[raise1glass-blog]

An American Dream.

Around the states in 8(0) beers.

A musical accompaniment to this story can be found,nay, rocked out to, at: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/An+American+Dream+Musical+Accompinament/100721574

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It’s  April, August (such is the level of my procrastination) September and I’m dusting off a winter jacket I bought to battle an incredible icy blast through the southern United States. We got back from America at the end of January, that’s almost twice as long ago (and the rest), than the time we spent there.

I promised myself and others that I’d write down my thoughts on that trip, thoughts on beer and thoughts on a culture I think I’ve feared, loved, loathed and defended all within a breath. Many memories of the trip are vivid, some are already forgotten, some need jogging. I distinctly remember watching a Bald Eagle flap and glide over a marshy truck stop in Mississippi, sauntering past Beyonce on a misty New Orleans evening and watching her peddle away down Frenchman St, the distinct Jus D’Orange tang and intoxicating aroma of those hops. Fresh, fresh American IPA’s in Portland. Then again I try harder and harder to remember what happened on this particular day or what we ate at that place, America is steadily becoming a haze of JC Penny’s, great family meals, burgers and big skies. Dreamlike, I’m struggling to pull apart what was actually real and what is my imagination, of a land, that grabbed it.

‘Lets not beat about the bushel’, I’m thinking of well known phrases, inserted with beer related ingredients, ‘you’ll get the grist.’ We’re sat in a Waffle House, it’s a delight, like I’m on a film set. Mike chops and chews his breakfast and says “yessir” and “yes ma’am.” The larger than life waitress is only too pleased to help, I say “thank you” for my top up of inky coffee and automatically sound like a Bond baddie or more befitting for modern telly a ‘Stark boy.’ Liz points out things about plastic,and corn syrup and grease, lots of grease and batter. Outside it’s starting to spit. We’re heading to America’s 2010 and 2011 ‘Beer city’, Asheville, North Carolina.

Burial Beer is a shed, a tool shed on Collier Avenue. An industrial street like any other with warehouses and plastic molding companies. Though this area houses two breweries I’ve been itching to see and taste beers from. At Burial there’s a homely feel inside, homely in a reminiscent sense of a grandpa’s workshop. Cast iron work tools adorn the walls, and a picture of Sloth from the Goonies draws my attention. The bar is simple, the roof is all patched corrugated steel. The beers are served in jars, hipster chic, probably, do I care, possibly, until I see a young lady behind the bar juggling a little one, dealing with all the stuff we bartenders do naturally without anyone else seeing, and still listening to some guys story about Allen Keys. She’s a whizz, another chap introduces himself to a couple at the bar, he’s talking brewing, someone else in a Burial hoodie arrives with boxes. The Burial team beam beer, they wear their pumping passionate hearts on their sleeves and its infectious. Well it is to me, the two lads at the bar are still talking about Allen keys. The temperature outside has plummeted, I can see Liz is concerned about driving as a thin layer of sleet begins to fall. I plumb for a swift jar of the Amber…..its great!

Burial: Shovel head Amber, 5.1%, Keg

(Notes)

Nicely balanced with a chic malt lining, the hops then turn up, Simcoe, Amarillo? Its all freshly squeezed ‘pithy’ orange juice in the finish.

Burial: Surfwax IPA, 6.8%, Keg

(Notes)

Grassy, tastes like a good session PA, no obvious big alcohol note, well balanced. low malt backbone, a little biscuit. Finish is; Hops Hops Hops, maybe kiwi?

We leave Burial behind, with a few days in Asheville I hope to be back. There’s a candle in the window as we turn and head toward Green Man Brewing some 50 paces around the corner.

Green Man pulls off a unique trick of being a brewery, a bar and a mock English deciduous woodland all in one,  there are lads playing darts, all manner of green man wood carvings, a Yoda statue. Then tanks and hosepipes and a humongous chiller covered in beery ephemera. There’s a green light casting a glow all around. Its tight at the bar and there’s a seasonal pouring.

Green Man Brewing: 1850 East India Pale Ale, 7.6%, Cask

(Notes)

Almost ‘meady’ aroma, a sickly showcase of malts is backed up by a resinous hopping regime. The definitive ‘chewy’ beer. It’s heady and powerful and I’ve forgotten about the snow.

I wipe my nose again as tangy pickle meets paprika and ranch dressing. I’m eating a white sauce, I must be ill! Asheville is long gone, the beer dried up after I came down with the mother of all flu-ups. Half the family got it, Liz has me dosed up on Kombucha and medicines I’ve never heard of. AsalaphetopinetreeconcordMINE pron. AsalfffaphactotrudectolMEEEN.

We are in Nashville, TN and I’m miserable as sin. It’s minus 32.8 Million degrees Fahrenheit. We’re at  ‘Burger Up’ and meeting Liz’s friends Natalie and Matt perks me up. My senses are awakening and I’m hungry for the first time in a week.

Nate Ross of Kernel/Good George fame told me quite strictly “It ain’t a burger without a Brioche Bun” I thought he was being a trumped up Aussie that had spent too much time in London. In this instance he couldn’t have been more right. The off sweet bread is perfect with the savoury, almost metallic, unctuous Bison patty. Skin on truffle fries, with specs of crystalline sea salt are a natty compliment. All this umami is cleansed, near drowned out, by an equally addictive sour spear of dill pickle.

We leave Burger Up behind and brave the cold, I’m starting to feel like billions of bacteria in my stomach have been crying out under an empirical regime of probiotics and fermented things, the tide has turned. The alliance of meat, fat and chips destroys any hope of a return to the dark side. Illness is abated, I’m back in the game.

Walmart has a vast array of plungers, classic orange headed ones, ones that look like weird sex toys, ones like weaponry from DOOM. I’ve embarrassingly blocked our hosts toilet and we need to rush back through Nashville evening traffic to get home and do some reverse plumbing before they return from work. I’m embarrassed, run down, cold, tired and miserable. I look at Liz as she negotiates rush hour traffic, I struggle to understand how she puts up with me. That night we book to stay in the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ in Memphis.

“Graceland was smaller than I thought it would be”

“Hmmm” I’m annihilating a huge bag of peanut butter filled pretzels, as Liz drives down Highway 61, Memphis peels away behind us. A day in the life of Elvis has made me think about eating myself to death.

It’s mid afternoon, a chill in the air, the great Mississippi river tantalizingly bends in and out of our view to the right. The road is open, hard, and clean with salt. The sky is a thoughtful grey. The music is Howlin Wolf.

We stop at a visitors center, as Liz uses the bathroom, two helpful African American girls with laughs like slide guitars discuss where New Zealand is, we all decide it’s near enough to Chile and I turn the conversation to their part of the world, “Where should we eat in Clarksdale?” they look at me like I’ve pulled a gun and answer in unison. “Abe’s”

END OF PART ONE.

[raise1glass-blog]

Little Brown Bottles

The odd bottle turns up from time to time over the three feet of wooden bar I call my desk. Often unlabeled, often with the tagline: "See what you recon to this..." It's a great alturistic approach to gaining feedback that would seem gaudy or frivolous if done by a large company. Free beer dollars anyone?

       One of the greatest things about the 'Craft' Brewing industry for me and many others, is it's human element, It's all about the people, their stories and their commitment to a product they've seen from conception to last dreg. The fact is that the modern craft brewer tends (has) to be the marketing manager, account manager, HR manager and all the rest of those namely positions you were never told about at school. 

Putting a face to a bottle is what the bigger breweries (and some smaller ones) fail to do at all, or market so horrendously, that it makes you wonder wether human beings were ever involved in the brewing process of their particular beer. I'm sure feedback on a product, from a variety of sources is a vital part of the overall process of putting a beer out there. 

Schippers Chinook I.P.A

The first beer on the list was dropped in by Niels Schipper and is slightly different from the keg version that was brewed at Tuatara and released at LBQ the other week. It has a much more pronounced alcohol note for me, than the one now on sale, and perhaps a slightly lower ABV?.

A Great whack of Tangerine? Or some other fruity hand soap is quite comanding but not unpleasant.... Chinook Hops seemingly make me do a weird Tom Jones-esque impression,

First sip..."hugggh, Second sip (with a hip Thrust) HHHerrrrgh. It's a hop that has some sexiness about it, it makes me feel like l'll automatically sprout a fabulous hairy chest after drinking a beer that exudes Chinook's subtle spiciness........ HEEERRRGGHH. 

The overarching 'flavour' is somewhere between the smell of filling up a pepper grinder with the taste of dried apricots,

The finish is all heady, alcholic and warming.

K.H.M.E.S.B 

An E.S.B of sorts from Regional beermonger and gypsy brewer of Southstar fame, Kieran Haslett-Moore. Well on the mark, this experiment is a lovely balanced beer.....early doors it's all honey/meady maybe sweet popcorn. (Not going to mention the D-Word as my perception of that particular fault is exceptionally poor.)

This enjoyable perceived sweetness is moved along by a shot of orange rind like bitterness, the beers short finish is a mouthfull of 'garibaldi biscuit.' that ends before it's really begun. 

Talking of Schippers before, this beer slightly reminded me of an early batch of the lovely Scallywag. 

Hopefully this or something similar gets a 'proper' release. I can't get my fill of the style this time of year, what with Yeastie Boys (E.S.B-ish) Hud-a-wa a little too potent for quaffing and Townshend's Old house often hard to find regularly in Wellington, there's a space for a: subtlety hoped, darker than magnolia, off sweet- 5.8er!

Yeastie Boys: Golden Age Of Bloodshed

Stu 'Beer Hero' Mckinlay was on hand with this one, the last remnants of another great GABS brew. Thankfully there is more blood to f(ol)low in the coming months.

It pours like Ribena, the Mrs mentioned Kool-aid; I was hoping it tasted better than both.

First wiff was a classic bit of Saison Funk; Sweaty socks, and old tea bags. The hardest thing about trying to figure out what your tasting with this beer, is getting your head around it's sparkling ruby colour. For all intents and purposes it looks a heady glass of cranberry juice.

Taste wise it was a lesson in 'quenchability.' First, a dry, fruity, prosecco-like sensation, through a spectrum of tartish flavours, finishing with a nicely rounded, refreshing, quinine-like hop bitterness.

ParrotDog: Bitterbitch  

This 'shortie' was a victim of the lads troublesome bottling line, low fills should start becoming a thing of the past on Vivian street however now the Matt's have completed their dissertations on advanced Mechanical engineering in Mandarin.

Chinese Mechanics aside, this beer has become a yardstick of Parrotdog's brewing year in the Capital. Batch to batch it's had it's ups and downs, there was one batch in the year that was seemingly unrecognisable to the contract brewed, full on, '2011 Peoples Choice Award-Bitch.' But through it, a more mature beer has emerged.

Whatever the tweaks, dropping the ABV to 5.8%  was a masterstroke. This beer no longer finishes on the clawing but addictive bitter hop/alcohol note that it used to, it is bold without being BIG, astringently hopped to the point of quenching, bitter without being acrid.

In short; Bitterbitch, has become a refined and very drinkable beer for me, no doubt due to the lads continuing confidence in their equipment and their own brewing abilities. A cracker.   

Thanks to all those brewers that have and continue to drop the odd sample in, it's a real pleasure to get to try something, or get an insight into a product that you're hopefully going to be promoting and selling in the coming weeks and months.

Cheers, Dan.

[raise1glass-blog]

‘PullShit’: An Effort to Understand Wellington’s Cask Conditioned Credentials.

This blog has been coming for some time; to me it’s not so much a rant, more a call to arms. A feeling of utter gut-wrenching disappointment always comes over me when the customer ‘who is always right’ points at LBQ’s wonderful handpumps and says:

“So that’s like an English beer, they’re really flat and are served warm, but that’s what they’re supposed to be like. Could I have two nice, cold, hoppy, pale ales please?”

We can’t go on like this. Those who somewhat understand cask ale - and are vocal when it’s not up to scratch - are often seen as rude and pontificating pains in the rear end. The beer engine is steadily becoming a piece of prerequisite bar furniture in Wellington. It's become cool...*

Yet what’s poured from it, why it differs from the other taps and how to maintain the beer’s temperature and condition, is seemingly left for the staff to work out for themselves.

Is the handpull any longer a flag standard for what lies beneath? Was it ever? I read this blog recently and was utterly discombobulated (new long word thanks to @beerkel;) seemingly it’s not only the odd punter, the seasoned drinker, or the uninitiated that is confused about cask.

I’m not prepared to pull a fellow bloggers work apart, but I’d hope if you’d call your blog Real Ale NZ, you’d understand the definition, from the group that coined it. Most of the outlets across the country that are listed on this website are selling decarbonated ‘bright’ beer. What’s more, this blog’s main irk seems to be with ‘barrels’ under the bar. I don’t see that as a problem whatsoever. Many a real ale festival, Including this last weekends sublime Marchfest, serve casks ‘naked’ and straight up on top of the bar. As long as a good temperature is preserved then why does it matter where it sits? With the lack of any cellars in Wellington’s choice joints, I look forward to seeing many a cask jacket in the future.

It’s unacceptable to me that the likes of Townshend, Twisted Hop and Galbraiths can fly the flag for cask and work tirelessly to promote real beer, yet the likes of Stoke, Moa, Tuatara & Emersons can put a decarbonated keg of beer through a handpull and it’s sold as (heavily promoted in some cases) the same thing. This is not a million miles away from selling a green bottle that’s made in Auckland under the guise of a Dutch Premium Lager.

There is seemingly a lack of breweries wishing to go the whole hog with cask conditioned ale in this country. Is there an inherent fear amongst the brewing community - particularly those that aren’t already cask conditioning beers - that on the whole bar staff don’t have the gumption to treat their beers properly? Or the bars themselves don’t have a sufficient room (cellar) that can be maintained at a sensible temperature? I’d assume so, though Bladders (poly pins whatever you want to call them) are surely a cleaner/cheaper option for breweries, particularily if most of your operation is bright keg beer. Whats more, in the craft beer capital's increasingly competitive environment, no one can blame a particular brewery for not wanting to risk having their beers sold poorly-maintained.

From a hospo point of view, I’m sure that on the whole Wellington’s mostly observant and well-trained beer bar staff are able to knock a little piece of wood into a cask and make sure it’s not shaken around for a couple of days. Fine, it’s not always as simple as that, but there’s no reason a system can’t be put in place is all I’m saying. The decision to barista train staff and the protocols of cleaning and maintaining a coffee machine are seemingly a much more expensive and laborious pain in the arse than putting the odd cask on.

I suppose the last thing to approach is whether there is a continued demand for proper cask beer. Would I be able to pick out Cask vs. Bright Bag vs. Decarbonated keg in a blind tasting? I’d love to have a go. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed flat Tuatara Porter at a number of bars. However, let’s thrash out the point here: Is the modern New Zealand beer lover happy that what they are generally being sold isn’t the real deal? Refreshingly, Hashigo recently went to lengths to clarify the subject and their position. (See paragraph entitled Trip Advisor) Or read it all- it’s very good.

Call me a moaning pom defending things that are old country and old hat, a wanton beardy CAMRAite. The point is; I’d love to walk out the door NOW and be guaranteed a pint of cask ale somewhere in Wellington and I’m 100% sure I can’t. This is a disgrace for a city with the ability to pour beer from a total of 12** handpulls. I sincerely hope there is a wind of change. Otherwise I’m moving to Nelson!

*Not wanting to start a riot, for those eagle eyed beer geeks, I don't think any Dark Star beers are available in NZ, I may be wrong. My far cooler colleagues are all listening to these guys, they are very talented, and have gone up in my estimations for having a photo shoot in a pub. I hope they had a half. **Correct me if I’m wrong with that number that was just beer mat maths, the total is still well into double figures anyway. 7 on CBC (Taphaus seemingly not included on that site) 2x Hashigo 2x Meow 1x Rogue & Vagabond.

[raise1glass-blog]

Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It’ about this time, or a few weeks earlier if I was organised, that beer bloggers the world over pick out their ‘best of.’

Well to be honest I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday so this post isn’t going to be of that ilk. What’s more this year has flown by so quickly a review blog would probably serve to be a depressing reminder, personally, of how great events, great times, great beers seemingly mould into one, as time marches on.

Here are a few posts I have resonated with latley though, if you'd like to read a list of 2012's good things:

Yeastie Boys Posterous-Stu's Picks

The Good Stuff- Best of 2012

K.H-M's Golden Pints 2012

With this in mind I’m going to concentrate on the most stressful, drawn out meal of the year. A meal that for many is about the family, prawn cocktails, over sized poultry and bad jokes. This year for me however it meant: Glamping, rain, 11%beer and expensive cheese. Before this tale goes on: A note on half decent cheese, its a foodstuff that I can ill afford on a barkeeps wage, an object that if I didn’t drink, and chose to stay indoors for a month I could probably just about justify purchasing. The new middle class object of success. Fuck the ‘beemer’ or the American style coloured fridge, a block, or mouldy lump, of just room temperature, locally produced blue is the new insignia of the ‘made it.’ Trouble is I bloody love cheese. It means xmas to me, and this year I was damned determined not to be chomping through, a yellow version of those rubber blocks you had to drag from the bottom of a pool at primary school. Good thing New World had a Kapiti promo on. A Christmas meal for myself and Liz this year, was in essence, the bit I usually most look forward to after the event. The 'Ploughmans.' The oddment platter that’s hastily assembled and plugs the gap once your stomach has loosened slightly.                            

STARTER: Emerson’s: 1812 with A spicy rice cracker topped with Lisa’s Chaka Laka hummus Kapiti Ramara Cheese and a green olive.

Semi-sweet chilli rice cracker & spicy hummus went well with 1812's bitter hop tingle.

Soft earthy Ramara matched well with the body of the beer and wasn't too overpowered by fruity hop bitterness.

The salty olive added a  nice savoury contrast.

MATCH 7/10

BEER 8/10

We spent a good hour perusing deli’s and counters. Buying things we’d spent the year walking right past. I spent 20 mins looking at a shelf in the supermarket that has no right to exist. A shelf of: overpriced crackers, dips, spreads, breadcrumbs (that cost more than a handmade loaf) and fat gluttonous olives, dressed in all manner of marinHARDs (it was mariNADE until February last year.)

                              MAIN: French Broad: Wee-Heavy-er

with A wedge of carrot topped with Kapiti Kikorangi Blue, BlackBall venison salami a slither of gherkin and a tiny morsel of cranberry sauce.

Sweet not overly smoky scotch ale, powerful full on malt body, touch too much of an assertive alcohol note.

Blue cheese was a fantastic contrast to the richness of the beer.

Earthy carrot for a base as opposed to bread or a cracker was a great match.

Needed a morsel of sweet cranberry sauce to hold everything together.

The Blackball Venison Salami and this style are a: 'match made in.. (any religious/mythological nirvana.)' 

MATCH 9/10

BEER 7/10

The bill was extortionate really, for a list of items that made up a scant board of deliciousness, but there would be no waste here, no cooking, no stress and a compendium of flavours to mix and match, with a great selection of beers.

         DESSERT: Liberty Brewing: Renall's Towards Muriwai with  half a block of Whittakers dark ghana, cos’ the budget ran out!

An unbelievable beer, complex doesn't describe it. Heady, rich 'Kirsch-like' off sweet aroma. 

There will be better matches but we we're stuffed to the brim and had nothing left. Still the dark Ghana was a nice complement to the decadent dark heart of this beer.

toward the end of the bottle the loss of carbonation in the glass almost made it feel like a great port. Alcohol soaked dried fruit and cocoa powder flavours stood out.

MATCH 4/10                                                              

BEER 9/10  

I suppose in a way then, this was a highlights blog, only condensed down. A roll of honour of the best bites of an hour long graze, the cold platter of the year matched with certainly one of my beers of the year, a beer that I tasted for the first time just before the end of it.

Cheers All to 2013.

[raise1glass-blog]

I read the news today, oh boy.

Tonight my staffie will be an Emersons Pilsner. Its a beer you don't have to mull over ordering because you automatically know its going to be good. Only last night I stopped into SCOPA, after the fireworks, shunned the pretend alka seltza tasting Peroni and plummed for half a litre of refreshment, courtesy of Richard Emerson and his team.

Seemingly though the real fireworks we're waiting for this morning.

What do I think, ultimatley it doesn't matter, though will I be able to promote Emerson's products with the same undeniable confidence I have before. Maybe not. I beleive in Richard and his team. I want to support his business, his crew and New Zealand craft brewing. Is it a hypocritical move to do this now they are owned by Kirin?Or ultimatley Mitsubishi! Possibly.

Is this the end for Emerons tastings at Regional? The end of bar tenders and beermongers brewing speciality drops down in Dunedin? These are all fears, all questions that will be answered over time.

How about this. I walked into a dingy bar in Auckland two years ago and thought, TUI was all there was. I vividly remember my 'Emerson's Epiphany' a month later. Wouldn't it be great if this move opened up BEER to a whole new generation. I mentioned the other month over twitter, that great beer will have it's day when I see young lads sneaking a bottle of Taieri George on a street corner. A day when the majoritory of glass recycling bins around 'every' major city street in NZ has the familiar brown bottles of Emersons brewery, Not the familiar clear/green/muddy bottles of an automated factory producing pretend beer. Exposure comes at a price.

Today the Beatles just left Liverpool, they just disappointed all those hardcore fans that watched them in The Cavern every week. But they're about to embark on the most creative journey any band has ever done, a journey that will see them write the most memorable music in history. Is this a similar start for Emersons? Nobody knows, for some its the beginning of the end, for others, yet to be fans, there's a journey into great beer just ahead of them.

[raise1glass-blog]

Home is where the heart is.

As I walked into a typically cold June headwind up Park Row, I  started to come around. I’m back in England. I’m back in Leeds. I’m back to all I’ve ever known.   Girls that traipse around sporting a chemically-etched hue to their faces. A painted on complexion that simply cannot be good for their health, while wearing pairs of grey joggers only Jim Royle would be proud of. An old man with nicotine stained hair, the colour of a discarded polystyrene fish and chip box, suckles at a miserable ice cream in the on/off rain.

Leeds is hard, and I’d forgotten. Hard is the wrong and right term. It doesn’t have the up front aggression, wear it on your chest of Manchester, nor the tribal tracksuits of Liverpool, but in Leeds the daily grind of the North is worn on every face. I may have been swanning around the world for two years, but no one gives a fuck, life’s gone on. A shopping centre is nearly built, some place has closed down, the Pennines are greener than usual, the same blokes sit in the same spot at The Angel Inn on a Saturday aft, the E.D.L cause a ruckus in the town and force a favourite nearby hostelry to close. In this sense there is a hardness, but on reflection, my re-entry shock is making me look more objectively at my former situation. Drivers let you out. Everyone says ‘Sorry love’ when getting confused going through department store doors. The local landlord gives the Mrs a tight embrace; he doesn’t know her from Eve.

I’ve drunk more tea today than in the last 18 months. I can report the coffee is shite, Wellingtonians deserve every coffee snob jibe they get, and I’m firmly in the club. This is all needless, but I suppose eludes and builds up to, my first sip of ‘home’ beer. Change has sunk in, but what about my tongue? The odd flabby English bottled beer hasn’t found it’s way into my hands in the last wee while. Surely all the APAs, Imperial Stouts, and ridiculous double IPAs I’ve flirted with of late couldn’t have put me off a solid pint of the usual?

That’s where this draft ended in June. It’s now firmly into October I'm back in New Zealand and I’m finally getting around to finishing this scribble off. It’s a shame because I’ve had time to peruse the answer to that question. What’s more, I’m not sure what the answer firmly was on the day I picked up a pint of Sam Smiths ‘Old Brewery’ in the Angel on that sunny Saturday.

Objectively though, I suppose I now see it like this; Were craft beers more widely available now than when I left the UK? Or did I just want (and happen to now know where) to look.

It’s evident that appreciation for most higher quality food and beverages has risen. The trend of spend more on a premium product and enjoy it less often seems to be in vogue. I still feel there is no way ‘craft beer’ hype is pulling more Carling drinkers over to real beer. I strongly doubt that. I admit I haven’t really looked across any cold hard figures, still I suspect that the situation is more like this: people who enjoyed a good pint a couple of years ago are now more firmly entrenched in (for want of a better phrase) ‘collecting good beers’.

My Dad was a trainspotter, IS a trainspotter and I see the beer scene in a similar light. It’s becoming more and more seemingly about ticking off and boasting about different ‘engines’ from different sheds and arguing whether Mallard or The Flying Scotsman is best.

Flicking through a UK off licence report recently the results were all too depressingly predictable, The top 10 best selling take home brands in the UK in October 2010 according to Nielsen ScanTrack were:

Stella Artois

Foster’s

Carling

Carlsberg

Budweiser

Carlsberg Export

Kronenbourg 1664

Beck’s

John Smiths

Guinness

*The same study in 2011 saw no change at all to the Top 20.

**The off licence trade as a whole saw a continued slump last year, the report mentions the influence of cider, the lack of a summer sporting event and poor weather as possible factors. Could craft beers be making a slight dent?2012’s figures are due to be published.

Sure this is the 'Premier League' of beer brands, I didn’t expect a craft producer to be anywhere near the Top100, but I worry, I worry we (as beer lovers and producers) are building all this up a touch. It’s like we’re talking about a talented amateur football team that’s come into form for a couple of years. I worry further that soon the team’s emerging talent will get sold on to the big boys, that their manager will get too old and they’ll slip back for another twenty years to competing in the local milk cup.

For me, the main problem is with the ‘CRAFT’ part of  ‘craft’ Beer. Are we going to start calling bread made with real ingredients, by real people ‘Craft bread’? I suppose in a way it’s already happened. ‘Boutique’ and ‘artisan’ are prefixes widely used in the food industry. Worryingly, the mark up on these products and the way in which they are pushed toward the upwardly mobile middle classes, disenfranchise most.  

To me, craft BEER needs to be seen as less of a boutique product and more of a premium product that’s undoubtedly worth that few dollars more; A slab of Whittakers over a mars bar, rather than a handmade sea salt and chili, marble tempered chocolate sprinkled with gold leaf, that you’d eat once in a blue moon. Until the MAJORITY start to see heavily-marketed, mass-produced, internationally-owned lager as less value for money, as a product that somewhat pulls the wool over your eyes, then continued growth may hit a glass ceiling.

That’s not the worrying part though, I’m starting to feel craft beer is on its own suicide mission. A kamakazi campaign of: over the top branding; letting advertising agencies run brewing competitions; publishing out dated mysogonistic IPO’s; *contract brewing for TESCO; pricing the regular drinker out; the prevalence of unfounded snobbery among the converted; not of making beers that push boundaries or excite, but those that bandwagon and contain nonsensical ingredients, for ingredients sake. We are being told craft beer consumption is growing, it seems people are being won over, but there is a truthfulness and an honesty in which this business can grow. I’d hate for this burgeoning industry I love to crash and burn like a coked up rock band, riding the crest of a wave of their first successful album. This second album needs to be a bloody good one, I just hope the brewing equivalent of Chris Martin isn’t the front man.

*One thing that did impress me while away was the abundance of decent bottled beer now widely available in the larger supermarkets, It has to happen. For one thing it shows off the marvelously considered labelling of decent bottled product against the stacks of white sliced bread beer. The other point is that unlike NZ,  special offers abound on the wider available craft beers and they are seemingly being sold at a much more attractive price point. While perusing the shelves at my local TESCO though I got a bit of a shock.

Tesco have an own brand ’finest range’ double A.P.A. On a quick glimpse at the label a beer brewed in Fraserburgh, Scotland. I’m not sure what Brewdog were thinking here, good business? Probably, sleeping with the Devil, definitely. Of course it's probably just a relabeled bottle of their own 'Hardcore IPA' in any case It’s a step that seems widely removed from their revolutionary image. With that in mind, why would they even consider brewing for a supermarket that has (for that last ten years at least) more or less blatantly given away the global lager brands Brewdog stands to hate. A company that has vehemently supported the growth of these beer brands and in turn revolutionised the way people in Britain drink, moving them away from the local and into the local ‘Tesco Express’.

Don’t believe me? Peruse Tesco’s sickly website here with not a mention of where their ‘finest’ Double A.P.A is brewed or even its ABV.

Of course Martyn Cornell has said half of this before, read more here.

When you think your writing something worth reading and you flick over to Zythophile and see that it's a debate that has been jotted down in a lunch hour isn't half frustrating. Its the blogging equivalent of getting beaten by the All Blacks every week for eternity!

[raise1glass-blog]

The Big Beer Bang, Fresh Hops And I.P.A.’s:

"Isn’t that just hops ‘n’ shit.”

Myself and NZ Beer’s equivalent to Tony Montana, Phil Cook often have these deep and meaningful’s over Twitter. Like two long distance lorry drivers moaning about roadworks on a CB radio. This is two Beer Geeks on its 21stC equivalent, humouring the herd.

“IPA isn’t that just hops and shit”

was the latest exclamation over the bar. I hope (but I’m unsure) that the ‘n’ shit’ part of this statement was an attempt to be gangsta* not a genuine belief that excrement forms part of the malt bill.

Other gems from the past few months include:

@phil_cook classic!Top1 tonight was "how do you pronounce that?" @Raise1glass "Hefe its short for Hefeweizen" "Is that a traditional Maori name?"

Customer, abruptly: "Specials? Got any?" Me, unable to resist: "Only 'Ghost Town' and 'A Message to You Rudy'." Customer: [blank stare]

@phil_cook No1 comment of the wknd. Is the Hefe the only wheat beer on tap? Yes. Try a sample. Oh no, look it’s all cloudy I'll have a Stella.

Sadly, for me anyway, The Malthouse will no longer be the Scarface mansion with ‘All The Beer’ it once was. It’s still arguably (and relatively recently, voted) the best beer bar in the country, but it’s main face, the man with a talent for retort like a loose chainsaw in a shower, has moved on. Whatever he gets up to this, I suppose, is a public cheers and good luck to Phil. A beer person, who is; constantly educational on all things beer, annoyingly accurate, unashamedly passionate, probably a bastard to work with and what pisses me off most about him, has the ability (out of all the Wellington beer tenders, with their pretend facial hair) to sport a tremendous beard. Hopefully this freed up time lets him attend to his roses or more importantly the best beer blog in the country.

On over the bar banter and chit-chat, perhaps the most common buzzword that riles me lately is, ‘hoppy’ as in;

“Give me your hoppiest beer”

It’s fucking meaningless, not unlike going into Bunning’s and asking for the best paint, or the most metallic screws. I’m certainly guilty of using this phrase, but it’s getting out of control now. It’s as if all beers are meaningless, tasteless liquids unless they have the ‘hop’ moniker.

What worries me is that craft beer is sharply spiraling to a pinnacle. A pinnacle that’s arriving so fast that the yet to be converted see, ‘craft’ as a slightly more bitter/ fruitier/ higher alcohol version of his or hers chosen generic Saturday night cooking lager. While malt accented beer’s, experimental ales’, Spicy Belgian style Dubbels and Stouts and Porter’s (unless they sport a CHOCOLATE or COFFEE, prefix) will remain the preserve of the seasoned beer aficionado, and ultimately, fall out of favour again.

I realize historically, popularity has readily been the driving force behind brewing trends, I just feel the ‘know all’ suit crowd that drink Steiny on a Wednesday after work and a pint of that 'weird bitter stuff that gets you mullered' on a Friday, will start having more of a say with their wallets, in what brewers continue to look to produce.

I see, and know of, more and more people swapping what they drink and reaching for well-produced pints. Even in Wellington, New Zealand’s craft quaffing Mecca, many people who form part of the demographic that should be turning to craft have been slow on the uptake. Sure they’ll buy the odd Tuatara Pilsner or Epic Pale Ale, perhaps even a Bookbinder. But these people aren’t REALLY turning to craft beer; they’re just in a bar with friends where there is no Monteiths. This huge group that should be buying into the ideas behind great craft beer (and furiously supporting it,) may have organic carrots in the fridge, but do they really get it? Socially in front of friends or colleagues, would they be willing to shun a brew from the big boys when out on a Saturday evening, perhaps as the would caged eggs in the supermarket? I’m not so sure.

  Social drinking habits aside, I have nevertheless succumbed to all this hop-scotch of late. I like the seasonality idea behind wet hopped beers. Like a good wassail shin dig in cider circles, wouldn’t it be great to have this annual celebration of ol’humulus lupulus. Beaujolais Nouveau at Hashigo the other week showcased a great array, the launch of Conehead, and Mayday hopefully highlighting Tuatara’s new brewery intentions with regards to more experimental limited releases.

I’ve said it before, I’m no hop head, but there have been several resiny highlights of note this last month. St George’s day was a patriotic affair**. Welcomed in with a searingly hot madras made with Fire Dragon Chilli’s Black Taniwha, along side I recon , the best double IPA in the country; Liberty CITRA . Spice and Hop bitterness just go so well together.

That ‘tongue G.B.H’ was  surpassed however, with 8 Wired’s Fresh Hopwired. A juicy, mouth filling beer, with waves of hop aroma and varying levels of bitterness. I found it a chewable IPA, something you can dive right into. There isn’t over powering tongue clawing dryness but levels of zesty bitterness. If Hopwired were packaged as chewing gum It’d get one of those adverts that has a million dollar budget, usually ending with someone getting dunked into a sea of gently bobbing tangerines and grapefruit. I’ve snapped up a couple of bottles and urge anyone in the know to do the same. I didn’t think one of New Zealand & Australia’s most highly rated New World IPA’s could be bettered. Fresh Hopwired although highly seasonal and limited, may well have done it.

 *Or whatever my teenage niece would call cool talk these days. 

**Considering old Georgey boy was from somewhere near modern day Syria, chicken Tikka Masala is (was, the last time I looked at a daft opinion poll on the subject) Britain’s favourite dish and I.P.A’s have their origins firmly in England, it’s certainly seemed to fit the occasion, albeit completely unplanned! 

[raise1glass-blog]

It's been a while.

It has been a while. Ridiculously it’s probably been my busiest beery month since Beervana, last year. A new job, no computer, HUGE expense at the dentist, a gift box of beers I’ve yet to try and a couple of cracking late nights has seen my life turn into real life Monopoly TM.  Literally the events of the past month could easily have been printed on the cards of the community chest.

“Your Computer has shit itself and won’t turn on, hand $300 to the next person”

Conversely the next card was “ You are invited on a brewery tour and the brewer decides to take you, and your party in a FUCKING helicopter, kiss everyone in the room.”

I kid not; I was very fortunate (incredibly spawny) to have been asked to go up to Taranaki last month through work. Leaving Wellington on a rainy Sunday and having no clue what was in store, I returned with the humbling sensation of been ludicrously well looked after. Kieran and Anto of regional wines and spirits have logged the trip, in writing if your interested, I’ll let them provide the commentary.

http://www.regionalwines.co.nz/beer-content.aspx/mikes-brewery-–-beers-with-few-peers 

http://www.capitaltimes.co.nz/South-of-Cuba-north-of-Wakefield

As far as beer goes, the notebook is full, although I’m staring at it unenthused. It is cobbled together notes of odd bottles and impromptu pints, I think the best way of documenting those: success stories, beers of the week and not so interesting drops will be to form a list of my top five through the end of Feb and March. Here goes:

#1 Yeastie Boys DIGISHANDY: Pour half a pint of one of the best IPA’s in the country off a normal tap, half off the hand pull. What do you get? An amazing pint that has a tinge of carbonation, improved temperature, and a smooth texture but with enough of the co2 poured beer to accentuate any hop notes that the hand pull normally dulls down.  Yes it is the bar tenders of New Zealand’s ‘Craft Beer Capital’ having a bit of fun but for me it was the best of both worlds. Talking of bar tenders meddling with beer, this brings me nicely on to: ‘Beer experience of the last six weeks #2.’

#2 Invercargill Pitch Black on Nitro: Phil Cook is right about most things, beer. This one was out of the top draw. Possibly my favourite stout in the country with top lip covering creaminess. I sincerely hope the Malthouse had Steve Nally’s credence to do this to his beer, I’m in no doubt they did.

Too many kegs around the country are at the whim of poor cellermanship, dirty lines, poor storage and shocking temperature control without (albeit educated and well meaning beer experts) fiddling with cellamix. Having said that, great bars and pubs know what there guests want, this was a revelation for me and whose to say the boys and girls on the front line shouldn’t have a bit of leeway, We are, in the most part, craft beers largest group of sales reps!

#3 It was a great pleasure to kick off Beer Geek Wednesday’s at LBQ with a Yeastie Boys tasting. The location of the tasting has personal connotations for Stu, but for me it was fantastic to return a year old favour. In short, to hand a pint glass of ale to a genuinely nice bloke who, bought a stranger a pint, a year ago, and set in motion a love affair with the craft beer of New Zealand. That Beer was PKB, and sitting at the bar one night in March I was asked to find something that would pair with a beer that continues to straddle styles. Not too sure, I plumed for some left over chocolate brownie that just happened to be slightly burnt. Charred cocoa powder, bonfire toffee, dark treacle and molasses matched sensationally with PKB’s dark background, the bitterness of the beer complementing the sweetness of the brownie. It was a happy accident.

#4 Talking of food matching, that same night I popped in to F&B to try their range of Mild’s. After a few, my drinking partner and I got talking to chef Anton Legg, a man incredibly passionate about food, and incredibly able to make pints of beer disappear, (as most chefs are.) We we’re convinced to try Epic Thornbridge stout, on the promise that it is a beer that apparently is made for, wait for it….Hare. Two slippery tendons of marinated oversized rabbit arrived from the kitchen, the slightly sour, barrel aged Stout matched brilliantly with that kidneyesque* dry gamey flavour of the hare saddle. I was ignorant that beer could lift food, and vice versa, to such an extent.

*kidneyesque is a disgraceful meddling of words; I’m trying to get at that liver/game/offal chewy dryness that you get with such meats, that puts so many people off.

#5 Citra should definitely get a mention. Again as part of that spawny trip, (In a hushed, whispering voice)

”We got to taste Liberty Citra, more or less fresh out of the ferementer.”

 This in itself wasn’t the revelation. Yes it’s a wanky beer geek moment that I just happened to drop in. Listen, I’m not making the point because of that.  I’ve just finished (Well, I’m determined to do by the end of today) Pete Brown’s excellent ‘Hops and Glory’ the books is about the story and journey of IPA, but really in essence it’s all about the conditioning process of beer. When to drink a product at it’s best. Trying Citra fresh as a daisy was a great privilege, but it was average. For me sitting down at Hashis last week and trying the same batch as part of the Citra celebration was the real deal. The beer had mellowed, mellowed is completely the wrong term for such a punchy pint. What I mean to say is that it had changed, it had put its Sunday best on. What I had tried in Taranaki, was Citra crawling out of bed, hung-over on a Sunday morning. What I drank last week was Citra on a Friday night with its best shirt and tie on, being the ballsy heart and soul of the party. Is fresh always best? I’m yet to be convinced.

As I look at the calendar and realize a third of the year is more or less gone 2012 has opened up magnificently for beer in NZ. With Christchurch seemingly righting itself, festival’s in the garden city and Auckland been a huge success: Wellington in a pint, Craft Beer Capital. And the reality of Parrotdog and Garage Project putting together breweries, things are set to get even better. I’m looking forward to the next eight months with great anticipation. 

[raise1glass-blog]

A Holiday Romance.. Of Sorts.

It was nice to get out of Wellington over New Year. ‘Get out’ is actually the wrong turn of phrase, it alludes to leaving war zones, and I don’t consider Wellington at all hostile. I really mean it was nice to see other patches of New Zealand even though these patches were, with the crap weather, as damp and grey as the back of an old incontinent mans pants.

The break was also a nice beery sabbatical, with wine taking much precedence over the trip. This was unfortunately out of lack of choice and although I’ve heard it many times before, Wellingtonian's really are spoilt for choice when it comes to beer.

This distinct lack of variety did get me thinking. What was it that I REALLY missed? Was it the ability to go and buy something as bizarre as a Rex Attitude at my local supermarket? No, I can’t remember the last time I did that. Was it the 3 or four minutes prior to ordering in a bar spent perusing beautifully labeled and exotic looking taps, probably not. I suppose, in summary it was the feeling of beer oppression:

“You will have something tasteless from one of these taps, if you don’t there evidently is something wrong with you”

This statement brings me onto a case in point. I don’t consider myself a beer snob. For me, there is a beer for every occasion, at home, in deepest West Yorkshire, I certainly have and will, enjoy mass produced, Carlsberg owned, Tetley’s cask. Popping the top of a Grolsch is a pleasure I’ll never tire of. A pleasure that heightens the contentment of drinking a beer that I’ve never not enjoyed. A warm can of Stella on a rainy day has made many a music festival for me. I was weaned on Caffrey's and freezing cold cans of Hofmeister, and these events are just as much part of my zythologistic* education as every sip of a Mikkeller ‘what not’ is, underground at Hashis.

My point is that not only is the choice so limited in many a town out of the capital. Such is the dominance and clannish marketing of the sub brands of the big two; you are ostracized for ordering anything different. An inquiry over a bottle of Tuatara Helles, spotted at the back of the fridge, is deemed as a hostile rejection of a patron’s tap offerings. Rather than a thumbs up to the proprietor that they’ve gone out of their way to stock that ‘weird stuff from Welly.’

Fortunately, there are green shoots growing through the concrete. A stop at a bottle shop in Tairua got me on to the Coromandel Brewing Co. and their excellent ‘Easy Rider’ their ‘Good as Gold' Pilsner still awaits a sunny, freed up afternoon.

Further South East, it was a pleasure to pop into The Sunshine Brewery in Gisborne. Their Gisborne Green Pils was my pick, although a new contract brew; ‘Goons inc: East Coast Pale ale’ went down a treat. Great colour, light tingly hop bitterness, shortbread like malttiness, drunk a touch too cold but great in the 10 mins of Gizzy sun that we got.

Back in the capital, I've immediately stepped back to normality. Back to shunning bars that charge you the earth for coloured water. Back to the goss, the 'have you tried this' the stuff I revel in. The stuff that for a short time I forgot about and left behind for the romance of the new.

*an attempt to be wordy based on this.

[raise1glass-blog]

The R1G Inaugural Craft Beer Capital Christmas Crawl

To celebrate the birth of Christ and more importantly Wellingtons unveiling as the craft beer capital of NZ, I laid down the challenge to a few pals of completing a route of Wellington’s finest beery hostelries. For those out of the loop 'Craft Beer Capital' was launched at the start of December and aims to promote the burgeoning Craft Beer scene in the capital. As part of this, a handy trail has been laid out promoting several of the finest purveyours of craft beer as well as some of the more well known off licences around the city.

Getting back to the Crimbo crawl, the idea was to rate each stop off on the trail under a number of parameters. One of which, the ‘Mystery Morrison; men to women ratio’ is an investigation into whether the former cricketers comments in the Wellingtonian the other week hold any water. He claims, and I quote;

  "Perhaps as the women do their shopping, the men can do the craft beer tour. It's just another attraction for Wellington.”

  In my humble opinion he’s missing the point, surely a factor of promoting craft beer in the city is to get women into beer as well. Lets face it beer is a drink for everyone, its just women have been hammered with reams of sexist and machismo marketing for the last 100 years. While doing the rounds a quick head count aught to see wheter the girls in Wellington like a pint as much as I hope they do.

Other factors would rate the artistic ability of Wellingtons craft beer bar tenders, the number of bearded men in their establisment, and their reaction to a tricky beer question thrown down by a semi proffesional beer bar affociando and more...read on.

1. Kelburn village pub.

Kelburn is a toughie, the group decided that it would be in our best interests to head up the steps first as trying to assault a cliff face after a few shandies might prove taxing. We arrived a touch early but were greated with the usual friendly celtic charm from the proprietor, Baz.

Draw us something....

Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

 (it was early..including us 2:1 without us 1:1 as we left two ladies arrived which would have shifted the balance.)

Xmas Decs Rating:

 Good, a comment was duly note about the antique policemans helmet, I ASSUME A YEAR ROUND DECORATION

Number Of Bearded Men:

½... Bill and I had a days stubble but won’t be counted as not to affect future results.

Beer Selection Rating:

5/10 solid tap selection of Tuatara some well known but good bottles, Stonecutter etc.

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Duff (Its actually a shampoo bottle but we’ll let them off.)

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to: 

“Ask Karl”

Crap On Tap:

Nil

Music Rating:

8/10

RedFives Comment;

“Solid Local, Good pub, Good Publican”

  2.D4 on Featherston

 After a trip down the cable car we moseyed on to D4. It was just after four, so starting to build up with the inevitable office crowd.

Draw Us Something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

4:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

Below par, more trophies than baubles.

Number Of Bearded Men:

6 (plus 1 catweazle lookalike)

Beer Selection Rating:

6/10

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Yeastie Boys PKB

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

 “This Beer is new I don’t know too much about it”

Crap on tap:

Macs Hoprocker as a seasonal, kilkenny etc..its an irish pub and kilkenny isn’t so bad. Monteiths single source as a guest bottle is unforgiveable though!

Music rating:

Nil, the music was turned on just as we left and it was a Phoenix Foundation track so deserves some credit. 5/10

RedFives Comment;

“Is that Phil Goff? Oh no its just some other prick”

  As noted from @busstopbrewery who we bumped in to, nobody likes ‘wanky pouring’

I.E Holding two pint glasses and flicking the taps at the same time. Your not fucking Tom Cruise and splashing beer all over the place in the name of saving a few seconds impresses nobody. Don’t do it. Just pour a fine beer and tell us a little about it, that is all.

3.The Bruhaus

A quick hop and a skip down Featherston and its on to The Bruhaus..

Draw us something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

2:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

Poor - Bar staff quote:

  "They we’re amazing until they set on fire"

Number Of Bearded Men:

4

Beer Selection Rating:

6/10

Quirkiest beer available:

Cassels and Sons Sauvin Lager on tap

Estrella Inedit in the bottle

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“Neither, that’s a trick question..on second thoughts…. piss off Bill”

Crap on tap:

Could be worse, Macs Spring Tide the worst offender. Few international Lager brands, Becks etc. Reasonable selection of well known English Beers.

Music rating:

7/10

RedFives comment;

“Nice outdoor seating if a little shady, not in a dodgy way, I just mean.....

Well its hardly a sun trap.”

   4. Fork And Brewer

The sun was out, so it's round the corner for a tasting platter on the F&B balcony.

 Draw us something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

5:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

Poor initially until we spotted the brill xmas tree.

Number Of Bearded Men:

6

Beer Selection Rating:

7/10 taps pretty good. Fridges were hard to see.

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Taste offered of the Mata Taniwha.

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“Single infusion mate”

which incidently was correct.

Crap On Tap:

Couple of Monteiths and Macs range.

Music rating:

Nil, no music was on!

RedFives comment;

 “Great bathrooms, you can watch your back- there are guys washing their hands in beer barrels…all sorts of shit going down in there.”

  5.Little Beer Quarter

Down the back of Edward street to the bustling LBQ.

Draw us something...

Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

2:1

Xmas Decs rating:

Above average, nice year round decs, upside down plants and bottle cap tinsel.

Number of bearded men:

2

Beer Selection Rating:

7/10 (I said 8 just for Invercargill pitch black stout on tap and Hawthorns ale, a rare keg from Townshend, also Garage Project Trip Hop)

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Hallertau porter noir 750ml bottles

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“Jesus Christ, That’s a tricky one, I’m not sure, whatever they’ve done it tastes bloody good.”

Crap on tap:

Nil

Music rating:

9/10- Nod from RedFive

RedFives comment;

 “A dual blackboard set up, informative on one level great artwork on another, a prime situation for beer guzzling…...

..good chips,mmm...nice sauce..hhmmm."

6. The Taphaus

A quick jaunt over the road to the Taphaus with its busy outdoor area.

Draw Us Something...

Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

1:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

2/10

Number of Bearded Men:

3

Beer Selection Rating:

9/10 mainly for the excellent bottle range, a few taps down.

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Brewdog. Royal Virility Perfromance

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“You’d better ask Stu Mckinlay.”

Crap On Tap:

1 or 2, Pure Blonde et al, couple of Macs.

Music rating:

6/10

 RedFives comment;

 “There is no foot thing at this bar…you need a foot thing, and a coat hook, only truly great bars have coat hooks.”

   7.Hashigo Zake

A short walk to Taranaki and down into the beery nuclear bunker that is Hashi's.

Draw Us Something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

8:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

NIL

Number Of Bearded Men:

1

Beer Selection Rating:

10/10

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Mikkeller Special Series, Cherry Alive

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“single infusion,(scorned at like he shouldn’t even have bothered asking) now buy some!HA”

Crap On Tap:

0.....top drops.

Music rating:

8/10

RedFives comment;

 “I’ve come out of there more sober than when I went in.”

  8.Malthouse

Round the corner to the grandaddy of them all. The Malthouse.

Draw us Something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

3:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

Good beer bottle tree, with cool bottles, Mikkeller included.

Number Of Bearded Men:

2 Not including Mr Phil Cook

Beer Selection Rating:

9/10

 Quirkiest Beer Available:

Brother Davids Triple from Anderson valley Brewing Co. Mainly because Haleana recons she has never sold one.

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

Defered to another staff member… "Single infusion and its awesome”

Crap On Tap:

Couple of Monteiths and Amstel light.

Music Rating:

8/10

RedFives comment; 

“Too late came the cry…I would have had a pint of that, oh well it’s a beer with a good looking tap handle”

  9. The Apartment

A stones throw off Courtney Place, my first visit to the trendy looking Apartment.

Draw Us Something...

    Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

1:2

Xmas Decs Rating:

nil, quirky year round decor however...a king sized bed for example!

Number Of Bearded Men:

nil

Beer Selection Rating:

7/10

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Moa Five Hop Winter Ale

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“Um, yeah, they use a lot of hops and malt”

Crap On Tap:

Stokes Amber at a push, and thats not too bad.

Music Rating:

8/10

RedFives Comment;

“It’s all going on in here. What the fuck is that…. It’s a tommy gun lamp.”

  10. Hop Garden

As day turns firmly turns to night a long stroll up to see the friendly folks at The Hop Garden

Draw Us Something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

4:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

4/10

Number Of Bearded Men:

2

Beer Selection Rating:

8/10 including the not often encountered West Coast beer on tap.

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Ask Bill tomorrow

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

Deferred to other staff “single infusion”

Crap On Tap:

nil

Music Rating:

nil

RedFives comment;

“Has a family vibe, but the logo has some acid shit going on”

  11. Southern Cross

Finally, will we get there before closing? Quick march to the last on our list, The Southern Cross.

Draw Us Something...

  Mystery Morrison Men To Women Ratio:

3:1

Xmas Decs Rating:

Reasonable – playing “Fairy Tale of New York” counts as a Christmas decoration

Number Of Bearded Men:

4

Beer Selection Rating:

1/10 – surprisingly poor, the only craft beer was Emerson’s Pilsner.

Quirkiest Beer Available:

Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude (sold out), Epic Pale Ale.

Ability of Bar staff to answer Bill’s geeky question that he probably doesn’t know the answer to:

“I don’t know”

Crap On Tap:

Lots, nothing too good to be honest.

Music Rating:

7/10

RedFives comment;

“They have a pool table, but it’s in the wrong place, You can’t play properly because twats continually walk past with their drinks.”

  In conclusion, I'd say we all had a brilliant evening, obviously the idea of Craft Beer Capital promoting a trail isnt to abuse it, we had a half pint in the majoritory of places and were well looked after by a couple of establishments, with a free portion of chips here and there.

The suprise venue of the evening had to be The Apartment I feel most of the group wondered why a New York loft style cocktail bar was on the trail in the first place. It turns out to have a good selection of tap beers and bottles, what's more it caters for the non beer drinker as well as anywhere and would satisfy your non convert mates with a reasonable selection of crappy continental lager brands. Southern Cross however seems to have gone in the opposite direction. A bar with possibly the best outdoor space in Wellington, great live music and a cracking menu to boot. But there is only one problem, where is all your craft Southern Cross? As a visitor If you were to pick this as the only bar from the craft beer trail, you'd be left pretty dissapointed. 

Wellington's bar tenders seem to be an arty bunch, LBQ's Emily topping the tree with her quick portrait, with possibly greater kudos for her weekly chalk board daubings, everyone we asked also faired pretty well with Bills tricky brewing questions. This wasn't designed to test anyones knowledge, but really to gain a reaction, maybe to see how Wellingtons craft beer bar tenders deal with that tricky American Tourist! Sorry mate. Honesty is without doubt the best policy, in my opinion, If you dont know, say you dont know put the onus back on the question master. One too many peeps tried to answer with a list of brewing/ beery buzz words. That's akin to naming parts of a guitar when asked to play the opening chords of "Stairway to heaven" not cool. 

The Mystery Morisson Ratio, probably revealed he has a point, but its still an outdated opinion. Although men out ranked the ladies in terms of numbers, most of the girls were drinking beer. The times they are a' changin, with Renaissance Stonecutter and 8 Wired Black Dwarf been a popular choice amongst the female drinkers on the night.

All in all Wellington wins, I'd agree with the point of view that on a sunny wednesday before xmas the capitals craft beer drinkers are well spread between its best bars. Can the city sustain the level of craft beer joints at the present level?

I feel it can, it starts however with the individual converting his/her mates. Many of the corporate crowd are seemingly already swinging toward ordering a 'MOA' asking for the brand over any particular style. Entry level craft beers, like Emersons Pils, Bookbinder and the familiarity of Tuataras solid range seems to be a good starting point. What's more seeing empty shelves at Thorndon New World, and most importantly Craft Beer Capital leaflets whizzing out of their holder by the beer aisle, it seems the interst is there, and growing. All I can say is ¡Viva la Revolución!, it's going to be a tasty one.

[raise1glass-blog]

Three Boys Have Willy’s.

It’s something that was pointed out to me a few weeks back but it’s been the latest public house conversation starter. Incredibly very few people have noticed, I certainly hadn’t. Its one of those;

‘oaaah yea well I never’ moments! 

Beery highlights this week have to include a bottle of a personal favourite, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord as well as an evening getting slam dunked by Golden Bears latest dark lager. 

Slam Dunkels is another beer from Golden Bear that I’ve been taken a back by recently. Their ‘Hooligan’ was a riot of tangerine, a heady (7.3?) and a beautiful sunset orange hue, kept me coming back for more.

I was sad to see that get swallowed up over at LBQ. This beut however was freshly trumped by a rare appearance of Epic Armegeddon that did the ‘ParrotDog’ act and disappeared before the tap badge had properly adhered to the pump.

On Epic, their ‘Larger Larger Lager shout it’  was launched on Wednesday, pouring from the barrel at FandB and the familiar taps of the Malthouse. It’s a beer I will have to return to having had a few too many that evening.

I typed in my phone rather succinctly my thoughts… 

'Epic!' HUGE Ber, fantastic aroma, classic crisp finish. 2 alcoholic.

In a way larger is a fabulous idea, I’ll certainly be tucking into a few of the coming days and weeks of warm. The only problem is when my eyes see Pilsner My brain says, “I’ll now switch into relax mode as several crisp glasses of golden liquid are going to pass down the throat.”

My point with Larger is this can’t happen, at 8.5% ABV it’s a sipper, a beer you can’t demolish. A pint that three glasses in could lose its refreshing nature and become a heady chore to get through, the last third warming in the glass.

I think I understand what Larger is trying to achieve and this beer is as forward thinking and well crafted as any other of Epic's fantastic creations it’s just the style means ‘quaffability’ to me and there is no way your body  could afford to have several. 

For an entertaining in depth breakdown of the beer and its story head over to Kelly's blog entry here.

This coming weeks beer events could well be eventful, the fridge is glistening with three very special bottles from Christchurch I'm dying to get stuck into. Tonight however, swayed by chit chat and the launch of Craft Beer Capital its a trip up the steps to the Kelburn Village pub...I hear the burgers are the business.

[raise1glass-blog]

An Up And Down Weekend.

Well I had allsorts to do this morning but the tragic news of footballer Gary Speed’s death has knocked me into row Z. The man seemed impenetrable. A dazzler as a young winger, a class act. A rock solid ball winner and playmaker in many a premiership midfield as he matured. Moreover a family man, a role model, a shining example of maturity and integrity off the field.

Perhaps I’ll have a beer in his memory tonight. Perhaps I won’t. Maybe raising a pot of alcohol seems an unfitting tribute to an icon of my childhood. I dearly hope his young family can get through this terrible loss.

I did write a bit about beer this weekend though, and Monday morn was type up time.

After a conversation of the twitter variety from “ThirstyBoys” protagonist @greasylightbulb I took his advice. Immediatley I headed down to Thorndon New World and stood in the beer aisle for forty minutes. Once satisfied I had surveyed the shelves long enough I emerged with a bottle of Bath Ales, Golden Hare.

It would be a first. Many of the craft beers emerging out of the UK passed me by before I headed down here. What’s more, my attention certainly stayed with local pints and some of the great emerging craft breweries of the North, as well as a few firm old favourites. Asking for a pint of ‘BaRth’ ales in my local would be like asking for a 'Babycham' at a rugby club bar.

Without fear of reprisal, I cracked the top and sat down to a very cosmopolitan lunch of panfried Terakhi with some new potatoes and roasted tomatoes. The essential ingredient was missing though, a fish dish is not complete with out peas, and a liberal sprinkling was added out of nostalgia, if not for vitamins sake!

  Golden Hare, is very clean. In  numerous repects. Great clarity of design, the bottles are striking in their simplicity. Well crafted, and modern with a nod to the past.

On the nose their isn’t much just a subtle hint of citrus pith and an overall smell of muddy boots. Oxidation? On second thoughts it’s probably my senses realigning with subtle English hop aromas.

I’ve definitely become used to having NZ scents of tangerines and grapefruit pith wedged up my conk. Again on tasting, the beer is very clean with only a little prod of bitterness satisfying the tongue, way at the back. Cleansing, refreshing and very enjoyable with a light lunch. Golden Hare is certainly worth a try, all it misses is a day of sun and a cricket match on the box. 

[raise1glass-blog]

Pete Postlethwaite Is Dead.

Peter William Postlethwaite died on the 2nd of January 2011.

I didn’t know.

It’s been a week of revelations but this knocked me for six. It’s almost twelve months since one of my favourite actors of stage and screen passed away.

It’s not the fact that shocked me but the nonchalant way in which my friend dropped it into conversation. Moreover, it seems that everyone I’ve mentioned this ‘news’ to since, were well aware, and had more than come to term’s with the demise of the person Spielberg once described as;

‘The best actor in the world.’

How does this  sombre  information relate to beer?

Pete Postlethwaite  was, and I suppose still is, on my dead or alive ‘would love to share a pint with celebrity list.’ It’s just he’s now freed up a space on the ‘still going’ roll of honour.

The second revelation was Saturday’s events, an early, and my first; Thanksgiving. The main eye-opener, after ol’ Pete, was mashed kumara and pumpkin mixed with sugar, butter and pecans served with the main course.

Of all accounts, the American protagonist of this delightful event mentioned that ‘sweet potato casserole’ has been known to be topped with marshmallows.

My job was to pair a beer with all this…sweet/savoury, cheesy, chickeny stodge… I’d had enough shocks for one day, it wouldn’t have surprised me if everyone at the table would have stood up and poured diet coke over their plates!

The Beer of choice was a 750ml Allagash Fluxus 2009, a bottle I’d tried and what’s more tempted the Thirstyboys with some weeks ago. A Saison, made with Sweet potatoes and black pepper. I felt a short, sharp hit of saisony citrus and funk would cut through any fatty meat flavours.

What with the combination of sweet potatoes and black pepper, it was a dead cert to marry well with all that starch in its variety of forms.

I have to say it did the job…. just about. Perhaps the beer wasn’t at it’s best/ freshest. The ABV at 8.3% was welcoming and great with dinner, the lightness in mouthfeel and body of a Saison really complemented the food. Any pepper notes were subtle and to be honest the sweet potato wasn’t as caramelly sweet as I thought it might have been. Nevertheless I (and I think the rest of the guests) enjoyed every last drop.

The rest of the evening was spent attempting card games and attempting to devour leftovers with a couple of pink fruit beers and the brilliant Yeastie Boys Her Majesty 2011. That, I may add, washed down a heavily whipped cream topped, and wonderfully spiced pumpkin pie superbly…..I could get into this thanksgiving malarkey.

[raise1glass-blog]

Spring Clean

They say "A change is as good as a rest." I'm not sure who 'they' are but whomever it is comes up with some great one liners and odd facts that generally start with the word apparently.

Moa would probably say the blogs had a re-branding, I can assure you they will be no pictures of shipping containers or sharks, but there may be a link to the odd offensive postcard! What I'm getting at is the challenge has come to an end six months in. The blog had started to become stale, I stopped enjoying reviewing beer and what's more the act of directing traffic and donations to the charities involved had become non-existant. 

In the last few weeks therefore I feel it's been high time for a change, I've already got an offline idea for fundraising that should be much less complex and will hopefully come together in the next wee while. As far as the blog goes, I feel I have loads of ideas outside of the straight beer reviews. The new layout will allow me to add posts on an array of subjects around craft beer, as well as general comment, and above all have a page dedicated to shouting the praises of the breweries, beer writers and commentators that have been an inspiration to me.  

My hope is the new site will become a place for discussion and an enjoyable place to glance around and browse through. A blog that hopefully portrays my enthusiasm for craft beer the world over and, what's more, transmits some of that admiration to the unconverted!

Cheers, Dan

[raise1glass-blog]

Aussie Vs NZ Blind Beer Tasting.

                        Tonight’s the night, tonight two nations battle for a place in the final of the greatest rugby tournament on the planet. After 80mins one country will be basking in glory, one will be blaming ‘sick’ refereeing decisions. I have no allegiance; whatever happens I just hope the winner beats the bloody French. Seeing as though tonight’s game is the real final, I’m stirring things up with a beery battle of my own. Two unmarked glasses of beer vie for my appreciation. One from this fine country, one from over the Tasman. The winner will be meaningless in the face of tonight’s encounter but surely it’s as interesting as a fucking aged cephalopod picking out results.

Kick Off

                        1min

The whistle blows and I’m presented with a dark beer, this could be interesting, dark beers are possibly my favourite style, it’s going to be a closer encounter than I first imagined.

7min

A flat dissipating tan head could be put down to pre match mind games.

9min

There is no disguising this beer been served a touch cold, definitely marks against. The side this drop represents start flat footed and are pegged back.

  10 min

Quite an acidic, fruity? Vinegary smelling (stout) I hope it’s not off!

  12min

The first taste takes the pressure off, an unbelievable kick into touch puts the opposition right back to their twenty two.

15min

Mouth filling flavours of espresso and dark chocolate set the tone, metallic back of the tongue tingling dryness gives this side the edge.

21min

Quite enjoyable good battle in midfield, I’m definite this is a stout, too full bodied for a porter.

23min

Quite well hopped too, a grubber kick goes into touch, right idea though.

30min

A decent drop goal from distance opens this encounter up and gets the first points on the board as I finish the glass. Enjoyable drop, but not worthy of a try just yet. 3-0

33mins

Break in play. Time for a palette cleanser.

                        35mins

Time for the other team to take centre stage, this hardly has a head at all, it's another dark beer! Lighter body/pack weight with a hint of red.

38mins

Coming up to half time..The first taste is a mellow and subdued, although pretty powerful as far as alcohol goes, nowhere near as hoppy as the first but much more up my street.

39mins

Ball is pushed wide as my mouth gets stuck into this great drop. The winger makes a break, that nudge of burnt caramel opens up the game and he’s held up two metres from the try line.

40mins

On the stroke of half time, the outside centre evades a tackle and goes over. Scintillating stuff. I’m going to put it down to the change in glassware and even things up at half time

First half stoppage time. The conversion is missed. Tight angle though,

HT score 3-5.

Second half kicks off.

             Beer one on the left, two on the right. Two different takes on the same style, I recon they’re both stouts. The second is definitely lighter in body but has a great flavour profile and alcohol level to back it up, quite sweet.

44mins.

Side by side taste. 1st one hoppy and dry, second one syrupy and sweet. Its’ a tough call.

50min.

I go with my first inkling and the leading beer thus far has picked up the mantle. Burnt caramel, milk chocolate and rum turn up, poor finish though really. A missed drop goal could be a rued error.

62min

It’s been a midfield tussle so far with few sparks of genius. Now for Beer no1’s turn in the limelight. It’s kept its head but its slightly acidic aroma is still putting me off, it has warmed up now, but a gritty hop profile has disguised other possible subtleties in flavour.

68mins

Penalty against Beer 1 for being a touch too dry I have to go and get a palate cleanser.

70mins

Beer 2 converts to make the score 3-8 with ten to go.

74mins

Beer 2’s finish really lets it down and I recon Beer 1 is worthy of recognition a late surge to the try line is on but the fly half decides to go for the drop goal. 6-8

78mins

Its all pretty close here, but I recon beer 2 just edges it. If only for complexity of flavour and general enjoyment.

80mins The final whistle blows and beer 2 nudges it by a whisker let’s check out the winning side.

                          So it’s the All Blacks in the final. Dux de lux Sou’wester had the edge but only by a narrow margin. Coopers Best Extra Stout, definitely deserves an accolade. A dry but slightly sharp stout, a nice drop but lacked the intricacy of its adversary.

[raise1glass-blog]

Epic/Dogfish Head: Portamarillo

                        I’ve been waiting a long while to try this beer, it’s a bottle that’s always sat on the shelves in Thorndon New World and gained my attention. Generally I pick it up, read the back, admire the labeling and innovation and put it back for a rainy day. This time, swayed by the notion that there isn’t much of it left, It went into my basket.

Been a huge porter fan, and considering my favourite NZ beer would probably be 8wired’s smoked porter, It’s strange I’ve neglected Portamarillo for so long. As I previously mentioned, with 8wired Hopwired, it’s a quality thing. Epic and Dogfishhead represent the Masserrati’s of craft brewing for me. It’s always going to be a fucking great beer, so it can sit there and be great while I try to pick my way through the Mini’s and Holden Commodores of craft beer.

Nevertheless there is always time for an indulgence, tonight I’ll crack the top and see what all the fuss is (it’s probably all gone now so…was) about.

On pouring the faint whiff of a bonfire draws you in. That’s a bit wordy. It’s actually more like a sweet tobacco scent, the sweaty unsmoked sweetness of a freshly lit cigar. The first sip is complex bordering on confusing, smoke turns up, helped out by porterish coffee notes and a thin mouthfeel. Brussel sprouts or cabbage flavours come and go. There is definitely a fruitiness, but its deep, dark, refined and way at the back. Its as if this porter has been mixed with a full bodied red wine. A touch of dry spice, white pepper or liquorice? Tickles on the finish.

Sharing it with friends has caused a touch of debate, unfortunately the beer is overshadowed by conversation and the theory that…

“Any truly great bands/singers have never been good-looking” Discuss.

I tuck into a fine dessert of sticky date pudding, and polish off the remnants of this great bottle of beer, an impromptu but fitting bed partner…exceptional.   

Read more about this collaboration and admire a fine piece of bready artwork at the dedicated portamarillo website...look.

[raise1glass-blog]

The Sawmill Brewing Co: Crystal Wheat Beer

                        So It looks like I’ve been duped by mass advertising, today I plumbed for a green flip top bottle. No it’s not a Grolsch, that by the way, is one commercially produced lager that has never disappointed. Certainly from their ubiquitous, flip top. 

Today’s offering is from the Sawmill brewing company in Leigh, their take on a Kristal Weiss.

Cracking the immensely satisfying cap, there is a great whiff of citrus zest alongside floral hops and a vinous edge. Winey flavours also dominate the first sip, with a sharp grape juice like hit adding to a refreshing palate cleansing acidity. Half way down this beautifully clean and translucent wheat beer I must admit I’m struggling. My palate really hasn’t adjusted to the opening salvo of sourness and I’m not really enjoying the wet wipesque citrus edge.

By the last third the initial carbonation has all but deserted the beer in my glass. Effectively I’ve been left with a light coloured slightly warm glass of alcoholic lemonade, and I don’t feel like finishing it.

Unfortunately, I have a niggling feeling of style over substance with this first taste of a Sawmill beer. I’ll be back to Thorndon New World within the week to stock up and make sure this is the disappointing one off to their collection.