Crouching Tiger

Some updates are arriving on the Croucher Brewing website, and there’s some good news around availability for Auckland beer lovers.  

I’ve recently tasted an early batch of the Croucher Pale Ale and was very impressed – definitely something to check out if you are a fan of rich, malty, well-hopped pale ales such as Emerson’s 1812, either of Cock and Bull’s Monk’s Habit or Fuggles, or Pink Elephant’s Golden Tusk.

Check the beers out and support the retailers that are supporting our local breweries.

Slainte mhath
Stu

Extracting the Urine

We're all well aware of the age-old comparison between beer and human waste-water. The joke is often indulged in by young drinkers arguing over the subtle nuances in their particular choice of mass-produced macro "lager", as if it made any difference! Well, Tuatara have taken the concept rather literally in order to "extract the urine" from the recent All Blacks Bonded by Blood campaign. It doesn't exactly promote sophisticated enjoyment of fine beer, but it certainly gave me a chuckle or two.

Thanks to James Kemp in Wellington for the link.

BrewNZ News

Regular updates are occurring, in a rather sporadic and jumbled manner, at the BrewNZ website.  A summary of the news, so far, includes:

Host Venues:

• The Southern Cross – Martinborough Brewing Co.


• Paramount – Island Bay Brewing Co.


• The Tasting Room – Monteith’s Brewing Co.


• The Occidental – Monteith’s Brewing Co.


• The Cornerstore – Monteith’s Brewing Co.


• Bar Edward – Green Man


• The Malt House – Green Man, Steam Brewing Co.


• The Loaded Hog - Whitecliffs Brewing Co.


• Scopa Cafe Cucina - Emersons Brewery


• Mac's Brewery Bar and Restaurant – Mac’s


• Bar Bodega - Three Boys, Renaissance, Taa Kawa, Tuatara, Green Man and Sunshine

Festive Brews:

• Monteith's


• Limburg


• Emersons


• EPIC Brewing


• Hallertau BrewBar and Restaurant


• Mac's

Other events:

• The Loaded Hog is planning a couple of Bavarian nights on Thursday and Friday.


• The Malt House is planning its own Mini Great New Zealand Beer Show on Saturday 9th September.


• State of the Nations beer tasting at Bodega with Neil McInnes on Wednesday 6 September.

Stay posted and the keep the week free…

EPIC tasting in Wellington

The Malthouse - 5pm, Thurday 3rd August - come and have a taste of EPIC Pale Ale (from the tap) with head brewer Luke Nicholas. (Also a chance to sample Monk's Habit). Both beers will be available on tap, and both will be the latest batches, this means BIG fresh hop flavours.

Regional Wines - 11am to 4pm Saturday 5th August - if you can't make it to The Malthouse on Thursday you can meet Luke, and hear about EPIC Pale Ale on Saturday.

Cheers
Luke

The world’s coldest-ever draught beer, served at minus 2.5ºC.

Why would you bother drinking something this cold?

Link

How to Keep Beer Cold

The Experiment

Beer drinking is one of the world’s favorite pastimes. So as the weather started heating up, we felt a scientific duty to investigate this burning beer-related question: what is the most effective beer can cozy?

We took temperature measurements using a digital thermometer with a metal probe. In most of the experiments, the probe was submerged 5.5 cm into the beer, at the approximate midpoint of the can. All experiments were performed outdoors, with ambient temperatures varying from 90F (32.2C) to 103F (39.4C). Except as noted, all beverages used were 12 oz. (355ml) domestic beers. The starting temperatures for the beers ranged between 35.7F (2.1C) and 43.7F (6.5C)

Link To Webpage

Foodstuffs opens stand-alone stores to beat spirits ban

Grocery giant Foodstuffs enters the $1.1 billion take-home liquor market next month when its first Duffy & Finn store opens in Wellington.

A second store will open in Pukekohe in November as Foodstuffs tries to break the liquor monopoly of the bottleshops.

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The ultimate NZ road-trip. Must see breweries

A new and lively topic has started in the forum. If you have any useful comments please post them.

====================================
Over the next 2-3 months my work requires me to visit virtually every town & city in this glorious country. At least a couple of hours in any town, sometimes (like Auckland god forbid) it could be a week! 9 weeks of solid travel but a great opportunity to view and sample beer from Kaitaia to Invercargill on those cold lonely nights away from home. The likes of the Mussel Inn in Takaka will be getting a visit.

Your thoughts on any must see & do brew pubs or brewery visits and their speciality or why I should check it out? I promise a full report when (or if) I make it back home again..!!!

Link To Forum

Warehouse pulled up over "Belgian beer' ad

Incensed at being misled by an advertising flier, a beer aficionado has forced The Warehouse to change an advert claiming to sell authentic "Belgian" beer.

The man travelled 25 kilometres to buy what he thought was going to be genuine, Belgian-brewed Stella Artois beer.

"Lo and behold, what a wasted trip," he said in his complaint to the Advertising Standards Complaints Board.

"It was brewed in Auckland!"

"I always bought the Belgian Stella Artois when available, but find the Auckland-brewed version to be much inferior and a poor imitation of the real thing," he said.

The board ruled the advertisers, The Warehouse Ltd, breached rule two of the advertising standards code of ethics, relating to truthful presentation.

The Warehouse defended the advertisement, saying they used Belgian ingredients and the beer was brewed under the supervision of a Belgian company, albeit at New Zealand Breweries.

However, the company told the board they would stop advertising the beer as "The world's premium beer from Belgium, a part of brewing history since 1366".

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Stewards - Brew NZ 2006

I am seeking expressions of interest from people who are interested in being a Steward at the Brew NZ Beer Awards in September.

The Stewards serve hundreds of beers in a blind tasting to the judging panel. As the Chief Steward, I am looking to put together a team of people who know beer, who love beer and know how it should be treated and presented.

This seemed like a good place to advertise.

The judging takes place 4-6 September and set-up/breakdown work is scheduled for 1, 3 and 6 September.

People do not have to be able to commit to every session but some moving and a couple of judging days would be appreciated. The Monday and Tuesday are busier than the Wednesday so I will be looking to have a big team on those days. The Thursday clean-up is also important.

The Steward is a valued but unpaid role but you will get a free ticket to the big awards dinner at Parliament, some perks, the chance to interact with the judges and the opportunity to learn more about beer competitions.

It is also a lot of fun.

If you are interested, let me know (neil dot miller at beerwriter dot co dot nz).

Cheers

Neil

HOWTO: Open A Beer Bottle With A Piece Of Paper

Pub prices too low?

Brewing giant InBev has told British pub operators they should be charging more for beer because consumers are willing to pay more.

Steve Kitching, managing director of on-trade sales, said some pub managers treat beer "like petrol" and have a "price point ceiling in mind, which they are wary of breaching."

"Traditionally, retail pricing was determined purely on margin terms based on retailers' need to make a certain percentage profit," Kitching. "Today it's more about what consumers are willing to pay, but there is still some way to go."

Full Story

The Wine Wanker Likes Epic Pale Ale

The Wine Wanker says

The Beer: Epic Pale Ale
Wow! Is this the best beer in the world??? It was judged the best beer in New Zealand at the 2006 NZ Beer Awards and rightly so. It is a dark amber colour and it has an amazingly hoppy, aromatic and fruity (citrus) beer flavour.

http://thewinewanker.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 06, 2006 posted by Jules van Cruysen @ 8:30 PM

6 Beers in 10 Seconds!

A video of a guy that drinks 6 beers in 10 seconds. Can this be true?

Again the power of the internet brings us such enlightenment.

See Video

Have faith in strength of market, says Lion - 08 Jul 2006 - Business

Lion Nathan insists competition in the New Zealand beer, ready-to-drink and spirits markets would not be substantially reduced if it bought Independent Liquor.

In an application to the Commerce Commission seeking clearance to buy possibly up to 100 per cent of Independent, the Australasian brewer said it understood that not all of Independent might be sold.

Have faith in strength of market, says Lion - 08 Jul 2006 - Business

Epic rejects Independent Opportunity

New Zealand owned Epic Brewing Company has ruled itself out of the running for the late Michael Erceg’s Independent Liquor company.

“Even though the plant and equipment look very attractive for future growth and expansion of our company, Independent have a completely different business philosophy to us."

“Epic Brewing Company will not be entering the mass commodity, price driven beer market. We are about making world class beers for customers who demand high quality products."

Full Story

Rising costs clip Independent Distillers' Australian earnings

Independent Distillers' profits dipped a fraction across the Tasman in the past financial year as rising costs bit into earnings.

Accounts for Independent's operations in New Zealand are not made public, but documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show Independent Distillers (Australia) Pty Ltd's annual net profit to September 2005 was A$16.05 million, compared with A$16.12 million the previous year.

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Lion's bid for drinks firm faces hiccups

Brewer Lion Nathan could find it problematic to get Commerce Commission clearance to buy Australasian ready-to-drink giant Independent Liquor, and a high-end price may make a purchase uneconomic, analysts say.

Australian-headquartered Lion has lodged a clearance application with the commission and a public version is expected to be published this week.

The move comes more than two months after Independent was formally put on the block, and Lion has been widely tipped as a potential bidder. Independent, a private company established by the late Michael Erceg, is seen as a potentially good vehicle through which Lion could expand into the Australian RTD (ready to drink) market.

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It is always Beer O'Clock

Real Beer Blog readers love links. Given that Stu has already linked to my latest article on Tuatara, I thought I would share with you a few beer related gems over at another blog - Not PC.

Every Friday afternoon, Not PC publishes "Beer O'Clock" - an entertaining look at a special beer to try. Stu and I write alternate columns to give the "Malt Monster" and "Hop Head" perspectives.

Given that readers of this fine blog may not regularly check the country's foremost libertarian blog - here are some links:

3 Monts - Neil

Mikes Mild - Stu

Skol - Neil

Grafton Porter - Stu

Emerson's 1812 - Neil (great picture of Richard)

Monks Habit - Stu

Beer is Better than Wine

From The Register (Click for full article)

"At the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting on Tuesday, Professor Charles Bamforth said: "Beer, if you looked at it holistically, is healthier than wine. But it is not perceived that way."

...

"Bamforth is Anheuser-Busch endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California. Funnily enough, Anheuser-Busch is responsible for rubbish rice-based brew Budweiser."

Glass Tip: Gav at The Penthouse

Erceg empire 'not a perfect fit' for Lion

Lion Nathan could struggle to integrate Independent Liquor into its business and turn around its slowing growth, an industry watcher says.

Independent said no decision had been made on whether to sell. The company was founded by the late Michael Erceg in 1987 and introduced alcopops to New Zealand.

Full Story

Hip hops

Last month's Beertopia extravaganza at the Royal Exhibition Building turned the spotlight on the gourmet face of ale, with appearances from dozens of microbrewers who would traditionally struggle for publicity.

Most surprisingly, according to event manager Paul Thompson, about 35 per cent of attendees were female, with women shelling out for about half the beer sold.

"People are starting to realise that there isn't just VB; that there are craft beers out there," he says. And the heavyweight manufacturers - which he says throw out more beer than a microbrewery produces - aren't sitting on their hands, with the notable example of Carlton and United Beverages' boutique Matilda Bay line.

Full Story

Lion eyes up Erceg empire

Lion Nathan has declared its interest in the late Michael Erceg's Independent Liquor empire.The transtasman brewer yesterday lodged an application with the competition regulator for clearance to buy Independent, which dominates...

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Tuatara Tasting

The Tuatara range of beers is given the right royal Neil Miller treatment in Realbeer’s Ale Files.  Check out Neil’s concise review of the range here.

In my opinion, Carl Vasta is probably one of the most under-rated brewers in New Zealand.  After producing some lovely local drops at other Wellington breweries he has, for several years now, produced a wide assortment of consistently good beers under the Tuatara label.  New Zealand hop fans will certainly love his crisp golden to amber beers, while his Porter and Hefe are amongst the best local examples of these respective styles.

For those not able to pop down to the local bottle store for a six pack, mail order is probably possible via Regional Wines and Spirits, Cellar-Vate or Rumble’s Wine Cellar.

Open a beer bottle with another bottle

Stuck with a couple of cold beers and no opener in sight? This (longer than it needs to be) YouTube video shows a technique for cracking open a bottle with another bottle.

This hott bottle on bottle action may come in handy at the 4th of July BBQ this weekend.

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