Brewjolais
Hot of the hop vines, via Geoff Griggs' beer news at Regional Wines (and, as yet, still bringing back zero results from Google!), comes a new seasonal beer from Mac's Nelson brewery. Celebrating the hop harvest, Mac's Brewjolais will be an aromatic, American-styled, pale ale that contains an enormous amount of fresh Styrian Goldings hops (140kg in 11,000L of beer).
Styrian Goldings are actually a continental descendant of English Fuggles, rather than Goldings, and are generally noted to have a spicy addition to the Fuggles earthy and woody characteristics. They are often found in Belgian-style witbier and strong ales, as well as most English ale styles.
The use of highly aromatic fresh hops, rather than the traditional kilned version, has become popular in the USA since the beginning of the micro-brewery revolution. Due to the fact that they should be used so soon after the harvest, this usage is generally limited to breweries that are located close to the hop fields. Mac's have certainly made good use of their natural competitive advantage here. Readers here can make use of their RealBeer advantage by keeping an eye out for this limited ale in the next few weeks.
According to Geoff, the Brewjolais should be available, on tap at selected outlets, from the third week of March. Perfect timing to welcome the new "brewery assistant" into my family...
Slainte mhath
Stu
Styrian Goldings are actually a continental descendant of English Fuggles, rather than Goldings, and are generally noted to have a spicy addition to the Fuggles earthy and woody characteristics. They are often found in Belgian-style witbier and strong ales, as well as most English ale styles.
The use of highly aromatic fresh hops, rather than the traditional kilned version, has become popular in the USA since the beginning of the micro-brewery revolution. Due to the fact that they should be used so soon after the harvest, this usage is generally limited to breweries that are located close to the hop fields. Mac's have certainly made good use of their natural competitive advantage here. Readers here can make use of their RealBeer advantage by keeping an eye out for this limited ale in the next few weeks.
According to Geoff, the Brewjolais should be available, on tap at selected outlets, from the third week of March. Perfect timing to welcome the new "brewery assistant" into my family...
Slainte mhath
Stu
posted by Stu as "Stu" at 1:29 pm
2 Comments:
Where did they get fresh hops from? The beer must have been brewed weeks ago, and the Hop harvest in the Nelson area only started this week! Bit confusing don't you think!
The hops were from Motueka, driven directly back to Mac's in Nelson. I guess you can pick a few hops early, when you have the right contacts (or are one of the biggest customers).
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