Beer from the North for the Boy from the North.

For the last 2 months I have been trying to rent the empty room in my house. Earlier this week Paul the Manc and Penny the dog moved in. To mark the arrival of this northern gentleman I decided I would hook into a few northern beers. As its hard to find beer from the capital of the north in this neck of the woods (I wouldn’t subject myself to Boddingtons) I selected a range of beers from around the north of England, no mention of sparklers, coal mines or football, honest…

Nick Stafford Hambleton Stud 4.6%abv
North Yorkshire

An interesting beer although not one I would want a session on. This tasted like it had been matured in wood although I’m sure it hadn’t been.

Pours a light yellow white wispy head. Aroma features preserved candifruit, hints of ripe stone fruit, a touch of woody oak. On the palate the woody note is pronounced with a light fruity whisky character. The mouth feel is decidedly light almost thin with a slightly hollow finish. This reminded me of a scotch on the rocks that’s been left till the ice has melted. Very interesting beer, , Id love to know where the oak/whisky character is coming from.

Black Sheep Ale 4.4%abv
North Yorkshire

A common sight in my recycling bin, one of the few decent beers sold by my local off license.

Pours a nice mid amber with a moderate white head. Aroma features tangy earthy hops with an almost tussock-like grassy note. On the palate there are hints of marmalade, and a rich yet dry English malt character that sits in tight balance with a firm bitterness. Dependable pint.

Thwaites Lancaster Bomber 4.4%abv
Lancashire

I enjoyed the mild, but I have tried this twice and it has never been up to much.

Pours deep amber with a fluffy white head. Aroma features fruity tangy hops, with a touch of stewed malt and an oxidative character. ON the palate there is sweet malt, more stewed malt and oxidised hop leading to a firm but slightly harsh bitterness. Past its best.

Jennings Sneck Lifter 5.1%abv
Cumbria

Original tasty ale that somewhat defies style, very nice.

Pours a dark amber with a fluffy beige head. Aroma features sharp fresh hops, with a hint of banana fruit. On the palate there is sweet rich roasty malt, banana and a firm bitter finish. Well constructed original beer.

The Wedding Update

The wedding was a big success, a beautiful mix of Hindu and Maori tradition followed by a solid shin dig. The beer went down well and was all consumed but lasted well into the early hours of the morning. If I did it again I would make sure the kegs were racked bright. I certainly underestimated just how roughly the kegs would be treated and the beer was pretty murky as a result. Still at the end of the day everyone was happy.


Cheers to the new husband and wife.

The Bride Ale

So you reckon you’re a pretty prolific home-brewer? You think you have brewed a fair bit of beer in your time? Well this weekend is the culmination of several months work when I will be providing the draught beer for my friend Chet’s wedding. I have a golden ale, a stout and an amber ale prepared for the day. The 650 guests will have the potential to empty my reserves in one round if they all decide try my beer but we all know that wont happen.. Most of the guests won’t be drinking beer, and of the beer drinkers most won’t touch anything that isn’t yellow and fizzy.

Hopefully my ales will go down well, it’s always a nervous situation when you serve up your wares to strangers, it will be a fantastic day what ever happens.

IPA Verses APA

Latter this week Regional Wines and Spirits will be holding their monthly beer tastings with this months series being on the theme of India Pale Ale contrasted with American Pale Ales. I thought I would get into the spirit of things and do a little comparison myself.

On a sun drenched evening earlier this week I sat down on my deck with 3 IPAs, a lamb madras and a palak paneer from the new Indian takeaway up the valley. On another evening I cranked Tom Petty and Johnny Cash on the stereo and tasted my way through 3 American or American style Pale Ales.

Ladies and Gentlemen in the Red corner wearing stars and stripes with an eagle on the shoulder and a menacing look in there eyes we have Epic Pale Ale, Emerson APA and Anchor Liberty, in the blue corner wearing the Union Jack with a cricket bat in their hands and a Leicester City FC scarf around the shoulder we have Deuchars IPA (wearing a Union Jack!!? The Scots will hate that) Goose Island IPA and Burton Bridge Empire Ale. A good clean fight…

Caledonian Deuchars IPA 4.4%ABV

We start with a modern day UK IPA low in strength and not as heavily hopped as one might imagine an IPA should be but as Ron Pattinson has so challengingly shown its hypocritical to refuse to accept a low strength IPA yet embrace a low strength Mild.

Pours a reassuring pale hue with a thick white head that climbs out of the glass. Aroma features heathery hops a touch of fresh red apple, and a touch of barley sugar. On the palate there is a dry barley sugar note, loads of heathery hop flavour and a chewy mouth feel all leading to a smooth bitterness.

Epic Pale Ale 5.4%ABV

The first APA up and it’s the star of recent NZ beer history. Full of American hops and finding its way into chillers that have never seen a craft beer in there lives its big its brash and you’ll never again be hopless.

Pours a pale gold with a sustained white head. Aroma features a complex mix of lychees, a touch of gooseberry, an un defined tropical fruit note, tropic Just Juice? . On the palate there is lots of tropical fruit, a slight salty note, some sweet malt a slightly hollow finish that seems to be neither bitter nor sweet. Fantastic aroma, a little unbalanced on the palate.

Goose Island IPA 5.9%ABV

A classic American IPA that is well known for its resinous hop weight.

Pours a mid gold with a billowing thick white head. Aroma features big bold raw hop aroma, slightly dusty earthy hopsack note. On the palate there is biscuity sweet malt, tangy grapfruit and a smooth ballanced finish. Im sure I remeber this as being more bitter in the past.

Emerson’s APA 2006 vintage 6%ABV

Here I have cheated and offered up an archive tasting note on last years Emerson’s APA vintage.

Balance is the catch cry for the 2006 version. Outstanding fruity citric grapefruit with some lychee aromas jump out of the glass while on the palate citric hop flavour and luscious complex malt vie perfectly.

Burton Bridge Empire Ale 7.5% ABV

A historical IPA recipe from a micro brewer in Burton very interesting beer, not nearly as fragrant as modern interpretations.

Very interesting historic IPA. Pours a mid gold with a tight white head. Aroma features a heady mix of yeasty fruit notibly apple perhaps some white grape, and alcohol. Palate starts with sweet malt, more apple some warmth then a resounding bitterness. Estery warm ale.

Anchor Liberty 5.9%ABV

A classic American Pale Ale , arguably the APA that started the style, hoppy and resinous yet well cushioned with malt character.

Pours a mid gold with thick sustained white head. Aroma features citrusy hops, notably grapefruit and a cracker like malt note. On the palate there is more citrusy hop that is well balanced by biscuity malt culminating in a firm bitterness.

Who’s the winner ? don’t be daft its like apples and pears mate. I guess that’s a draw. I will see what happens at the tastings.

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Update 26/10/07:

In true post modern fashion this blog entry about the Regional Wines tasting was used as a resource at the Regional Wines tasting. The public feeling seemed to be in favour of the IPA's over the APA's , I would probibly agree with that.

I was also informed that tasting notes from this blog will be featured in the next Regional Wines newsletter, rather flattering.

Apply the Brakes!

Brakspear was one of Britain’s most loved breweries. The level of passion for the Brakspear Brewery can be seen bubbling out of the writing of Roger Protz and the late Michael Jackson. Indeed when it was closed there was a palpable level of bitterness expressed by the aforementioned writers, New Zealand’s very own Geoff Griggs swore to return and march up and down the road outside the brewery in protest. As has happened with so many family breweries the real-estate value of the brewery ended up outstripping the production value of the brewery, at least that’s the argument.

I have always been captivated by the Brakspear Brewery in part because of the obvious love held by the likes of Messers Protz, Griggs and Jackson, in part because of the unique fermentation system that was employed and in part because of the intense Englishness with which the brewery has always been presented.

I’m a self professed anglophile, my flatmates know that when watching Midsomer Murder dvds pub scenes will always be viewed frame by frame to see what’s on the pump clips, yes I’m a geek and I’m ok with that. Brakspear has always seemed to fit into that mythical England of ‘Oxbridge’ rowing races, country villages, and riverside pubs. This has of course undoubtedly been helped by a vigorous marketing campaign where the slogan 'apply the brakes!” has accompanied various Enid Blytonesque scenes.

The beer has always been pretty good to. After the brewery closed, production eventually found its way to the Wychwood Brewery in Witney. The unique double drop system that moves the fermenting wort into a lower chamber mid way through the primary fermentation was installed and the beers apparently taste very similar to how they used to taste.

Earlier this year Beerforce started to bring some of the Brakspear beers into New Zealand and I was given my first chance to try double dropped beer.

Brakspear Organic Beer 4.6%

Pours a mid gold with a light diminishing white head. The aroma features a distinctive honeyed character, with a rich earthy hopsack note. On the palate earthy resinous hops and honeyish malt vie ending with a tangy firm bitterness.

Brakspear Triple 7.2%

Pours a mid amber with a fluffy white head. Aroma features zesty hop aroma with a hint of caramel malt and a touch of berry fruit. On the palate there is a big tangy hop character, bitter fruit in the mid palate leading to a sweet smooth tangy finish. I have had 3 bottles of this now with some being more malt accented where as when I sat down to write some notes it tasted hoppier. Good stuff.

Tui touches down in the motherland.

I’m back from playing at being the landed gentry. Let me tell you its pretty nice living how the other ½ live, and I suspect its somewhat less than ½. I had a fantastic time and managed to introduce the CEO of Te Mata Cheeses to Thomas Hardy’s Ale. He loved it although in line with his experience with wine immediately named it a ‘beer sticky’. On our way up we drove through the Wairarapapa. At Mangatainoka sits the Tui Brewery now part of the Dominion Breweries group. It became part of the national company in 1969 having been founded in 1889. Tui was a traditional Victorian brewery. It brewed real ale and was known for the quality of its IPA, Brown Ale and Stout. In the 1930’s a Tower brewery was built like the Victorian Towers of the century before. After WW2 the environment became very difficult for regional brewers and most were eaten up by either New Zealand Breweries (that is, Lion) or Dominion Breweries. This was the age of continuous fermentation, a process designed by Morton Coutts a New Zealander, which splits the fermentation process into two stages and allows wort to be constantly fed through the production line. When Tui was acquired instead of shutting it down a continuous fermentation system was installed to provide a base to take on the New Zealand Breweries Brewery in Wellington. All this results in the fact that a brewery that looks like a traditional gem is in fact a lager factory and the brand Tui IPA that was once an English style pale ale of some regard is now an industrial amber lager with some pretty serious flaws which stem from the yeast having been treated like slave labour So why have I wasted my time writing this?

Well it seems the two big New Zealand Breweries have decided its time to take on England, for the expat market , the English market or both. While Lion has exported their pub, DB have been getting some concerning good press for Tui IPA. In the latest Beers of the World magazine issue Jeff Evans of CAMRA Good Bottled Beer Guide fame gave Tui a 7.5 out of ten. Now beer-pages.com, the site run by Roger Protz and Tom Cannanvan have offered a mix case beer club deal that is meant to include decent examples of different styles with Tui as its IPA example!!

For those of you who are lucky enough to have never tasted Tui, we aren’t talking Greene King IPA here, Tui makes that seem flawless and strictly to style, more we are talking Tetley’s Creamflow or John Smith’s Smooth but not as clean.

What the hell is going on ??!!

Saving Kiwis overseas from experiance

One of the more concerning pieces of news recently has been the much hyped export of a Speights Ale House to London by Lion Breweries which docked at Canary Warf this week. While English bloggers such as Stonch have shown some excitement and interest over the move, myself and many of my beer interested country men feel just a little sick about it.

For generations New Zealand has had the tradition of the big OE, or overseas experience where the young have travelled to the Motherland, usually London to work and gain experiences that they would not get in New Zealand. One of the positive consequences of this tradition has been that when these people return to New Zealand they return with tastes that have been shaped by what they eat and drank in Europe. Many of New Zealand’s pioneering craft brewers discovered that there was more to beer than sweet amber lager while on their OE and came home on a mission to increase the range of beers available within NZ. The back story to the promotion has been that some Kiwis living in London have missed Speights Gold Medal Ale so much that they asked the brewery to send some over and the brewery in response sent a whole pub. Leaving aside the fact that this is all far to convenient to be real , it beggars the question is the beer in London now so bad that a boring mass produced lager had to be exported to fill the void? Of course not.

This is like if a high profile ‘English Pub’ opened in Time Square New York selling Carling through fake handpumps and claiming it was there so people didn’t have to drink that crappy American beer anymore, it just makes me cringe.

It also appears that it will just be Speights Gold Medal Ale on sale, all publicity so far has shown a full bank of taps all with matching Speights Gold labels.