Beer Haiku Friday and Beervana Blogs

It is a busy time for beer tastings at the moment so this Haiku seemed particularly apt. It is called "Flavor":

That sublime moment
When someone realizes
Beer’s about flavor

Beervana is over for another year but already the planning for 2010 has begun (seriously, the first meeting was this week). It seems timely, well - overdue really - to have a look at what some of the blogs had to say.

I always enjoy Kate Blackhurst's perspective over at Kate's Blog. She has done two posts titled "Beervana Tasting Notes Part One" and "Beervana 2009 Tasting Notes Part Two":

We hear that Epic have sold out of their Armageddon IPA anyway. When we mention this to another brewer, however, he just laughs that is exactly the sort of rumour Luke would put about to create more demand. There’s still some on at The Malthouse anyway and we have a couple of pints later, although we swore we would go straight home after the festival this time.

Over at Brewaucracy, Greig channels his Hamilton roots with a post titled "Smells Like Beervana 2009":

As Alex will testify, it did lead to a few problems. I’d go looking for a beer, run into a friend, spend 10 minutes talking, then realise what I was supposed to be doing. I’d get back from my sortie to a missing wife, having given up waiting for me and my mouth, and gone searching for beer of her own. Never mind, it was all great fun.

Over at Public Address, Hadyn Green gave his Field Theory on Beervana in "No Draught In Here":

Brewer Matt Thomson said that they were surprised they had won because they had been (like the Speight's brewer) concentrating on other beers. I noted to Matt that it was a very malty flavoured beer; he said that it was because of tea-bagging. I caught the spit-take before it happened.

Naturally tea-bagging is the process of planting a muslin bag filled with crushed malt into the boil near the end of the process which creates a stronger malty flavour. It is not anything dirty.

Glass Tip - Those excellent chaps at Beer Haiku Daily

Beer history and the future of beer

From the Wellingtonian, the debate over the country's oldest pub rages on and a retracing of a historic pub crawl reveals how much Wellington has changed. The full column is titled"Historic Thistle Inn claimes challenged":

It was never likely that a single column would determine once and for all whether the Thistle Inn or the Upper Moutere Inn was the country’s oldest pub. In fact, last month’s column seems to have stirred up even more debate with a number of other contenders also claiming that honour.

Over at the Malthouse blog, the latest post discusses the relative merits of Oktoberfest and the new Octoberbest festivals. The post is called "Move over Oktoberfest, here comes Octoberbest":

If proof was ever needed that Oktoberfest is actually a pretty classy event, look no further than the organiser’s decision in 2007 to ban serial oxygen-thief Paris Hilton. The official reason was that Paris “cheapened” the festival in 2006 with her attendance but the real reason was perhaps that she had used her time at the festival to run an advertising campaign for canned wine.

Glass Tips - The Wellingtonian and Malthouse Blog

12 Beer Events in 10 weeks

Looking to get involved in some beer festivals and beer tastings. Now is a fantastic time to do it in New Zealand.

In the next 10 weeks there are 12 beer events on, right across the country

22 September - Elliott Stables - Beer Tasting - NZ Craft Beers
25 September - Ruakura Campus Club - Evening of Armageddon
3 October - Oktoberfest @ Whitecliffs Brewery
13 October - Pomeroy's Epic Beer Tasting
17 October - SOBA Auckland area October meeting
17 October - Outram Charitable Trust OCToberFest
19 October - Okere Falls 2009 Bier Fest
29 October - Malthouse Event
8 November - WellingtonBC Competition 8-11-09: American Pale Ale
14 November - SOBA Auckland-area November meeting
28 November - SOBA Auckland-area Christmas meeting
28 November - WBC Competition 28-11-09: Hefeweizen

For Full Details

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Lion Nathan to market and distribute Budweiser® and Staropramen® in New Zealand

Lion Nathan today announced that it had entered into an agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev to distribute and market the Budweiser® group of brands in Australia and New Zealand towards the end of the year.

Czech beer Staropramen® will also join Lion Nathan New Zealand’s portfolio of international premium beers, which currently includes Corona®, Stella Artois®, Kirin® and Beck’s®.

The long term agreement builds on the existing relationship between Lion Nathan and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“We are pleased to be adding Staropramen® and the Budweiser® group of brands to our strong portfolio of international premium beers,” said Peter Kean, Managing Director, Lion Nathan New Zealand.

“These are fantastic brands with great heritage. The premium segment is in growth as drinkers trade up in quality. We look forward to working with Anheuser-Busch InBev to grow Staropramen® and Budweiser® in New Zealand,” said Peter.

“Lion Nathan has been a trusted partner to our business for more than 20 years,” said Ian Stephens, Vice President, Anheuser-Busch InBev International. “The company has a proven track record in building premium brands through an understanding of premium drinkers, engagement with customers and innovative marketing and in-market execution.”

DB CANCELS SAISON TRADEMARK

DB Breweries is in the process of cancelling the registration of its Saison trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ). The company has held the trademark since April 2002.

DB Breweries’ general manager marketing Clare Morgan says the decision to cancel the trademark was a logical one given the company hasn’t produced Saison for a considerable time.

“We haven’t brewed Monteith's Saison for six years and we have no intention of re-launching it to the market as it no longer fits our current Monteith’s portfolio. The brand was very well received when it was first launched but we ceased production in 2003.”

Clare Morgan says the cancellation of the Saison trademark has no bearing on the company’s ‘Radler’ trademark.

Full Story

Must be Awards season...

Every year, the Capital Times asks readers to vote in their extensive "Best of Wellington" survey. Obviously, there are some rogue results (Blanket Man described as a character again) but the beer related placings were:

Best Beer Brand
1. Tuatara (3rd last year)
2. Monteiths (2nd)
3. Emerson's (-)

Best Bar

1. Mighty Mighty (1st)
2. Matterhorn (2nd)
3. Goodluck (3rd)

Best Outdoor Bar

1. Southern Cross (1st)
2. St Johns (2nd)
3. Matterhorn (3rd)

Also out recently are the finalists for the HANZ Awards which make slightly depressing reading for beer fans:

Best Bar

Four Kings, Wellington
Frederic's, New Plymouth
Sale Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland
Soul Bar and Bistro, Auckland

Best Sports Bar

Four Kings, Wellington
Grosvenor Hotel, Timaru
The Right Track Sports Cafe, Auckland
The Tote Pub & Super Liquor, Trentham, Upper Hutt

Beer Haiku Friday and Making Love in a Canoe

Today's haiku combines three of my favourite topics (beer, poetry and Homer Simpson) into just 17 glorious syllables. It is called "Homer Haiku":

Cause and solution
Of life’s infinite problems
Poured in a pint glass

The latest Malthouse blog also covers more of my favourite subjects - American pale ale, US foreign policy, Sierra Nevada - and some of my less favourite topics - Bud Light, Urkel and Oprah - in just one post "American beer is like making love in a canoe":

American beers have an appalling reputation internationally based on the fact that 80% of them are, in fact, nonsense on stilts. This was certainly the reputation that Monty Python was lampooning in the line which now serves as the title of this blog post. However, that same accusation of mainstream mediocrity can be levelled at a number of countries around the world. Often a nation’s most popular or most famous beer is hardly their best offering. Both those generalisations apply fully to New Zealand.

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily and Malthouse Blog

Beer Haiku and Beers from the Edge

Today's beer haiku belatedly recognises International Bacon Day (September 6) which really should replace Labour Day as a public holiday. The poem is titled "Bacon Lattice":

Any recipe
That includes “bacon lattice”
Has got to be good

From the Malthouse blog, the latest post has a look at the mainstream media, beer judging and the Mata range. It is called "Beers from the Edge":

One of a beer writer’s constant frustrations when trying to push craft beer into the mainstream media is the frequent impact a journalist or editor’s pre-conceptions and prejudices can have on the final article. It can be as simple as the choice of pictures used to accompany positive or negative stories about alcohol. If you look closely, negative stories usually have stock photos involving beer or RTDs while positive stories tend to use pictures featuring wine, usually in a quite sophisticated setting.

Glass Tips - Beer Haiku Daily and Malthouse Blog

Beer Haiku Friday and Official Confirmation that Richard Emerson is, indeed, a Champion

As well as being a day early, todays Beer Haiku has a distinctly New Zealand flavour. It is called "Perfect":

Butcher and brewer
Make ESB sausages
Perfect with mashed spuds

It is by Rupert Morrish who notes "my local butcher makes these excellent Bitter & Twisted sausages for Galbraiths." The editor also adds a note saying "Mmmmm… ESB Sausages… Drool…" However, this is not the first time the dashing Keith Galbraith has had a poem written about him. *

Over at the Malthouse blog, the latest post takes a look at the Beer Awards, Richard Emerson, beer, life and shoes in "It's official, Richard Emerson is a Champion":

Perhaps suspecting that he was going to do very well at the ceremony, Richard was sharply dressed. That has not always been the case. Emerson’s brewery manager Chris O’Leary recalls Richard arriving at a previous Brew NZ wearing two different shoes. Apparently, Richard had gotten up at 5am in the dark, slipped on his shoes and travelled all the way to Wellington. Chris says “being the observant, caring guy I am I let him wear that combination for a day then advised him that he was wearing one brown shoe and one green shoe. Ever positive, Richard replied ‘Bugger – oh well, at least I’m wearing one shoe from each of my favourite pairs!’”

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily and the Malthouse Blog

* I can not provide any actual evidence of this but I'm sure its true.

Lion prepares to turn on new taps

The 16.7ha East Tamaki site on Ormiston Rd in South Auckland is the location of Lion's new $250 million property base to replace its Newmarket home.

The development is known to staff as both Project Century, in reference to the manufacturing and warehousing property's projected life span of about 100 years, or The Pride.

Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by 10 per cent once the move is completed. Rainwater will be harvested from the roofs of the East Tamaki site, flow into storage tanks and be re-used for toilet flushing and irrigating gardens.

"It won't be used to make beer," Read said.

Lion Nathan's new plant has:
* New buildings: More than 5ha.
* Earthworks: 180,000 cubic metres.
* Pipelines: 15km laid, 1.5km to go.
* Concrete: 8500 cubic metres complete, 5500 to go.
* 2500 tonnes used on site.
* Recycled glass: 2100 cubic metres or 3.5 tonnes.

Full Story

Beer Awards and Beer Tasting

The biggest week on the New Zealand beer calendar is over. The BrewNZ Beer Awards attracted a record number of entries while Beervana attracted a record number of attendees. The winners were honoured at the awards dinner last Thursday and the full results are now up on the Brewer's Guild website. The highlight of the evening was Emerson's Brewing Company being crowned Champion Brewery 2009.

Pre-Beervana, I had the pleasure of running a beer tasting for the diplomatic folks at MFAT:

The role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been occasionally described by outsiders as ‘drinking for one’s country.’ It was therefore slightly surprising that it had been a couple of years since I had last run a beer tasting session for the MFAT social club. The organiser of the previous event is, rather ironically, now posted to a completely dry country though I’m sure there is no causal relationship.

Finally, to the hundreds of correspondents who almost over-loaded the Real Beer server with emails wanting to know what happened to Beer Haiku Friday, you will be pleased to learn that normal service will resume this week.