CT Column 25/05/2011: Mash Up with the Hop Zombie

LAST week saw the release of Hop Zombie Double IPA.
Hop Zombie is the first new Epic beer to be released since the one man brewing company doubled its workforce. Late last year it was announced that head brewer Luke Nicholas would be employing Kelly Ryan who had carved a successful brewing career in the UK where he had been the head brewer at the Thornbridge Brewery. Kelly Ryan played a key role in formulating Hop Zombie blending hop varieties that had never been blended before and combining them with an extremely pale but rich malt profile.
The resulting beer absolutely broadcasts exotic tropical fruit aromas with notes of lychee, lime, pineapple and a hint of pine. In the mouth it is dangerously balanced and drinkable for its 8.5%abv with a firm rich malt character, heaps of tropical fruit flavour and a long fruity finish.
The beer has surprised a lot of the die hard Epic fans as it isn’t just a bigger bolder version of Epic Armageddon the company’s IPA and definitely shows that two highly skilled brewers have worked together on it. To use Luke Nicolas’ term a ‘shed load of hops’ have been added to Hop Zombie, 90kg’s in 3200 litres of beer and yet the beer is incredibly balanced and drinkable.
Also new out on the market from Epic is a new beer that has arisen out of the world’s largest ever collaboration brew. Over the summer Luke and Kelly travelled the country with a film crew in tow visiting the nation’s craft brewers. An internet TV show has been produced to document the trip which culminated in a collaboration brew at Steam brewing in Auckland where brewers from around the country contributed ideas to brew a beer that would sum up the craft brewing ethos of New Zealand. The result is a 6%abv fruity New Zealand hopped golden ale called Mash Up which is also the name of the TV show. You can watch the first episode of the show at www.nzcraftbeer.tv.
Cheers

CT Column 18/05/2011: In Season

IN the Belgian province of Wallonia there is a long tradition of farmhouse brewing. Wallonian farmers used to brew tart refreshing ales to sustain and pay farm labourers in the same way that English farms used to ferment cider. These beers were traditionally brewed in spring before the high temperatures of summer spoiled the fermenting beer and were laid down to be drunk at the end of summer during the harvest. The seasonal nature of these brews lead to them being referred to as Saison which is French for season.
As a result of its farmhouse origins the saison style is a very broad church with a range of different interpretations being brewed. What all good Saisons have in common is a citric, tart, peppery refreshing quality created by the special yeasts used to ferment them, relatively heavy hopping, and sometimes the use of spices.
The classic Saison producer is commonly believed to be Brasserie Dupont, a sizable producer that is still located on a farm. There are currently 2 beers from Dupont imported into New Zealand, the zesty dry somewhat austere Saison Dupont and the stronger more fruity Moinette Blonde. Both are outstanding beers that make wonderful accompaniments to a wide range of foods particularly spicy dishes such as Thai curries where the peppery sharpness of the beer can balance the spicy richness of the food.
The Invercargill Brewery has just released their interpretation of the style. Named SA!SON as a reference to the fact that Dominion Breweries until recently held the trademark to Saison, the Invercargill brew is appropriately fruity and zesty with a big tangerine citrus character, some exotic tropical fruit notes and a dry tart finish. It’s a limited autumn release so get some while you can!
Meanwhile the beer world is currently holding its breath as we await the result of the IPONZ hearing into the trademarking of the word Radler, a style of German shandy. Consumer Group the Society of Beer Advocates, of which I am a member, have challenged the trademark as they contend that beer styles shouldn’t be trademarked. The judgement should be out in the next month.

Lost in Translation

The number of handpumps in NZ seems to be constantly growing although the numbers are still low. For someone like myself who loves cask beer this is great. Of course the vast majority of beer that passes through these handpumps is not cask conditioned but degassed keg beer or unconditioned bright beer. There is nothing wrong with this and it’s a great ½ way house between keg and cask. It is in my opinion not as good as cask at its best but it is a realistic product for a nation of pubs and bars without cellars or staff with the knowledge to condition and care for cask beer. So far so good. There is however a growing trend for putting seriously strong beers through the handpump which I do find strange. For me drinking from a handpump is all about session drinking preferably by the pint. When I see 10%abv Imperial Stouts and 8%abv strong porters being served on the hand pump it makes me think that we are missing the point a little.

Monday Night at the Albar

I stand at the end of the bar, sipping my pint of mild and nibbling on a piece of crunchy home baked pork rind. The pub has a warm cosy vibe tonight, a refuge from the darkening winters night outside and a bustle of workers making their way home. Richard enthuses about his handiwork and quite right to, the mild is 3%abv, tawny and absolutely bursting with flavour and body, I could drink it all night. I watch down the bar , the handpumps are working hard, May is Handpump Festival at Albar, the pump closest to me is dispensing my creation. I watch as punters order pints, real pints imperial pints not like the ones up north, sniff the voluminous sparkler driven white foam (that will not adorn my pint when I get to ordering it) and then sip deep. They seem to like it, I like it, all is well.

Women and Homebrewing

I was recently interviewed for an article on homebrewing for the Domion Post . One of the questions put to me was whether I thought homebrewing was an inherently male preoccupation or if I thought the rising numbers of Female beer drinkers, and female professional brewers would result in the more female homebrewers. The question got me thinking, I had already been mulling over some similar concepts after reading Claire Monk’s blog about the sexism she faces in the UK being a female brewer (I hope things are different here in our more enlightened corner of the south pacific for our female pro brewers) . I said I thought the numbers of female homebrewers would increase even though I currently know of less female homebrewers than I have fingers. The reporter said how another local beer personality had described homebrewing as baking for blokes implying that it’s a male past time. There certainly is an element of blokes pottering in sheds about homebrewing. I would love to hear opinions from any female homebrewers out there.

CT Column 11/05/2011: The Rex Attitude

Kiwi’s are always incredibly keen to achieve world firsts. We flew first, we climbed Mt Everest first, we stepped onto Antarctica first, we gave women the vote first, we made the first commercial bungee jump and now we have brewed Rex Attitude, the world’s first 100% peated malt beer. With some of these acts we were just way ahead of our time; with some of the others we were riding the line between recklessness and bravery. Time will tell which category Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude will fall into. Either way everyone who tries Rex is left with the very definite impression that they have tried something unique.

Last year Yeastie Boy head brewer Stu McKinlay came up with the idea of brewing a beer with the peated malt that many Scottish whiskey distillers use to make whiskey. Peated malt is cured or kilned over peat fires which impart all sorts of smoky, earthy, spicy characters to the malt. Peated Malts are occasionally used in beers but usually in very small amounts. When Stu was told that 5% was the absolute maximum amount he should consider using he decided he would in his own words “ignore the wowsers” and start with 100% and scale it back from there if he felt the need. Stu combined the peated malt with Willamette hops and a clean subtle American ale yeast. Upon tasting the beer Stu was convinced it was the best thing he had ever brewed, 2 tonnes of peated malt were ordered from Scotland and a full production batch of the beer was produced.
Last week the beer hit the market. The real test came at the launch party when the first unsuspecting member of the public came into contact with one of the most ‘out there’ beers ever produced anywhere. Local beer photographer Jed Soane was in attendance to capture what he calls The Rex Attitude, the moment when people put the glass to their lips and are totally shocked-surprised-delighted by what they encounter.

So what does this totally unique beer taste like?
Rex Pours a light shade of gold with a tight white head and positively broadcasts aromas of deep earthy smoke, some light heathery kipper notes, and a spicy slightly ashen note. In the mouth light fruity citrus tinged hops make an appearance before big earthy smoky slightly medicinal peat character kicks in and slowly fades. Rex Attitude is a hugely complex beer that will change significantly as it ages, it has already changed a lot over the fortnight I have been tasting it.
Rex Attitude is available at Thorndon and Island Bay New World, Rumbles, Moore Wilson’s, Regional Wines, Hashigo Zake, The Hop Garden, and The Malthouse.

Note: unedited version.

CT Column 4/05/2011:A Right Royal Snub

LAST Friday’s Royal wedding should really have been a celebration of everything that England does well. Unfortunately instead it turned into a shining example of how the English can denigrate and disregard the very things they excel at.
A week before Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding it was announced that beer would be banned from the reception. An insider was quoted as saying, “Let’s face it, it isn’t really an appropriate drink to be serving in the Queen’s presence at such an occasion.” So apparently despite the fact that beer is Britain’s national drink, one of it’s few surviving manufacturing industries, one of the icons that people think about when they think of Mother England (the Royal family being another!) and an industry that has a long and proud association with the Royal family, it is not appropriate for it to be consumed in the Queen’s presence. There is of course no evidence that the Queen holds these views. Her mother was an enthusiastic drinker and was often photographed pulling and drinking pints of ale at ceremonial occasions, Prince Charles has his own brand of beer that uses organic barley from his own estate and one of the ways the Royal family marked the birth of William was to brew a celebratory ale! In 1982 Earl Spencer , William’s uncle travelled to Burton Upon Trent to brew Princes Ale to mark the birth of the new heir to the throne. So what has happened? I suspect as so often happens with the Royal family, the spin doctors have got it terribly wrong. It would have been bad enough for Britain’s national drink to have been omitted from proceedings but they have gone further than that by describing beer as being inappropriate for the occasion, a huge slap in the face to the English brewing community and one that comes after breweries throughout the UK have been brewing Royal Wedding Ales to mark the occasion and wish the couple well. English beer writer Pete Brown called on those brewers to re-brand their wedding ales with republican motifs and for pubs to not play the wedding coverage. A sad state of affairs and one that as a self professed anglophile makes me cringe. On a more positive note closer to home the world’s first 100% peated malt beer, Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude was released with much Scottish fanfare last Saturday. More on that next week! Cheers.