The last brew

Well it all did go to plan. It was a wonderful thing to witness. The heady aromas of green fruity Motueka hops being pummelled in the hopback by hard working brewers all for the sake of creating a special harvest ale. . It was also sad. The loss of Macs from Wellington is bad for Wellington undoubtedly, but also I fear it may spell the end of a craft ethos for the brand. Witnessing the brewing of Brewjolias drew it all into perspective, watching the brewers sweating away working the wort from the kettle through the hop bed was like some scene from a Victorian brewery, it was pure daft labour intensive work all in order to create something special. In short it was the sort of thing that a craft brewery would do, but not the sort of thing a large brewery would do. I hope I am proved wrong and Christchurch carries on the craft ethos that undoubtedly existed at Wellington. I will cross my fingers but I wont hold my breath.

The Hop Back

Green Hopped

I have been invited along to the last brew at Macs Wellington today. Fittingly they have chosen a rather special brew to finish brewing operations in Wellington before they rip the brewery apart and send it down to Christchurch. Today they are brewing Brewjolais the annual green hopped beer. Early this morning a van will have set off for the Nelson hop fields via the interislander ferry. The van will be loaded with freshly picked green hops and will then speed its way towards the brewery again via the Interisalnder. Meanwhile the brewers will have been busy brewing the beer getting it towards the crucial point where the fresh resinious green hops will come into play. At 5pm I will head down to the brewery at which point the van should be arriving and the brew will be nearing the end of its boil, the hops will go into the hopback the wort will run through it and some marvelous aromas will be enjoyed. That’s if everything goes to plan. Fingers crossed.