Epic Halcyon at Thornbridge Brewery (UK)

Although we are both from NZ, this was the first time our paths had crossed. You have to remember that everyone knows everyone else in NZ, so this was no mean feat! How can I describe Luke? He is very confident and oozes self-belief and passion. He has an intuitive understanding of the world of craft beer and has literally worked from the bottom up. He told me of how he used to volunteer his weekends at a local Auckland brewpub chain so he could learn how a commercial brewery worked (Luke was a passionate home brewer prior to this) until he was employed and gradually worked his way up in the brewing world. Commitment seeps from his every pore and the intensity with which he talks about beer and brewing is awesome. He is engaging, intelligent and the type of person that us Thornbridgers love to hang out with.

It was a big step to decide to collaborate with someone that we did not know. We hadn’t tasted his Epic beers or met him; however it was an opportunity not to be missed. In hindsight, I would have been gutted had we not brewed together. We had a great day and even got to try some of Luke’s beers, which were fantastic!

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The Thursday Pint - Tuatara's New Drop and Ale Tasting

In big brewing news, Tuatara are launching their first new beer in several years at the Malthouse in Wellington tonight. The beer is Tuatara Helles and the details are in the latest Malthouse blog post aptly titled "Fancy a pint of the new Tuatara?":

The two sweetest words in the English Language, according to Homer J Simpson, philosopher, role model and pneumatic cerevisaphile, are “de fault”. However, I tend to think that Pete Brown, beer writer, global pub crawler and all-round bearded bloke, has it right when he suggests that “fancy a pint” is about the most appealing invitation you can get which involves remaining fully dressed.

Last night the Cellar Vate beer tasting group sampled some of the best ales from around New Zealand (and Tui). The full report and results are up now:

The April session of the Cellar-Vate Beer Club was a search for New Zealand’s best ale. Forty people tasted ales new and old brewed in a mix of contemporary and classic styles. They also tried Tui, a self-proclaimed East India Pale Ale, to see how it stacked up against the real stuff.

I Am A Craft Brewer

I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

"I Am A Craft Brewer" is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement. Created by Greg Koch, CEO of the Stone Brewing Co. and Chris & Jared of Redtail Media...and more than 35 amazing craft brewers from all over the country. The video was shown to a packed audience of 1700 craft brewers and industry members at the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference as an introduction to Greg's Keynote Speech entitled "Be Remarkable: Collaboration Ethics Camaraderie Passion." As is tradition for the CBC Keynote, a toast to the audience was offered. This time, the beers offered for the toast were all collaboratively brewed craft beers including Isabella Proximus, Collaboration Not Litigation, AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple, Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-Ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale, and 2009 Symposium Ale "Audacity of Hops."

Local brews proving a liquid asset

THE RECESSION may be slowing the rise of the premium boutique breweries, but it hasn't killed growth in the most vibrant part of the beer market.

New Zealand boasts an increasingly sophisticated range of beers and beer styles from a booming number of smaller so-called micro-breweries dotted around the country, more than half founded since 2000 by enthusiasts aiming to do for beer what Kiwi vintners have done for wine.

But it is not just English or even European beer styles that we are making our own. The brightest hope for a truly New Zealand beer is an American-style Pale Ale made unique by New Zealand hops, which have a stronger floral character than overseas hops after decades of careful husbandry. "They are much more floral and aromatic. You can liken it to the New Zealand wine industry and the New Zealand sauvignon blanc flavours," said Bungard.

Perhaps the king of those is Epic, from the Auckland-based Epic Brewing Company, the supreme champion in last year's New Zealand beer awards.

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Dear "Sir" Geoffrey

*UPDATE* Please be aware that I do not write this as the secretary of SOBA. The views expressed in this post are my own, and do not represent the views of the Society of Beer Advocates (SOBA) Inc.

The NZ Herald just can't help themselves. And as for "Sir" Geoffrey Palmer. You "sir", are a pillock of the highest order.

Let me spell it out for you Geoff, since you can't seem to figure it out yourself.

In this country you have the big two. We know who they are. Even morons waving around hand-wringing think-of-the-children legislation like yourself know who they are. These big two don't care about alcohol. They don't care about excise tax. They make product, not beer. They have a captive and uneducated market (I mean that literally - they don't know any better, not that they are stupid) who will continue to drink their product no matter what. This is great for them. It's great for you, Geoff. It's murder for the small brewers in this country, and it's murder for what you, in your stupid and misguided way, claim to be trying to achieve.

See, these little brewers are producing great beers. They celebrate the flavour and diversity of beer. They educate their market about beer, and in general, people who drink this beer pay a premium and don't drink to get drunk. They're precisely what you want, if you claim to want to change the drinking culture and reduce the "social cost" of drinking. And you're killing them with your one-size-fits-all excise tax. Nice going there.

These guys should be rewarded. But what do you do? Cudgel them down with more tax. Well, when they go out of business, Geoff, it will be your fault. You best not be whinging when you're left with just the big two, who are interested in maintaining the "just get it down ya" kiwi drinking stereotype above all else.

Good going Geoff. Did you find that Knighthood in a box of cornflakes? It sure as hell wasn't awarded for brainpower.

Beer Haiku Friday - Productive Weekend

The new era of Beer Haiku Friday continues on schedule with this week's poem called "Productive Weekend":

A chore, then some beer.
A chore. More beer. Chore. Beer. Hmm…
What was I doing?

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

And the big beer news today is that Kirin is looking to pick up all the remaining shares in Lion Nathan. The Stuff story is here.

Beer Haiku Friday - Rise and Resurrection

Let's face it - the hugely popular Beer Haiku Friday has, of late, been as erratic as Lindsay Lohan on a bender and about as reliable as Windows Vista. However, it is now back on track with a double header today.

The first Haiku has a bit of Easter theme and could also apply to the marvellous beer at Galbraith's Ale House in Auckland. It is called "Resurrection":

On days like today
A little resurrection
Goes a long, long way

Next, a inspirational Haiku about Friday night which also has a bit of Easter about it - "Rise":

As the sun goes down,
so does the beer in my glass.
Both will rise again

Glass Tip - Those clever chaps at Beer Haiku Daily

Beerly Writing - Beers that demand attention and Brewjolais

From The Wellingtonian, my column on (helping) to make Mac's Brewjolais 2009. It is called "World First Wellington Beer":

I made a beer. Well, technically I helped make a beer by taking notes and snapping pictures while other people did all the actual work. My sole responsibility was to check the map and figure out how much we would miss the Cook Strait Ferry by. The answer was one minute.

Over at the Malthouse blog, the latest post covers beers that stand out in a crowded market, sneaking, oysters, Australian breweries and, eventually, King Cobra. The post is entitled "Getting the Drinker's Attention":

Most beer writers are not genetically constructed to be proficient at sneaking. It turns out that I am particularly poor at sneaking quietly through beer festivals. My plan was to conduct a quiet reconnoitre of the sprawling Beer and Brewer Expo in the Melbourne Showgrounds. There were a lot of brands that were unfamiliar to me and, after I had run my three beer and cheese sessions, I wanted to ensure I used my seventeen or so hours on site effectively.

Beerly Writing - St George and St Greig

From the Malthouse blog, the latest post takes a look at England, Saint George, the Bottle of Britain, London Pride and Old Speckled Hen. It is called "A most quaffable ale, by George":

In keeping with their famous reserve, English people traditionally tend to acknowledge Saint George’s Day rather than celebrate it. It is not a public holiday and, apart from a few parades and occasional happy hours, April 23 passes relatively uneventfully in the mother country. Saint George, who may not have even existed, certainly got around if he did. He is the patron saint of at least eight countries – including England, Ethiopia and Russia – and revered by diverse groups including butchers, soldiers, boy scouts, Freemasons and people with syphilis. Assuming he was a real historical figure, Saint George was certainly not English and it is possible he never even visited those green and pleasant lands.

Since I noted gently that Greig does in fact live in Hamiltron, he has done two excellent blog posts, achieved saturation media coverage and publicly attacked DB, The Herald and The Independent. I should become a motivational coach.

Small brewer scores epic festival effort

When it comes to success in the art of beer making, brand recognition can mean everything, so the significance of winning a slot at a British ale festival dubbed "the world's biggest" is not lost on Kiwi brewer Luke Nicholas.

Over the next fortnight, the Poms will be sipping their way through 100,000 pints of multi-award-winning Epic Pale Ale after the 38-year-old was invited to showcase his brew at the International Real Ale Festival.

Epic's founder and head brewer has landed one of only six international taps at the annual event hosted by British pub giant JD Wetherspoon which he says could provide the company with the springboard it needs to maximise its potential.

"The Wetherspoon chain has 720 pubs and my batch will be selling in all of them overnight that's more than twice the number of outlets I can get into here," Mr Nicholas said.

"Of course, it's not just about selling the beer. It's about seeking publicity, pursuing potential avenues, exploiting brand recognition and putting Epic on the map something that's not easy back home."

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How can a company own a style?

Wine lovers, ask yourself how you would feel if there was only one brand of sauvignon blanc allowed to be sold in New Zealand.

What if one winery was allowed to trademark a varietal name and, in so doing, prevent anyone else from using it?

You might think it's unbelievable, but it's precisely what's happened in the case of a beer style. DB Breweries, producer of the Monteith's range of beers, has been granted a trademark on the name Radler and is now preventing other brewers from using it.

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Storm in a pint pot over radler beer - Green Man and DB slug it out

A boutique Dunedin brewery is being forced to rename its Radler beer after being told DB breweries has exclusive rights to the name.

Overseas, radler is a generic term to describe a style of shandy, but in New Zealand DB has claimed copyright on the word.

As a result, some beer lovers are now calling for a boycott of the brewing giant.

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Food drink categories thriving in recession

"As consumers spend less and stay in more, certain food markets are benefitting. These recession-proof, or rather recession-fueled, industries are destined to do well throughout the economic downturn, but it will be interesting to track their sales after the nation recovers," Patterson said.

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Beerly Writing - Bears that Hug and Fisking the Anti-Beer Bias

From the Malthouse blog, the latest post which, for a change, talks entirely about a brewery and its beer. This time, it covers Steve "Huggy Bear" Nally at Invercargill Brewery. It is called "The Adventures of Huggy Bear":

There have been small, poorly-designed classified advertisements in The Listener magazine for as long as I can remember. There were always rumours that people actually ordered those odd products, herbal remedies and dodgy holiday packages but there was never any solid evidence. For most of my lifetime, real-life purchasers from The Listener classifieds were a myth, they were as real as card-carrying members of the Social Credit Party or people who found David Spade funny. Then I met one.

Following up from Greig's earlier post on anti-beer bias in the media, my favourite beer writer Pete Brown does a complete demolition job on the offending article in the Independent. His post is called "National newspaper in anti-beer bias shocker":

In the main paper, 24 pages after the “extreme beer” feature, there’s an article entitled ‘War of the rosés’, about a scheme to make French rosé wine more popular. Here is a direct quote from that piece: “If we are forced to put the word ‘traditional’ on our bottles, people will think, especially young people, that it is a fuddy-duddy wine, an old-fashioned kind of drink. That will ruin everything we have achieved.” That’s from a winemaker. And here’s the journalist himself: “Young people, especially, have taken to rosé as a fun drink, which is refreshing, uncomplicated and relatively cheap. (Anjou rosé sells in the UK at between £5 and £8 a bottle. Other French rosés sell for as little as £3 a bottle.)” Despite the clear admission that rosé winemakers are targeting younger people, despite the fact that rosé wine is being sold cheap and marketed in a contemporary fashion in order to lure these drinkers, there is no worried quote from Alcohol Concern. No sensationalist headline. No mention of the ABV of rosé wines. The attractive illustration of three glasses of rose – unlike your illustration of extreme beers – carries no bold starbursts. The inference is clear: when winemakers admit that they are selling cheap wine (12-14% ABV) and actively targeting young people with 750ml bottles for as little as £3, that’s OK. But when a brewer creates a beer (6-12% ABV) and sells it in a 33cl bottle that retails from £4 upwards, and tells you it is emphatically NOT targeting young drinkers, you run the piece with a ‘health fears’ headline and a subhead that claims the beers are, in fact, targeting younger drinkers – despite the fact that this is a lower ABV drink, being sold at a higher price.

DB goes on bar buying spree

DB Breweries is taking advantage of the slumping market to add to its hospitality portfolio, buying up three popular bars, and is in talks to build a new site in Auckland’s Botany.

DB, in conjunction with its hospitality joint venture Barworks, has purchased Takapuna’s Copper Room, Christchurch’s Soho bar, and is in discussions to purchase Degree Bar in Auckland’s Viaduct.

Barworks is a partnership between DB and JAG Hospitality, which runs the operations end, and the partnership has been responsible for a variety of popular mid-to-high end pubs such as Auckland’s successful Sale Street Brewery and The Tap Room in Christchurch.

DB owns 60% stake in Barworks, and JAG Hospitality 40%, which is run by serial-bar entrepreneurs Andrew Clapham, John Hellebrekers and Gavin Cowell.

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Radler - the battle continues

Thanks to the ever-vigilant (and thirsty) Bruce Holloway, the Radler saga is being exposed to the general public. Along with my ugly mug, but you have to take the good with the bad.

Get your comments flowing guys and girls. DB seem to regard this as a non-issue. Consider the possibility for someone to own the terms Lager, Pilsner, Summer Ale (oh, wait..., they tried). Tell me what you think in the comments here. I'd especially love to hear from anyone at DB. I know some of you guys and girls love beer as much as I do. How do you feel about this?

*Update*

A list of products to avoid can be found at the SOBA website, here.