Beer Haiku Friday and Awards That Actually Matter

Today's beer haiku will outrage the purists but I like it. It is called "Because I Can":

A bucket of wings
And some expensive cheap beer
Just because I can

Over at the Malthouse blog, my latest post discusses bar service, Evelyn Waugh's seven requirements of a good inn-keeper, assesses Malthouse's Colin Mallon against those seven criteria, looks at the Capital Awards and highlights three coming events. In a unsubtle dig at the Oscars, it is called "Awards That Actually Matter":

Many would have expected Malthouse to also do well in the ‘best beer list’ category – except there wasn’t one. There was a ‘best wine list’ and ‘best drinks list’ but beer was a glaring omission. Fortunately, the flame-haired perpetrator has been quickly identified and given a stern talking to over a Tuatara Ardennes. Hopefully, it will be a proper category next year.

Glass Tips - Those determined tipplers at Beer Haiku Daily and the multi-award nomination folks at Malthouse

Beer Haiku Friday and The Beer of Revenge

Today's Beer Haiku Friday proves that President Obama has a hard side. Obama loses his bet with the Canadian leader over the Ice Hockey so he has to buy a pack of beer. Look which beer he picks in "The President Pays Up":

The president pays
Up on his Olympic bet.
A case of Molson

Brutal!

The latest Malthouse blog looks at beer legends, Louis Pasteur, his love of yeast and hatred of Prussians, Croucher Cherry Bock and some big up-coming events. It is called "The Beer of Revenge":

“Pasteur is one of the greatest names in science, but this doesn’t mean he was necessarily a very nice person. What particularly got Pasteur hot under the collar was Prussia and all things German… His abhorrence of all things Prussian took two visible forms. First, he insisted that every paper he published would contain the statement “Hatred towards Prussia! Revenge! Revenge!” which must have proved difficult for peer reviewers, but had little real impact. But the second form changed beer as we know it."

Glass Tips - Those excellent fellows at Beer Haiku Daily and Malthouse

Beer Haiku Friday and Barrels of Beer

Today's much-anticipated Beer Haiku Friday describes a beer drinkers paradise. It is called "Variety":

Dreaming of a place
Where they serve an endless stream
Of various beers

Speaking of beer drinkers paradises*, the latest Malthouse blog looks at the development of barrel-aged beers, talks to three New Zealand brewers who are doing it and profiles the new Moa Barrel Reserve range. The blog is called "Barrels of Beer":

Epic Journey, two 20-litre barrels of Epic Armageddon which spent six weeks on the Interisland Ferry, were a big hit at Beervana 2009. Their Impish Brewer Luke Nicholas predicts we will see a lot more barrels in use at Beervana 2010. He is a bit of a convert to barrel-aging saying it was “fun and really changed the beer in a way I didn’t expect. It was interesting but also a bit scary and creepy leaving it to the wood. You don’t have that control and there are a lot of unknowns.”

* See what I did there?

Glass Tips - Beer Haiku Daily and the Malthouse blog

Beer Haiku Friday, a New Decade of Quality Beer and The Great Debate: Mild versus Wild

It's summer - which means rain in Wellington and lightning strikes in Northland, Auckland, Southland, Otago and Dunedin. Here is a beer haiku for all those who have lost power - or are about to - "Power Outage":

With the power out
I grab a beer from the fridge
And light a candle

Blogging at the Malthouse site has well and truly resumed with two new posts up already. The first covers my top ten Kiwi beer of 2009 and makes three predictions about the future of beer. It is titled "To a Decade of Quality Beer":

Having looked back longingly at 2009, it is time to look forward eagerly to 2010 and make some bold prediction for the rest of summer. Gazing into my crystal ball (well, actually it is a limited-edition Malthouse glass proposing ‘Cheers For 2010’ filled with Three Boys Golden Ale but the effect is quite similar), I foresee new levels of popularity for cider, wheat beers and pales ales (particularly those in the American style).

Next, a summary of the big debate in world beer, have extreme beers had their day, have Tactical Nuclear Penguins been spotted in New Zealand, Hallertau beers and Burns Nicht this Monday. With apologies to Bear Grylls, the post is titled "Mild vs Wild":

Sometimes you really want a beer that makes you stop and simply go ‘wow’ - you want a real eye opener, a conversation piece, a beer that you will always remember even though you only ever had a single glass. Lagunitas’ marvellously bouncy Hop Stoopid had this effect on my friend Dean late last year. Other times, however, there is a need for a beer that has character and flavour but which accompanies rather than dominates the conversation - a beer which can facilitate a long chat solving the world’s problems or last through a big sporting event.

Glass Tips - Beer Haiku Daily and Malthouse blog

Beer Haiku Friday and Beer with Sax Appeal

For many, it is the last day of work for the year. This Haiku - Stolen Happy Hour - may sum up how some of you are feeling:

The meeting drags on
The boss steals more and more time
I could be drinking

In the last Malthouse blog of the year, we meet Aussie musician Adam Page and learn of his love for craft beers and seamlessly mixing classic Christmas carols with Rage Against the Machine. It is called "Beer with Sax Appeal":

Surrounded by a miasma of hop fumes and his trademark bushy beard (which he is going to grow out because “bigger beards are just cooler”), Adam lists his Kiwi beers of choice. He loves Tuatara, Three Boys IPA (“oh hello, it’s nice! Tuatara IPA sales go up when I’m in town”), Renaissance IIPA (“far out, it’s a classic”), Three Boys Oyster Stout (though he takes it personally that the seasons have changed which deprives him of this beer during his current visit) and Epic Armageddon (“unbelievable – like Luke backed up a cement truck full of hops and tipped them into my mouth”).

Glass Tips - Malthouse and Beer Haiku Daily

Beer Haiku Friday and A Long Hard Dispassionate Look At the Craft Beer Scene

Today's Beer Haiku is called "A Frickin Miracle" and sums up the Friday mindset for many nicely:

He left for the bar
At exactly 5 o’clock
Against all the odds

In the latest Malthouse blog, I debate revolution versus evolution, quote Mao, Lloyd George and Michael Jackson, mix metaphors, present a thought-provoking piece from a Kiwi working in a US craft brewery and identify one of my beer finds of the year. It is titled simply "A Long Hard Dispassionate Look at the Craft Beer Scene"

the same debate rages today around lifting beer appreciation. Should elevating a drinker from Tui quaffer to Tuatara connoisseur take a single big sip or a thousand little tastes? The simple fact is that few Heineken fans or Steinlager followers or Radler lovers are going to be instantly converted to a bottle-conditioned American Pale Ale, a wild-fermented sour raspberry beer or a 32% double barrelled imperial stout which has spent three weeks at -20 degrees to help increase its alcoholic strength. * These drinkers need be encouraged and supported to work up to better beers step by step.

Glass Tip - Those wonderful chaps at Beer Haiku Daily and the fine folks at the Malthouse site

Beer Haiku Friday and Springing into a Summer of Mayhem

Today's highly anticipated Beer Haiku is a simple yet touching ode to the wonders of brewing. It is called "Together":

Put them together
Oh the wonders they contain
Malt yeast hops water

From the Malthouse blog, this post looks at the weather, a summer beer festival, a Rennaissance tasting, the temporary reappearance of one of my favourite beers of all time, new beers from the Yeastie Boys and 8 Wired plus the return of Mayhem and my beer nemesis is back in town. It is titled "Spring into a Summer of Mayhem":

It is officially Day Two of summer in Wellington and is fair to say that the weather so far has been consistent. Unfortunately, it has been consistently horrible with plenty of rain, strong winds and low temperatures. Anyone would think there was a cricket test scheduled for tomorrow or something. Even some of my green-tinged acquaintances have indicated that a little global warming wouldn’t go amiss at the moment while some of my less charitable friends have accused Al Gore of stealing summer.

Glass Tips - Those hearty froth blowers at Beer Haiku Daily and Malthouse blog

Beer Haiku Friday followed by Blog, Tweet, Repeat

In honour of Veterans Day, Beer Haiku Daily posted "Gratitude":

Many raised glasses
Greeted the young veterans
Entering the bar

There is something quite post-modern about blogging and tweeting about blogging and tweeting. This week's Malthouse blog covers the beer industry using social media, how I personally determine when technology has gone mainstream, an exclusive guest commentary from British writer Melissa Cole, scientific proof most messages on Twitter are pointless, Ashton Kutcher (also on Twitter and pointless) and the debut of @malthousewizard and his free beer. It is all in "Blog, Tweet, Repeat":

British beer writer Melissa Cole is the author of the popular and entertaining blog ‘Taking the beard out of beer’. She is a Member of the British Guild of Beer Writers and has been described as “the thinking man’s drinking crumpet”. *

* Well, she has now.

Glass Tips - Our patriotic chums at Beer Haiku Daily and that Handsome Scotsman at Malthouse

Rugby and racing - Beer and brand disloyalty

Last week's Malthouse blog covered burgers, brocolli, the Lucky brewery debacle, the three greatest Canadians of all time, "Spiderman" Emerson and Chimay White. It was called "A spirited defence of brand loyalty":

We would tend to portray the person who eats only corporate burgers and fries as unsophisticated, a little odd and probably quite large. However, the person who drinks nothing but – say – Heineken is seen as a loyal and informed drinker. I simply cannot express the absurdity of this notion any better than noted beer writer and my third favourite Canadian Stephen Beaumont...

In "Rugby, racing and beer", I take at looking at the baffling appeal of the Melbourne Cup, the cultural theft of Phar Lap, the attempted shooting of Phar Lap, the alledged similarities between American lager and horse by-products, West Coast humour at the expense of DB and Monteith's Summer Ale:

At 5pm today, millions of otherwise normal and usually horse-racing agnostic Australians and New Zealanders will stop what they are doing, turn on the television, put a silly hat on their head, throw buckets of cash at the TAB and cheer wildly for a large four-legged animal who, yesterday, they had never heard of.

Glass Tip - Malthouse Blog

Beer Haiku Monday and the People's Blog Part Deux

While the seasons are wrong for this hemisphere, the poem still resonates. It is called "Winterizing":

Taking the sails down
could go quicker without beer
but what fun is that

Over at Malthouse blog, the popular People's blog returns with two more guest columnists and some considered reflections on bloggers and blogging. It is titled "The People's Blog Part Deux":

Ten years later, even hardened net geeks are giving up on trying to figure out how many blogs there really are. The answer is well over 100 million, almost certainly a lot, lot more. Blogging is not just for pyjama-clad Generation Xer’s who live in their parents basement anymore (though they are certainly still well represented on-line.) Now, rock stars blog. Beer writers blog. Businesses blog. Scientists blog. Even politicians blog.

Glass Tips - Beer Haiku Daily and Malthouse Blog

Putting Beer in Context and A Tasting Report

From the Malthouse blog, a post on "Beer in its proper context" which covers why Fiji Bitter tastes better in Fiji, (Sir) Jeremy Clarkson on Chinese beer and details of the new beers coming on tap in October (including the debut from Golden Ticket):

The thing is, it was exactly the same (awful) beer but they were also quite right that it tasted much better in Fiji. Why precisely that was the case quickly became clear when I enquired about how they drank the beer in Fiji. Essentially, they all drank ice-cold Fiji Bitter in the hot sun, by the pool, relaxing on holiday while being waited on by someone young, attractive and largely naked.

In contrast, the Fiji Bitter they had in Wellington was served cool-ish, the rain was lashing against the spartan meeting room’s windows, it had been a busy working week and the beer was being served by a husky chap in a Hawaiian shirt. It is all about context.

Last week I braved blizzards and public transport to run a beer tasting out at Wallaceville:

I ran my first beer tasting in Upper Hutt last week. It was for the Social Society out at the biosecurity complex in Wallaceville and it turned out to be a great night despite Wellington producing some of the worst weather of the year. What happened to spring and global warming Mr Gore? Anyway, the idea was to offer up an introductory selection of New Zealand craft beer to an audience which contained more than one person who initially thought they ‘didn’t like beer.’

OctoberBest - The Malthouse

From 2nd - 30th of October come and enjoy our favourite picks of what was on offer at Beervana as well as a few of our staff favourites.

More Info

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

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 From Russia with Beer

Today's Beer Haiku just appealed to my inner pop-culture geek. It is called "Believe it or Not":

A six pack of beer
An obscure ’80s sit com
I’m walking on air

The latest Malthous blog covers political economies, Baltika beer and music worse than Crazy Frog. Read the full story at "From Russia with Beer":

Rather than names, the Baltika beers have numbers. Ordering a Baltika 7 is probably easier for the average Kiwi than trying to use the beers’ original brand names of, and I’m not making these up, Zigulevskoye, Rizhkoye, Admiralteiskoye and Prazdnichnoye.

Glass Tips - Beer Haiku Daily and The Malthouse Blog

The oldest pub in the nation and the beer of the people

From the Wellingtonian, my article on the "trouble brewing over the oldest pub claim":

It is an article of faith for Wellingtonians that the Thistle Inn on Mulgrave Street is the oldest pub in the country. After all, it was built way back in 1840 and, until the harbour was reclaimed in 1876, sat right on the shoreline. The Thistle has poured pints for parched sailors, sundry Governor-Generals and, according to legend, Te Rauparaha himself.

Over at the Malthouse blog, in the spirit of true blogging we throw the floor open to real people (and accountants) for their take on the best beers in the fridge. Welcome to the first "People's Blog":

A conveniently unknown author once wrote that “a blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list.” Blogs can polarise readers perhaps more than any other medium. John Jay Hooker, veteran political gadfly, is on record as saying “I sincerely believe blogging can save America.” National Business Review publisher Barry Coleman does not believe it will even save New Zealand.

Finally, I love this sign spotted recently outside Hope Bros in Wellington: "Urgent! Customers needed. No experience needed. Apply within."

Glass Tip for the sign - Peter McCaffery

Beer, Politics and a Haiku

Today's Haiku sets out to fix the world's problems. It is called "seeking solutions":

With no solution
After sober discussion
They ordered some beers

From the Malthouse blog, an expose on what beers our politicans like to drink, including a beer which claims to be the Prime Minister's favourite, and a look at the range from Bath Ales. The title of the post is "beer and politics do mix":

Hon Mahara Okeroa, then Labour member for Te Tai Tonga, was the only politician approached who never replied. It’s been two years now and hopes of receiving an answer are fading fast. His Cabinet colleague Hon Annette King could find the time as Police Minister to select “ginger beer” as her pick but Mr Okeroa’s role as a “Minister of State” apparently precluded a reply. In unrelated news, Annette King was returned to Parliament in 2008 and is now Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Mahara Okeroa was defeated and currently has four supporters on his Facebook page.

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

Beer Haiku Friday and Hallertau's Hopping Good Beers

Today's beer haiku makes a lot of sense. It is called "Story Teller": The

sounds of laughter
Are an excellent soundtrack
To my beer soaked yarns

From the Malthouse blog, "Hallertau's Hopping Good Beers" has a look at the Hallertau range and their self-described sensual brewer:

The Saison is a memorable beer but it is indeed now just a memory as it has run out and been replaced by Hallertau Statesman, a 5.3% Pale Ale with a robust 37 IBUs. The Sensual Brewer believes that drinkers will exclaim “hops galore” on first sup. While this exact reaction is unlikely but possible, Statesman is a well balanced Pale Ale with a balance of clean, sweet malt and floral hops. Attempting to expand the beer lexicon, Stephen says the beer is “both zesty and tangy, indeed, we reckon you’ll find it uniquely ‘zangy’.”

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

Beer Haiku and Brew Dogs

Today's beer haiku seems particularly appropiate for a Friday. It is called "a frickin' miracle":

He left for the bar
At exactly 5 o’clock
Against all the odds

From the Malthouse blog, "who let the Brew Dogs out" takes a look at the latest shipment from Scotland's cheekiest brewery, Brew Dog:

Personally, I’m looking forward to Hardcore. How can I possibly resist something which is described “an extreme beer rollercoaster for freaks, gypsies and international chess superstars?” I guess I had better brush up on my chess.

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily and the Malthouse Blog

Epic Journey recreates beer’s most famous voyage

Forty litres of fresh India Pale Ale from Auckland will spend up to six weeks at sea on the Interislander Ferry looking to recreate a recreation of beer’s most famous voyage.

In the 1880s, pale ale from Burton-on-Trent in England took around six weeks on tall ships to reach its thirsty customers in India. British beer writer Pete Brown recently retraced the long journey which helped create this iconic style of beer. He chronicled his adventures in the newly released book Hops and Glory: One Man’s Search for the Beer that Built the British Empire.

After a sleepless night finishing the book, Malthouse proprietor Colin Mallon had the ‘crazy idea’ of replicating the experience in New Zealand. “I had met Pete Brown in England recently and just loved the book. First, I needed some beer. My first thought was Epic Armageddon, a limited release double India Pale Ale brewed by Luke Nicholas from Epic Brewing Company. He agreed immediately. Then I needed a boat. The Interislander Ferry agreed immediately. I tasked Luke with finding appropriate barrels,” says Colin.

“I sourced two 20-litre new oak barrels and filled them with fresh Armageddon,” Luke explains. “I recently brewed a real ale in England for a huge British beer festival so I knew Armageddon was not a million miles away from what a traditional pale ale would have tasted like. For a beer to stand up to the kind of treatment we have in mind it has to be pretty robust. Armageddon is definitely big, strong and hoppy. The idea is to see what effect changes in temperature and constant movement has on beer stored in wood. Most pundits believe India Pale Ale’s benefitted from the conditioning they received during their sea voyages.”

Colin and Luke jointly christened the beer ‘Epic Journey’ while the barrels are affectionately known as Pete (after Pete Brown) and Melissa (in honour of British beer writer Melissa Cole). Pete and Melissa will spend up to six weeks on the ferry before being ceremonially tapped at Beervana at the Wellington Town Hall, 28th & 29th August.

For the full background story see http://armageddon.epicbeer.com