympathy for their view.

Regardless of the politics I was genuinely excited to get the chance to try the Meantime IPA and Porter both of which stress their historical accuracy (nothing new here!) and see how they stacked up.

First up was the Pilsner, hardly a style close to my heart this beer ticked all the boxes but did it with little flair.

Pilsner 4.7%abv

Pours a crystal clear gold with a disappearing white head. Aroma features noble hops with a minerally slightly chalky character. On the palate there is a close balance between malt and hops, a very clean yeast profile with a light dry mouthfeel. there is a hint of lager malt flavour and a decent bitterness. Competent but unremarkable.

Next up a chocolate beer, often a novelty style pumped out for supermarket sales this one is probably the best I have ever tasted!

Chocolate 6.5%abv

Pours a near pitch black with a tan head. Aroma features rich Belgian chocolate, spicy resiny hops and hints of berry fruit. On the palate there is mouth filling chocolate, sweet rich confected malt, and a touch of warming alcohol. Lovely beer!

A suped up German style wheat beer this one left me wondering why if had to be 6.3%abv and why anyone exports such a fragile style.

Wheat Grand Cru 6.3%abv

Pours a mid gold with a fluffy white head. Aroma features phenolic cloves, a touch of cornflower, and a dusty note. On the palate cloves are continued, muted malt, and a short finish all matched with a flabby limp mouthfeel. Rather underwhelming beer that seems to drink way below its strength.

Coffee beer, another novelty style and one that is almost universally botched through brewers knowing lots about malt, hops and yeast and next to nothing about coffee. Coffee beers are often characterised by flavours of over extracted coffee and harsh bi products of beans left in contact with beer for way to long. This example surprised me with how good the espresso flavours were, like the chocolate beer was very well done.

Coffee 6%abv

Pours a dark mahogany with a tight white head. Aroma features earthy dusty stale espresso reminiscent of the coffee tin, a touch of charcoal, and sweet toffee malt. On the palate there is an initial burst of bitter hops, coffee acidity cushioned by sweet chunky toffee, a touch of sweetened short black, and a long bitter/sour acidic finish. Good stuff.

The first of the ‘historic recreations’. The London Porter was an interesting and enjoyable beer let down only by a minty medicinal character that built up in the palate as I made my way down the glass.

London Porter 6.5%abv

Pours a dark red with a beige head. Aroma features sappy hops, a hint of banana and light grainy chocolate. On the palate there is firm understated roast grain, a hint of chocolate and caramel malt, banana, and minty character that becomes more and more medicinal as the beer warms. The finish is malty and medicinal. Good beer although medicinal character detracts somewhat from the whole.

The India Pale Ale is renowned for being overly sweet and it lived up to its reputation. While there were all sorts of good flavours going on in the end these were smothered by an overwhelmingly sweet unfermented malt character that left the beer rather sickly.

India Pale Ale 7.5%abv

Pours a light gold with a thick white head. Aroma features zesty hops, melons, and lime contributing to a tropical character. Also a rather off putting saccharine sugary note with touches of caramel. On the palate Melons and lime make a quick appearance before succumbing to a sickly barley sugar character, stewed malt, sugary unfermented malt, ending in a long bitter finish. Could be a fantastic beer if it was attenuated properly.

So again a bit of a mixed bag, the Coffee Porter and the Chocolate Beer shown through as the real stars certainly over shadowing the spectacularly packaged Porter and IPA.

Beer Import

One of the things that makes it hard running a blog on British beer is that I am so far from the action. Often the beers that are discussed and debated are not available to me. So when Rumbles brought an import of 40 plus beers in recently including both Meantime and Brewdog beers I was excited to say the least.

Here’s what I bought:

- Meantime IPA

- Meantime Porter

- Meantime Pilsner

- Meantime Chocolate

- Meantime Coffee

- Meantime Wheat Grand Cru

- Brewdog Punk IPA

- Brewdog Hardcore IPA

- Brewdog Hoprocker

- Brewdpg Riptide

- Brain SA

- Bradfield Farmer Brown Cow

- Cropton Balmy Mild

- Coniston Old Man Ale

The bank balance groans, but I am happy, tastings to come.