Explosion - JUNE 2019 - Beer - for all the right reasons - Society of Beer Advocates
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JUNE 2019
Ta ranak i
Ex plosion
Huge growth
under
the mountain
T uata ra
Rebrand g new desig
n
Eye-openin
Beer - for all the right reasons
President's Note Contents
It is hard to believe that we are almost in 5| OUTSOURCING IN AOTEAROA
winter. This is the time when I start to
look forward to some of the darker beers.
Savouring these by the open fire is always a pleasure. Before we 8| NEW PLYMOUTH
know it, we’ll be past the winter solstice and looking forward to
spring. This is when we traditionally hold our popular National
Homebrew Competition (NHC). 12 | TUATARA REBRAND
We currently have a vacancy for the NHC lead person.
14 | LOW CARB BEER
Our society is dependent on the great service of volunteers. As
well as an NHC lead, we also need a volunteer to take care of our
communications. Quite simply, if we are not able to attract people 16 | NOT THE HĀPI-EST OF DAYS
to these positions, it will curtail some of our work.
The NHC role involves being the driver of the event. The person 18 | THE KEY TO QUALITY & SUCCESS
would ideally need to be located in one of the three main centres
subject to the availability of a venue. Locations outside of the three
main centres are too costly due to the travel expenses for all the 21 | BREWING IN A BACH
judges. There is already an established team in Auckland so this
would be the logical choice, but if the right person steps forward,
we are willing to make it work elsewhere. If we cannot attract an 22 | LIQUID HISTORY
NHC lead for 2019, the event will not be held this year. We have
decided not to pay someone to run NHC. It is not a money-making
venture. We support it because it meets our purpose and mission. 24 | BEER REVIEWS
It has run successfully for a number of years with excellent
volunteer commitment and we would like this to continue.
26 | NEW WORLD AWARDS
The communications person is also vital. Currently, a number of
our members manage SOBA’s communications on Facebook, our
webpage and emails. None of us are trained and from time to time, 30 | BEERVANA: AUGUST 9-10
this causes issues. We want to improve the professionalism of the
organisation by attracting a skilled person. That person would
attend our three-weekly Skype meetings and occasional physical 42 | BEER AND GIN
meetings but the position would be ex-committee. It would not be
a massive commitment, rather just an opportunity for a skilled set
of eyes to look over our communications. 44 | APPLE IN THE BEER
Finally, our annual meeting will be held in Wellington on July
6 – in conjunction with the Winter Ales Festival. A venue will be 47 | REGIONAL ROUND UP
confirmed closer to the time.
If you would like to become more involved with SOBA, please 50 | JOIN SOBA
contact me at: president@soba.org.nz
Warwick Foy
Warwick
SOBA PRESIDENT
OUTSOURCING
Outsourcing in
Aotearoa
JAMES BEESON
ontract brewing is a popular and volumes of beer required to meet supermarket contracts,
accessible way for many New Zealand and focus on brewing limited releases and experimental
breweries to get their beer to a wider beers in-house.
C audience, but are consumers aware where
the beer in their glass is being made?
As a non-native working in the New Zealand beer
industry, one of the most surprising things I noticed upon
Contract brewing is certainly not unheard of in the
UK. Indeed, Yeastie Boys – one of the pioneers of the
model here in New Zealand – have continued to utilise
contracting since decamping to the UK, producing its
arriving here last year was the availability of good beer beers at BrewDog, West Berkshire and, most recently,
in supermarkets. Walking into a New World for the first Fourpure Brewing Co. in London. However, it is nowhere
time in September last year, I was astounded to be met by a near as widespread in Britian, which naturally left me
healthy selection of vibrant and colourful cans and bottles wondering, why is it so popular here? And are customers
from some of the country’s finest brewers. aware of where their beer is being made?
Such was the scale and spread of good beer in New One of the reasons for the initial popularity of contract
Zealand supermarkets, I developed an exaggerated brewing in New Zealand was the relative cost of importing
perception of how big craft beer was in the country. “These stainless steel to a country far from the rest of the world,
breweries must be absolutely huge,” I thought to myself as according to beer writer and Pursuit of Hoppiness editor,
I perused the shelves with utter glee, picking up cans of Michael Donaldson.
Behemoth, Garage Project and Epic as I pleased. After all,
“Certainly in the early days to import a brewery system
how else could they possibly be making enough beer to
from the United States or Europe would have been
service every supermarket from Auckland to Invercargill?
hideously expensive, and people just couldn't afford it,”
The answer, as I have of course since discovered, lies in he says. “With the relatively low volumes involved in New
contract brewing. By outsourcing the production of core Zealand as well, it would be a huge investment in stainless
range beers to specialist facilities, or other breweries steel, especially if you were just wanting to tip your toe in
with spare capacity, craft brewers are able to hit the sheer the water.
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 5
OUTSOURCING
“A lot of the early pioneers in New Zealand were using in on the ground floor, because it hasn’t really been
repurposed dairy equipment because the cost of an around that long, particularly here. We felt there was an
actual physical brewery was so high. The big breweries opportunity for us to help shape a certain part of
had cleared the landscape and there wasn't any of the the market.”
infrastructure to make that kind of equipment here,” Gilbertson is at pains to stress that B-Studio encourages
Donaldson says. breweries to be present throughout the contracting
In the last 10-15 years, equipment costs have fallen thanks process, will not aid with recipe development, and is best
in part to the availability of cheaper Chinese brewing used as a service provider for high-volume, consistent,
systems, but the contract model has still persisted. core-range beers.
Donaldson estimates there are currently around 30 “We aren't the company you go to in order to put crayfish
contract-only breweries (that don’t tails and grandma's underpants and 15 different sour yeast
own any stainless steel of their own) varieties into your beer with,” he says. “We are
in New Zealand, as well as a whole about making reliable, high-quality everyday
host of others – such as Fortune Getting beer beer for our customers.”
Favours, Garage Project and brewed under Wellington’s Garage Project was one of
Fork Brewcorp – outsourcing to contract allows B-Studio's cornerstone customers, and the
varying extents in order grow their smaller brewe ries
brewery now uses the facility to produce a
brand without having to invest in to make large number of its core-range beers. Co-founder
expensive new equipment and colu me s
Jos Ruffell says he didn’t initially intend to
hire additional brewing staff. without capital use contracting, but that by working with the
The contract model can also be hugely expenditure. Hawke’s Bay facility, the brewery has been able
beneficial to larger producers looking to invest in more ambitious projects, including
to utilise spare capacity. Deep Creek research and development in yeast and hops.
Brewing Co, on Auckland’s north
“It would have been a lot easier for us when we
shore, brews beers for a number of other
were starting out to have used a contract facility,
breweries, including contract-only brand Behemoth as a lot of other breweries were doing at the time,” he
Brewing Company. Deep Creek’s co-owner and sales and says. “But instead we chose to spend a great deal of time,
marketing manager, Scott Taylor, says that the possibility effort and care into converting an old garage in Aro Valley
of contract brewing was a key factor when deciding how to produce beer on a tiny 50L kit because that was how we
large to build its new brewery. wanted to approach it and what was important to us.”
“I think it is a personal thing for every brewery to decide, However, having grown very quickly in a short space
but there are definite benefits to doing it,” he says. “You of time, Garage Project soon found that demand for its
can generate funds by using your spare space and there’s core beers was restricting what it was able to produce
no point having stainless steel that is just sitting there at its small Wellington site. Rather than turn to equity
when you could have someone else helping to pay it off. crowdfunding, or sell out to a multinational, the brewery
“Of course, the flipside is that the brewery you are doing chose to partner with B-Studio, and even helped with the
it for has the potential to grow, so you have to ensure you design of the production brewery.
are leaving enough capacity to grow your own brewery “Working with the guys at B-Studio has enabled us
as well. We are getting pretty much to our capacity right to focus on some really exciting stuff like our Wild
now, and so while we are being approached by more Workshop, the Hāpi Research Project and exporting our
potential customers all the time, we are just don’t have beers directly to Australia, which we think ultimately is
the tank space and are having to turn people away,” what our customers are more interested in,” Ruffell adds.
Taylor says.
Not everyone agrees, however, that contract brewing is
Indeed, the contract model is so lucrative that production the way forward. There are some in the industry who
facilities that used to specialise in wine are now believe that the arrangement goes against the values of
converting to beer. In 2017, B-Studio, a contract wine- authenticity and transparency that craft beer drinkers
maker from Napier announced plans to build a huge, cherish – and could lead to a lack of accountability
purpose-built brewery. Completed later that year, the site across the supply chain. In 2016, the reputation of Nelson
features a highly efficient Krones brewhouse, alongside brewery Townshend was severely damaged after a brewing
top-of-the-line bottling and canning lines. and distribution deal with Tuatara went sour, leading to
numerous customer complaints and the former bringing
“We got involved in the wine industry when it was in the
all of its production back in-house.
middle of its evolution here in New Zealand,” explains
B-Studio director Simon Gilbertson. “The attraction of Speaking at the time, brewery owner Martin Townshend
getting into craft brewing was that we could be getting stated he felt he had put too much trust in his contract
6 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019
OUTSOURCING
Contract brewing is a great way
for brands to grow without heavy
capital investment
partner, but called for tighter regulations showing where, make its own beers, could possibly be awarded the title
when and by whom beer was being produced.
Gilbertson, however, defends the decision. “For as long as
"Even though that beer has got my name on it – we didn't I have known Andrew Childs [at Behemoth], he has been
have a single thing to do with it,” he said. “I think contract desperately seeking a home for his brand,” he says. “If
brewers should be required to show where the product is you look on the back of a Behemoth can you will see our
made, by whom and when." address on there. As long as you are telling people, I don't
To avoid accusations of a lack of transparency, Garage think there is an issue.”
Project labels their beers as either AV (Aro Valley), WW Behemoth is currently crowdfunding to finally create a
(Wild Workshop) or HB (Hawkes Bay) so consumers know physical home at the top of Auckland’s Dominion Road,
where the drink in their hand was brewed and packaged. but are likely to still contract brew their core range.
They also maintain a regular presence on site at B-Studio
As an outsider, coming from a country where the concept
to oversee the production of its beers there.
of a local brewery and – by extension – the local is
“I don't think there is a transparency problem unless embedded in the DNA of our drinking culture, I have to
someone is trying to not play it with a straight bat,” says admit to still finding the idea a little jarring. Donaldson,
B-Studio's Simon Gilbertson. “That said, as a service however, doesn’t think most New Zealander’s are
provider we work best when a natural home for the brand particularly bothered by who is brewing their beer.
already exists. Someone like Garage Project has a natural
“Behemoth is brewing half a million litres and a lot of
home for the brand [in Wellington], so if consumers want
that is going to people who are buying it off supermarket
to go and talk to Pete [Gillespie – Garage Project head
brewer] about a beer that is made at B-Studio, they can shelves,” he says. “They love good beer but they are
do that.” not deeply invested in the business, and they certainly
wouldn't be able to tell you where it is brewed.
The debate over contract brewing in New Zealand
resurfaced once again earlier this year, when the Society “You have to separate the real craft beer geeks from the
of Beer Advocates (SOBA) announced Behemoth Brewing wider beer consumer, but I think as a rule most New
Company as its Brewery of the Year for 2018. Privately, Zealanders don't really care.”
some brewers expressed their disbelief that a brewer A version of this article originally appeared in Beer52.com’s Ferment
currently without a physical brewery, and which doesn’t Magazine, and has been reproduced here with their permission.
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 7
NEW PLYMOUTH
Tap Explosion
in New Plymouth
K FOY
WA RW IC
ccording to Mike Johnson, the founder which moved in to town from Urenui (35 minutes north
of mike’s Brewery, Taranaki was once of New Plymouth) in December. Between them, those two
so anti-craft beer that none of the locals establishments have added 39 untied taps and two hand
A would sell his famous Mild, even though
it was incredibly popular in Wellington.
“In Wellington, I’m still a legend – in Taranaki I never
was, I’m still a cowboy,” he’s quoted as saying in Michael
pumps to the New Plymouth beer scene.
In the space of a few years, New Plymouth has gone from
zero to 53 taps, 41 of these just in recent months. And
other breweries to open in recent years include Three
Donaldson’s book Beer Nation – Another Round. “One guy Sisters, The Theoretical Brewer and Wassail.
in New Plymouth who ran a big hotel – many times I tried
Up until December 2018, New Plymouth had two main
to get him to put the beer on and he said ‘nah,
bars offering non-contract pours. Ms White is a craft
we don’t deal with cowboys’, and that’s still the attitude
beer and pizza bar which opened in 2017 as part of the
in Taranaki.”
redevelopment of the historic White Hart Hotel in the
That was only a couple of years ago, and at the time West End Precinct. Ms White offers four taps with a
Johnson was correct – Taranaki was still relatively steady rotation of quality beers and a busy event schedule
impoverished when it came to craft beer. But that’s featuring tap takeovers, The Road to Beervana and more.
changed in the blink of an eye, with an explosion of new
Also in the White Hart courtyard, Itch Wine Bar offers
breweries and free houses.
two Liberty taps. Further east just off Devon Street, New
Shining Peak Brewing opened in Gill Street on May 1. Plymouth’s first off-contract bar, the popular Hour Glass,
Just around the corner on Devon Street is mike’s Bistro has six taps as well as an impressive range of bottled beer.
8 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019
NEW PLYMOUTH
mike’s is New Zealand’s oldest craft brewery and its large Just a few steps from Ms White’s, Frederic’s has a further
bistro is filled with heritage items from across its history. three un-tied taps offering a mixture of entry-level craft
mike’s trades on solid reputation, hearty food – including through to beers for the serious craft drinker.
its famous pizzas – local loyalty and the dedication of
The recent SOBA Mountain Ales Craft Beer Festival sold
owners Ron, Carol and Dylan Trigg.
out weeks in advance.
The smart new Shining Peak is the most
There is no doubt that the craft beer market
recent entry and aims to be a place for
in New Plymouth is strong. However,
all-comers. It brings a philanthropic
come the cold rainy days of August,
touch with plans to nourish the In Wellington, how will these venues fare? The general
community with not only great beer but I’m still a sentiment is that businesses in the sector
also providing support to various local
initiatives. Shining Peak will be the only
legend – in have worked hard to get to this point.
brew bar in town until mike’s eventually Taranaki I The market has also moved along
relocates its brewery from Urenui into never was, I’m and people are seeking out better
beer and great bars. New Plymouth
the bistro. still a cowboy.
Johnson is recognised as a centre of cultural
The Hour Glass is essentially a wine bar, - Mike
excellence with a hospitality sectorto
but it does offer a great range of beers and match.
frequently lays on tastings and other beer
events. The venue is known for its great The owner of mike’s, Ron Trigg, says it
tapas menu and famous hospitality. You won’t have makes a great change from the days Mike
to visit too many times before staff welcome you by name Johnson remembers so well, and which he’s also
as you enter. familiar with as the sole flag-bearer for craft in the region
for so many years.
Ms White is all about location. And pizza. The bar is
a focal point of the busy and contemporary West End “It’s not about counting the number of non-foreign
Precinct surrounded by hotels, cafes and the nearby owned taps in the town and wondering if and when
Govett Brewster Gallery & Len Lye Centre. Ms White’s the pendulum has swung too far. I recall the countless
pizza is highly regarded, recently named among the 17 times that I’ve been astounded, nay, offended by the
best pizzerias in New Zealand in the Big7 website survey. ignorance/arrogance of publicans and restaurateurs
mike’s has invested in a bar and bistro in downtown New Plymouth
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 9
NEW PLYMOUTH
offering no choice beyond the brewery/winery that they
have contracts with and assuming that customers will just
accept it. We consequently offer customers a wide range
of beer styles, flavours and brands (even those from the
Japanese and Dutch) and our wine and spirits offerings are
similarly diverse.”
Jesse Sigurdsson, brewer and co-founder of Shining Peak
added: “It’s great to see the current growth in independent
taps and breweries alike, and I think the swing away from
the big guys will continue as more people are looking for
a quality pint. Now the critical aspect of this is making
sure the independent beers on these taps are held to a
consistently high standard.”
Cohen Baird of Ms White is convinced the tide has turned
for good. “The growth in craft is reflective of what is
happening nationally and internationally and we should
celebrate it – it’s good for beer and good for Taranaki”
There are still plenty of cowboys in Taranaki – on the
farms at least! – but when it comes to beer, it’s not the wild
west any more.
Shining Peak is the newest
Taranaki brewery to open
Now pouring
59 Gill St, New Plymouth @ shiningpeakbrewing 06 927 3133 shiningpeakbrewing.com
10 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019TUATARA REBRAND
Shedding
its skin:
JONO GALUSZKA
he most fascinating and nerve-wracking Awards in 2016. The old branding was cohesive and easy
time to monitor a brewery’s fortunes to understand, albeit a bit agricultural in hindsight. The
is when it has just been purchased branding post-awards but pre-buyout was a proper hot
T by a massive multinational brewing
conglomerate. Will they do a Panhead,
going from strength to strength? Or does it signal a
big investment in a new plant and rebrand like
mess. Previously based on style, the beers were given
cringeworthy monikers like Mot Eureka (fka Pilsner),
Weiz Guy (fka Hefe) and kAPAi (fka Aotearoa Pale Ale).
Emerson’s? Will the brewery’s reputation get So, it was with much relief recently that Tuatara
trashed, like that of the once-respected announced it was rebranding back to style names.
Founders? At a media event held at its Third Eye brewpub
in Wellington (full disclosure: DB paid for
In the case of Tuatara, though, the
my travel to and from Wellington) Tuatara
things which made it fascinating
to keep an eye on all took place founder Carl Vasta and head brewer
before they were purchased by Brayden Rawlinson talked through the
DB in 2017. There was the legal range and the reasons for the rebrand.
battle between former owners It is important to note it is not just a
Rangitira Ltd and The Malthouse rebrand, but a full reworking of the Tuatara
Ltd over the valuation of the range. Gone are its Amarillo American dark
company, which went all the way to
ale, NZIPA Hopfinity, Sauvinova pale ale, Hi Res
the Court of Appeal and ended with the
IPA and Double Trouble double IPA. In come a 5.5
former paying the latter $920,000. Then there
per cent hazy pale ale, a light-bodied but punchy 6.1 per
was the employment dispute between the company and its
former chief executive, Richard Shirtcliffe. cent IPA, a strong hazy IPA called Roughneck, Midnight
Sun Baltic porter, and Primeval Tendency NZ IPA. Other
But the weird truly set in for drinkers when Tuatara beers, such as Helluva Lager, Weiz Guy and Mot Eureka,
rebranded just after the Brewers Guild of New Zealand have gone back to their original style names.
12 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019TUATARA REBRAND
Tuatara gets
another
r ebrand
born with – has been a feature of caps, but now makes its
way to the front of every box and bottle. The six packs are
coloured differently, something Parrotdog also does for its
core range, while the larger 500ml bottles have different
themes, yet still incorporate the third eye in some way.
The navy tattoo theme of the Roughneck branding is a
highlight and looks great on a t-shirt.
More importantly, the beer is good. While the Pilsner
and Hefeweizen have always been excellent, it is the hazys
which impressed the most. Rawlinson may be best known
in New Zealand brewing circles for his Ninebarnyardowls
wild and Belgian beer project, but it seems he knows his
way around hoppy styles too. The 5.5 per cent hazy pale
Vasta said going back to style names was a reaction to ale is especially quaffable, and gives that juicy, hazy hit
customer feedback. Some pubs, such as The Malthouse everyone seems to want right now without pushing the
in Wellington, refused to change the tap badges when alcohol levels too high. Putting a hazy hoppy thing into a
the rebrand happened, such was their disgust at the new six pack seems like a risk, considering the unstable nature
names. But why not make the change straight away? Vasta of the style, but Rawlinson says they have been subjecting
said: “commercial reasons”. That makes sense. After all, it the beer to forced aging, and it is still tasting great even
costs a lot of money to print labels and boxes. Putting all when it is theoretically six months and older.
those Helluva Lager boxes and labels on the scrapheap is Not all the beers at the launch were amazing, though. The
not only burning money, but environmentally unchur. Baltic porter was one-dimensional, making some pine for
The new branding is based around concepts already Tuatara’s long-discontinued London Porter. Some of the
in the Tuatara cannon: the scales and third eye of the other beers could also do with refining. But that would
ancient lizard the brewery takes its name from. Tuatara pull away from the great work done so far. They say you
has taken its famous textured bottles and put the scales drink with your eyes. In the case of Tuatara, that first sip is
onto their boxes. The third eye – something tuatara are all the better for the rebrand.
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 13LOW CARB BEER
’m a beer writer on a low carb lifestyle – what
b
could possibly go wrong?
r
I Well, so far, not too much because I think I’ve
ca
cracked the secret – and breweries are waking
up to it as well.
w
I decided to go low-carb – let’s call it sugar-free – for many
o
reasons, but mainly I was sick of being tired. My energy
levels would flag every afternoon. I knew how the insulin
L
cycle worked – I have known for years, after all I got a
degree in physical education – but couldn’t biohack my
own life. Or rather, was too lazy.
In an unhappy pattern of eat carbs, feel good, feel tired, eat
r
carbs cycle I just went cold turkey on it after the holidays.
e
All those sugar-dense foods I loved: burritos, baked beans,
be
tomato sauce, cereal, bread … all thrown out of the pantry.
I started to lose weight, I felt stronger at the gym and my
energy levels stayed high through the day.
But beer? I write about beer. I judge beer. I love beer. At
the start of this low carb lifestyle (I hate the word diet), I
took time away from beer – but I couldn’t avoid it forever.
Beer is a relatively carb-heavy product, thanks to what
are called “residual” sugars – or dextrins – i.e. the sugar
that has not been fermented into alcohol and which helps
balance out bitterness. A big IPA of the kind I enjoy has
heaps of carbs … for a while I just told myself it was OK,
what I saved by ditching processed foods I could spend,
sugar-wise, on beer.
But then along came Brut IPA.
Brut IPA is a new take on your normal India Pale Ale, with
Brut referring to the champagne-style dryness that comes
from low levels of residual sugar. A naturally occurring
enzyme is used in the brewing process to breakdown
complex sugars and make them more fermentable. The
result is a surprisingly light-bodied, higher alcohol IPA
where the perception of sweetness is created by alcohol
and the clever use of low-bitterness hops that create
aromas and flavours similar to tropical fruit salad.
For carb-counters, a standard 500ml IPA could have
around 20 grams of sugar – on a keto diet this will kick
you out ketosis pronto and for low-carb adherents it will
add unneeded sugar to your diet.
A Brut IPA has all the flavour a regular IPA without all
that sugar but it took me while to figure out just how little
sugar. It’s hard to get technical data on these beers from
smaller craft breweries as they don’t have the lab facilities
of big breweries, so I figured: why not talk to a big brewery
about how they make low carb beers?
Dave Eaton is a Heineken Master Brewer at DB Breweries,
where he’s brewed for 28 years. He knows all about low-
carb beer and confirmed my thoughts around Brut IPA,
which uses the same enzymatic process big breweries
use to create their low-carb beers. For home brewers, all
these low carb beers finish with a gravity close to 1.000
MICHAEL DONALDSON – and given ethanol has a specific gravity of about 0.79
it’s possible to create a beer that has the same gravity as
14 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019LOW CARB BEER
water, thanks to the mix of alcohol and a small amount of runners, cross-fitters, golfers and outdoorsy types. In New
residual sugar. Zealand both of the big breweries are chasing this market
but it hasn’t yet shown the growth seen in the US.
Eaton’s expertise coupled with my home brewing
knowledge allowed me to make a rough calculation that Speight’s Summit Ultra (0.5g of sugar per 100ml) has been
100ml of Brut IPA could have as few as 1.5g of carbs – around for a while, as has DB Export 33 (which has 33 per
meaning my go-to 440ml of Urbanaut Copacabana has cent lower carbs) but the big breweries are now pushing
around 4-6g of carbs per 440ml can. With a superb fruit more low-carb beers, with Lion launching Steinlager Pure
salad flavour and great mouthfeel it keeps my and my Light (2.5 per cent ABV, 1.5g/100ml) and DB trumpeting
carb-counter happy. DB Export Low Carb which has sugar levels down
0.5g/100ml. Of these, the Speight’s Summit Ultra was the
I must stress we’re only talking carbs here, not calories.
most flavoursome and actually quite drinkable.
Alcohol still has calories – but as far as carbs (or let’s be
frank, sugars) go, I’ve got faith that a well-made Brut IPA But I also know smaller breweries who specialise in “Brut”
is going to satisfy my beer love and keep my sugar intake beers are being approached by Keto dieters looking for a
down. craft beer they can incorporate into their lifestyle.
As an aside, if you are calorie counting, don’t go thinking One intriguing thing for me is that the process of
low alcohol always means low calorie – I tried some searching out low carb beer options took me full circle as
Heineken 0.0 (zero ABV) recently and was shocked to it were: I discovered many traditional beers, such as sour
discover it had 15g of carbohydrate in single bottle! and farmhouse-styles from Belgium, are naturally low in
residual sugar.
The enzyme, amyloglucosidase, used to make Brut IPA
is what the big breweries also use to make the low-carb One of the country’s leading exponents of this style, North
beers that are on-trend around the world. Eaton is wary of End Brewing, confirmed a number of their sour and
using the word “enzyme” in case people think “chemical” farmhouse-style beers all finish with what beer geeks call
but I’ve got a packet of said enzyme in my fridge with “low gravity” – meaning very little residual sugar.
the rather fetching name of “Ultra Ferm” and will use it Now, for Keto-dieters, who are more extreme about
to make my next home brew. It can be used in either the this carb business than me, the big question is how
mash or the fermenter and I think the mash is safer. alcohol effects ketosis. The science of that isn’t entirely
New Zealand is just cottoning on to low-carb beer but clear but the general rule of thumb is that the liver will
it’s all the rage in the US. The biggest growing beer brand process alcohol before other dietary fats – converting
there is Michelob Ultra – a low-carb beer that has 2.6g of booze to triglycerides which can in fact lead to increased
sugar per 330ml bottle. It’s been marketed as a beer for ketone production.
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 15NOT THE HĀPI-EST
Not the
Hapi-est
of days JONO GALUSZKA
Saying Hāpi felt disappointing does not mean it was a
failure to attendees. In fact, it succeeded in a lot of places
other festivals fall short. Arguably, the best feature was
the space. The festival was spread over the lower foyer
area and a large space on the first floor, with both areas
separated by escalators, stairs and an elevator. Using Te
Papa meant being able to check in coats (there were plenty
there thanks to Wellington’s typical weather rearing its
head) and climb around in a scaled-up model of a whale
heart. Few other New Zealand beer festivals offer such
unning Garage Project must be a great facilities.
tough job – and not just because the
Wellington-based brewing company Te Papa also has a great natural ambiance, with art on
R has so many moving parts these days:
the bars, the brewery, the contracting,
the Wild Workshop and more.
Surely the toughest thing to deal with is the pressure.
the walls, views out of the large glass windows and good
architecture giving a great feel to the festival. Having large
spaces to use meant room for sound to disperse, a welcome
change to festivals like Beervana and making life much
easier for the hearing-impaired. The music played by DJs
Everyone expects one thing from the Wellington
was tasteful but subtle and not too loud, which also helped
brewery: amazing. The art, the beer, the social media,
those of us a bit harder of hearing to communicate.
the announcement videos released on the same day as
another brewery announces it has been purchased by a Space, however, was an issue. With the weather packing
multinational – the public expects them all to be of the in, plans to place some stands in an outside area were
highest quality. abandoned. That meant cramming more people inside,
which became an issue when you wanted to sit down –
Perhaps that is why people, including myself, felt
there were not many seats – and long waits for beer. People
disappointed by the inaugural Hāpi beer festival in
joked about Hāpi being a celebration of queuing, given the
April. Held at Te Papa, the festival touted itself as
length of the lines at the beginning. Things improved later
“an international celebration of hops”. The festival
in the evening, but that would always happen when people
dovetailed into a day-long symposium on hops, featuring
decide to leave because they cannot be bothered waiting in
presentations and panel discussions from experts on using
line for 15 minutes to get a beer.
hops in beer. Those experts, many of them from breweries
across the globe, used the trip as an opportunity to brew The beer, though, was excellent. The lineup of brewers was
collaboration beers, pay a visit to Freestyle Farms – the insane: UK haze-masters Couldwater Brew Co, US titans
hop farm working with Garage Project on the Hāpi hop Firestone Walker, and Danish experimentalists Mikkeller
research programme – and pick up hops to take home. were all among the breweries on offer.
16 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019NOT THE HĀPI-EST
Sweden’s Omnipollo even pulled out slushy machines to punters looking to line their stomachs were met with
serve some of their beers. And, despite being a celebration fish’n’chips, hot dogs and wedges which had been cooked
of hops, there was a lot of variety on offer. Every stand and kept warm in a bain-marie. It felt awfully weird to
had a not-hoppy thing to try, with the lines for Hill sip on exquisite beer, only to nosh on lukewarm battered
Farmestead’s excellent farmhouse ales something-which-might-be-fish. Beervana had the
proof consumers will get excited for same problem back in its pre-Cake
beers in 2019 that are not hazy hoppy Tin days, when the Wellington Town
things. Hall insisted on providing the food.
aw fu lly Bringing in catering from outside
But figuring out what beer to get was It felt would add further logistical
tricky. Each brewery had two beers to sip o n
weird headaches, but would improve the
r,
exquisite bee
on at a time, with beers rotating
throughout the festival. But unlike experience immensely.
Pacific Beer Expo, where the menu only to nosh You cannot call Hāpi a failure.
clearly states what time certain on lukewarm Getting so many amazing beers
beers will be on, it appeared to battered from such esteemed breweries
hich-
something-w
largely be left up to the people on in one place must have been a
stands to change beers at their own
might-be-fish
mission, and one which Garage
discretion. It was annoying to line up Project should be congratulated for
at a stand at the start, get a beer from pulling off. But it is not the finished
one brewery, then head back a few hours product. Then again, it should not
later only to find the beer which was not be. It is both rare and hard to get
on earlier, but that you really wanted, sat things right first time. But Garage
untapped. Project have laid the foundation for a festival which could
Arguably the biggest disappointment was the food. be something special. All it needs is a few tweaks, and
Given the lengths taken to get such amazing beer, one Wellington to turn on one of those can’t-beat-it-on-a-
expected stonkingly good kai to go with it. But hungry good-day days.
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 17KEY TO QUALITY
Packaging
the key to quality
and success
Top quality packaging equipment ensures great beer stays that way
By Michael Donaldson
’ve noticed a trend in recent years when it comes and distributor of bottling, canning, packaging and
to beer awards – that there’s group of breweries processing equipment for beer, wine, cider and juices.
I who seem to perform consistently well across a
range of styles and from year-to-year.
I’m not sharing any trade secrets when I rattle off
O’Keeffe, a co-owner and director, says Viniquip only
deals with the best overseas brands such as Nebraska-
based American Beer Equipment (ABE), or Italian
names like Garage Project, Liberty, Sawmill, McLeod’s, manufacturer Gai, among others.
Emerson’s, Sprig & Fern… but it was only when I started
He’s unapologetic about the fact these systems cost a bit
to talking to Aaron O’Keeffe from Viniquip that I put two
more than others on the market, but won’t be talked down
and two together.
about the quality and support that come with spending a
What these breweries have in common is that they’ve all bit more – and the results are in the tasting.
invested heavily in their packaging equipment – whether
A great example is Liberty Brewing. They had absolutely
it’s a bottling line, a canning line, or both.
outstanding results at the New World Beer and Cider
Unless you’re deep in the industry, Viniquip is not a name Awards – with seven beers in the top-100 and two in the
you’ll know – but they are a New Zealand-owned importer top-30.
18 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019KEY TO QUALITY
Of course, a lot of the final result
depends on what the brewery
has done before the beer arrives
at the packaging line, but it’s the
packaging where most of the
damage can be done.
“If you skimp on the packaging
side that’s where you and I, as
consumers, see a difference. And
in such a competitive market that
makes a difference.”
O’Keeffe says breweries weighing
up whether to invest heavily only
need to look at Harrington’s who –
before they sold to Lion – spared no
expense to get a top of the line Gai
bottling machine from Italy.
What they got was a machine that
can process up to 8000 bottles an
hour – totally automated from the
depalletisation to wrapped and
stacked – and needs only three
people to operate it.
“That packaging line was a huge
American Beer Equipment canning investment but the payback for
machines might cost a little more but the them was relatively quick because
value is in the quality they didn’t need 15 people to run
it. And they soon had people telling them the beer
tasted way better. That’s because the new bottling line
A few years ago, I can remember talking to Joe Wood
didn’t suck in a heap of oxygen.”
about canning and he was adamant he wouldn’t go down
that line, as there was no guarantee cans would keep beer It’s no secret that Lion’s purchase of Harrington’s had a lot
as fresh as bottles – which is all to do with the amount of to do with the packaging set-up.
dissolved oxygen (DO) that gets in to the package.
Viniquip also do brewhouse installs – which O’Keeffe
When Liberty eventually gave in to the canning craze, says they did when Sunshine in Gisborne upgraded their
they went with Viniquip to get an ABE linear canning brewery, going for an ABE brewhouse. “We struggle a bit
machine. to be competitive on brewhouse pricing because of the
O’Keeffe is the first to admit the install and set-up didn’t China factor – they’re just so cheap. But you can also pay a
go entirely smoothly, but the back-up and technical little less for a bit more trouble.
support ensured any glitches were quickly sorted out. “And every brewery has the money to invest but Sunshine
O’Keeffe says the canning machine now delivers some of got what they wanted … and they’ve got that relationship
the best results you can get and Wood is rightly proud of with ABE that doesn’t finish with the install. Sunshine’s
the minimal DO in his beers. beer has improved out of sight and that’s also to do with
The machine purges the cans with CO2 and fills from the [brewer] Dave Huff, who has put his stamp on it.”
bottom so that layer of CO2 is undisturbed. A pulse of
“People come to us and say we’re looking at a canning line
CO2 creates a foam and as the can travels to the lid seamer
– what we know we get from ABE spares, service support
the beer inside is never exposed to excess damaging
is just pain-free. If something is wrong ABE will fix it.
oxygen. A lid skimmer pushes the lid down into the foam
before seaming to keep everything as fresh as possible. “We’re really proud of the breweries we work with –
Garage Project, Sprig & Fern, Harrington’s, Emerson’s,
O’Keeffe says any brewery getting less than 100 parts per
McLeod’s, Sawmill, Hawke’s Bay Independent… the
million of DO is doing exceptionally well. “Joe regularly
gets 35 to 45ppm.” guys who have taken the plunge and spent the money are
rewarded with quality.”
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 19Introducing the ALL NEW
CraftCan DUO
Email: horst@viniquip.co.nz aaron@viniquip.co.nz www.viniquip.com
Tel: +64 (0)6 8797799 Free Phone 0 800 284 647
www.facebook.com/viniquipinternationalBREWING IN A BACH
Brewing in a Bach
Alasdair Cassels chats with Keith Preene
PoH: Keith, what stories do you have to share with us a huge pot and an old sieve. Do you know the difference
after your visit to Cassels & Sons? between a colander and a sieve?
KP: Well I found out that at Cassels, they love things that PoH: I don’t know.
start with ‘b’ – buses, baches and brewing – for now let’s KP: The answer to this very difficult question rests in the
just focus on the bach brewing. science of the holes, but it doesn’t matter how smart you
PoH: Don’t you mean batch brewing? Or even Bach are, you’ll never drink a beer out of a sieve or colander.
Brewing? PoH: Good to know. Now, were you going to tell me
KP: When I close my eyes and think New Zealand, I see a about Cassels & Sons brewing beers in a bach.
rugged coastline and a small shanty perched up on a tiny KP: Ah, yes, well it all started with Alasdair Cassels
rock like the jewel in the coastline... and his son Zak and his son-in-law, Joe, who resembled
PoH: Okaaaay? MacGyver in both haircut and skills. Now being that it
was Erie Bay, you would have thought they would go for a
KP: There are two things the Kiwi bach has in common drafty bach, but it turns out it was more of a lager. Maybe
with beer. One is that beer goes great inside a bach and
in the next issue, I’ll tell you about the Erie Bay walrus
two, it also goes well just in front of a bach. Beer and
baches go hand in hand, which brings me to bach brewing. PoH: So, the Cassels family first brewed beer on holiday
You’ve got hoppy baches, you’ve got drafty baches. There and then decided to turn it into a business?
are stout baches and of course, the Belgian bach, which is a KP: That’s basically it. For the full story, you can have a
little bit more fancy. listen to the Keith Preene Craft Beer Tour. I sat down with
PoH: You lost me... the three of them as they talked me through photos of that
very first bach brew, which are on the wall of
KP: Well, Cassels & Sons got into brewing baches one the restaurant.
summer up at Erie Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. Who
would have thought it? They did it with a coffee grinder, keithpreene.com
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 21LIQUID HISTORY
LiQuid
History TIM NEWMAN
ld beer is usually the refrain of those recommend the works of Belgian beer scientist Bart
scrutinising a best-before date, as the Vanderhaegen, who has produced some exhaustive
O offending bottle is repatriated back onto the
shelf. But for some beer, old is good
Exactly what beer that is (or indeed, is going to be) is
material on the subject. Being a far cry from a beer
scientist myself, I thought a practical tasting exercise
would be more informative (not to mention delicious).
where it can get a bit ambiguous. But some styles are Not too long ago, I came into possession of two bottles
definitively built to age. One of those, arguably the style, of Red Zone Enigma, a barley wine brewed way back in
is Barley Wine, named so for the fact that it resembles 2011 at the original Twisted Hop brewery in Christchurch.
wine in many of its characteristics — not just in its As the name and the date suggest, that year’s severe
extremely high strength, but also in its application. It's earthquake had its own hand in the beer’s creation.
not something you’d try to sit down with a pint of (unless Brewed right before the quakes, it was trapped inside
you're planning an exceptionally interesting evening), but the cordoned-off building before it could be bottled.
very much at home paired carefully with food. Consequently, it spent almost half a year amongst the
rubble in its conditioning tank (at a fluctuating ambient
Think of it not so much like a typical wine, but something
temperature). Remarkably, when it was finally recovered,
dessert-oriented where it can do the job of sherry,
it was discovered that the beer in the tank had avoided all
botrytised riesling, or tawny port. Get it in front of a
human, animal and microbial disturbance. Now almost
strong cheese, sticky date pudding, or any number of
10 years on, the bottles are so rare, in addition to being
toasted nuts and it will not disappoint. But while pairing
artefacts of the quakes, that it seems slightly sacrilegious
might be easy, there’s an essential ingredient these special
to drink them. But, for the sake of science (and curiosity)
beers need which is a lot harder to come by, and that’s
I opened one.
time. When freshly bottled, beers built to age will (to a
greater or lesser extent) be a mess of conflicting flavours. The carbonation was still there, which is always a good
Syrupy malt sweetness clashing with savagely bitter hops, first sign, indicating that no air has been getting in or
all mired in a strongly alcoholic hotness. But allow a few out. I’d left the bottle to settle for a few days, but I needn't
years for the different elements to reach an equilibrium have bothered. Over the years the significant sediment
and the result can be transformative. had turned rock solid and glued itself to the bottom of the
bottle, so I was going to get a clear pour either way.
The actual science of what goes on in aging beer, though
interesting, is rather dense. Oxidation reactions, From memory, when this was first bottled it was a slightly
lengthening carbohydrate chains, Maillard reactions hazy, brown copper colour. It’s now perfectly clear, and a
and a great deal more. For anyone interested, I would brilliant shade of deep ruby red. Initially, the nose is an
22 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019LIQUID HISTORY
ensemble of everything sweet in the baking section; a rich
plume of toffee, golden syrup and treacle, burned sugar
and molasses. But there are more subtle stewed fruit and
pumpernickel aromas peaking around the edges. These
more nuanced aromas come not from the hops, which
have long since faded away, but from the yeast lees that sat
at the bottom of the bottle, slowly conditioning the beer
year by year.
The palate is genuinely sublime. It's still hugely robust, but
magnificently brighter and more buoyant than a young
example. There’s stewed nectarines, marmalade, fruitcake,
boiled sweets and barley sugars up front. Some ancient
hop bitterness rouses for a time, going along with Anzac
biscuits and ginger slice before lingering into an endless,
warming finish.
This is a beer that I can, without any hyperbole, compare
to the very best in the world (think Westvleteren 12)
when it comes to malt-driven complexity. If you’re one of
the few people with a stash of these bottles hidden away,
then know that you’ve got something truly excellent. As
tremendously as this is drinking now, I would comfortably
guarantee it for at least another three to five years in the
bottle. Who knows, perhaps in another 10 I’ll open my last
one and see what it’s up to.
Fresh Cr aft B eer
r Door
Delivered To You
Recently we visited our friends at Hallertau
Brewery to collaborate on a beer to celebrate
the launch of our Crowlers®, and the result
was our Haller-Fine Cream Ale. Not brewed
with lactose, but rather flaked barley to give
that full, creamy mouthfeel and Mt Hood
hops from the US. Refreshing with great body
and a lingering herbal hop character, perfect
for when you want something sessionable yet
Haller Fine flavoursome. Head to our website to get your
Cream Ale Tap Beer Haller-Fine in our new 946ml purged and
12.99
industrially sealed Crowler® cans that last
for up to two weeks with a resealable lid and
/litre delivered nationwide.
SHOP ONLINE www.finewinedelivery.co.nz SHOP INSTORE 42 Lunn Ave,
Mt Wellington, or Home Zone, 60 Constellation Dr, North Shore
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 23BREW MOON NEW NEW NEW
I've been Amberly Pale Ale 4.0% Super Rye Pale Ale 5.2%
This pale ale has the pedigree of being With a full 50 per cent rye in the mash
among one of Canterbury's oldest bill, this has a big and curiously fruity
drinking
...
craft beers. Its character is anything malt heft that you’d normally expect
but old-fashioned, however. The soft to come from an amber. Orange and
but pungently fruity nose has ripe mandarin peel are boldly displayed
passionfruit, along with tropical on the nose, along with sweet biscuits
mango and pineapple, with just a hint and distant tropical fruit. The palate
of drying grain showing through. is deep and heavy, with dried peel and
The palate is dry, gristy and sharp. glacé cherry alongside with the stone
Superbly clean and fresh up front with fruit driven American hops. The finish
Tim Newman the fruit making a gradual comeback has a strong, even slightly numbing
over a long finish. A deftly poised pale rye spiciness that may be a divisive
reviews some of ale that packs in a supreme amount of element. One of the few pale ales that
the latest releases character into its modest 4 per
cent ABV.
will truly be in its element over the
cold winter months.
TINKER TAILOR TOWNSHEND
Salted Caramel Brown Ale: 5.7% Better Than The Real Thing Porter 6.7%
Based on their American brown ale, with an added Specially-brewed for the 50th birthday of Motueka’s Toad
sprinkle of Himalayan rock salt. Considering the name, Hall cafe’s resident baker. Aged in Bourbon barrels and
what surprised me about this beer was just how desserty subsequently bottle-conditioned. The nose is dry and oaky
it isn’t. There is a little Mackintosh’s toffee on the nose, with vanilla, black coffee and just whiff of brettanomyces
but it’s still a brown ale first and foremost, with lots of tartness. The flavours are delicate, smoky and wonderfully
biscuity malt and a soft, but present, hop aroma. The complex; a great example of bottle-conditioning. The
salt emerges on the palate, but again it’s very restrained yeast has cleaned up any residual sugars that might have
(to its benefit), leaving the dry toasty malts and the not- otherwise weighted down the palate, and in exchange
insignificant bitterness to do their brown ale thing. To produced a whole spectrum of freshness that serves to lift
be approached as more of a brown ale with a touch of all the other flavours. Make sure your bottle has a good 48
salt, rather than a salted caramel one. hours to settle, and then decant carefully.
24 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019BEER REVIEWS
OUTLIER CARTEL DUPONT
Apocalypse Post Strong Ale 8% Bons Vœux Belgian Tripel 9.5%
Brewed with radiation-resistant ingredients, kumara Bons Vœux (Best Wishes) is a Belgian tripel that was
(aka sweet potato), coconut and kelp. This sounds like recommended to me as something rather special, and
a beer from my nightmares, but that’s never stopped it is. This heavily bottle-conditioned example really
me before. All three ingredients are evident on the is something you could describe as the champagne
nose and palate, with differing levels of intensity. The of beers. The nose is soft and beautifully layered with
kumara dominates, but there’s also desiccated coconut fresh, lees-driven aromas. Baked bread, fruity esters,
along with biscuity malt and just a whisper of salty champagne and a tiny hint of tangy brett. The palate is
seaweed at the back. The overall flavour is sweet and dry, effervescent and delicate. It skates lightly across the
(unsurprisingly) complex, with a weighty, oily viscosity tongue, never lingering on a single flavour for long. An
that really hangs around. It’s still early days for a strong exceptional beer, but an extremely fragile one. So make
ale like this, and it may well reward a revisit in a sure the sediment has completely settled before opening
few years once civilisation has risen again to see how to ensure a completely clear pour.
it’s developed.
ALIBI BEHEMOTH
Hop Dweller American IPA 7.0% Hop Frolic Rye IPA 6.2%
From one of the handful of breweries operating Behemoth have gone fairly easy on the rye here, using
on Waiheke Island, which is otherwise a wine only 5 per cent in the mix to ensure this remains an IPA
stronghold. This full-strength IPA presents a first and foremost. Enormously lush and juicy on the nose.
classically American nose of dominant grapefruit American Simcoe hops give a tinned fruit salad, squeezed
with a good dose of fresh pine. Highly resinous, pink grapefruit note, and a heaping helping of Nelson Sauvin
clean and fresh on the palate, with a forthright provides ample passionfruit. Slightly drier on the palate, but
bitterness to balance its full malt body, it's striking still very fruit-driven, with a robust bitterness and a noticeable
just how accurately it captures the American (west touch of warming rye spiciness in the finish, proving that a
coast) style of IPA. If I’d been told this had been little goes a long way.
brewed at Dogfish Head, I would have believed it.
ew?
Precisely crafted, and eminently recommendable. e beer for revi
an t to su bm it a new releas ai l.c om
W gm
at newman.to@
Contact Tim
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 25NEW WORLD AWARDS
Small-town
Stars
MICHAEL DONALDSON
he New World Beer and Cider Awards As he progressed, he found the home brew supplies
Top-30 is replete with the names of New available in Christchurch didn’t quite match what he could
T Zealand’s best-known breweries – along
with a global giant – but also a couple of
smaller breweries that are testament to what’s happening
in smaller-town New Zealand.
get in Dunedin. A bit of that was a post-quake scenario
but there was also a gap in the market – so Finney’s Home
Brew Emporium was born. It started life in an old dentist’s
office in Bishopdale Mall while they waited for a future
home to have its quake damage repaired.
The bulk of the Top-30 include such prominent performers
as Garage Project, Behemoth, Liberty, Epic, Panhead, 8
Wired, Sawmill, Sprig & Fern, McLeod’s, Yeastie Boys,
Three Boys, Croucher, Boneface… it’s a virtual who’s who
of the New Zealand brewing scene and to boot the global
giant Carlsberg and Aussie crew Pirate Life.
But holding their own against these heavyweights of the
industry are a pair of relative newcomers – both based in
smallish seaside towns – who prove great beer can be made
anywhere, and that sometimes the journey to brewing
stardom is far from a straight (or straight-forward) path.
Take Emporium Brewing.
Based in Kaikoura, it is, in some ways, a business born
of two earthquakes – the horrific February 2011 quake
in Christchurch and the physically damaging Kaikoura
quake of 2016.
Founded by Paul Finney and his wife Laura, Emporium’s
roots are in a Christchurch home brew club Paul founded a
few years ago. As an avid home brewer, he wanted to share
ideas and meet fellow brewers, so he set up his own club. Paul and Laura Finney of Emporium Brewing
26 Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019NEW WORLD AWARDS
Finney started contract brewing on the side – a bit like
Joe Wood did with Liberty, which started as a home brew
store with a beer business on the side.
NEW WORLD
Eventually, Paul and Laura decided they needed their own
brewery – and they found just the spot in Kaikoura: a large BEER & CIDER
warehouse that had all the infrastructure they needed,
plus a few things they didn’t – like a mini-putt golf course. AWARDS
“We were looking for a space that could hold a brewery
and something else – where other things were going on,”
Finney says.
“When we saw this site it had been on the market for nine
years and I think a lot of prospective buyers were put off by
TOP 30
the derelict mini-putt course because they thought they’d Liberty Halo Pilsner
have to bowl it whereas we were delighted to have a mini Panhead Port Road Pilsner
golf course.”
Three Boys Pils
Where others saw expenditure on removing an eyesore,
Finney – a keen golfer – saw opportunity. Cleaning up Epic Lager
“10 years of neglect” took three months and lots of power- Carlsberg
washing but eventually Emporium opened as a brewery
Three Boys Lager
with a mini-golf course.
Fork Brewcorp Golden Handshake Pilsner
They also have “escape” rooms – themed games areas in
which players are “locked” in a room and have a set time Bach Brewing Billfish APA
limit to find clues and solve a series of puzzles to enable
Behemoth Freedom APA
them to escape or complete a mission.
Boneface Brewing Hoptron APA
But no sooner had they opened when – bang! – another
earthquake. The blessing for the Finneys was that when Duncan's Pale Ale
the November 2016 Kaikoura quake hit, their brewery Croucher Lowrider
was not yet operational so there was no major damage –
unlike their neighbour, Kaikoura Brewing, where a hot Garage Project Fresh IPA
liquor tank turned into a wrecking ball under the quake’s Liberty Hoptical Illusion Double IPA
shaking and rolling.
Pirate Life Mosaic IPA
It’s a been a slow but steady run since then, with
Emporium only just commissioning their 1000-litre Sawmill India Pale Ale
brewery in time to put down their Top-30 beer – a Witbier Sawmill Session India Pale Ale
called Get To Da Choppa. The name references a line from
the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator and is a salute to Epic Sparks Imperial Stout
an Austrian friend. McLeod's Pioneer Brown Porter
The reality of a small brewery making the big time that the Panhead Blacktop Oatmeal Stout
New World Awards affords is not lost on the Finneys.
Emporium Brewing Get to da Choppa
“I calculated that the bottling run alone for the batch we
Yeastie Boys White Noise
had to do for New World was the equivalent of seven eight-
hour days – we’ve only got a two-head filler – so it took a 8 Wired Wild Feijoa Sour Ale
while. It took Laura two days to do all the labels.”
Behemoth From A Can Peach IPA
Paul is hoping the Top-30 award will help Emporium’s
Fork Brewcorp Tainted Love -
marketing – but fully understands Witbier can be a
Passionfruit & Juniper Sour Ale
hard sell. “If I called it a Belgian-inspired hazy pale ale
people would be all over it,” he jokes. “A Witbier is a Sprig & Fern Doppelbock
brewer’s beer.” Sprig & Fern Scotch Ale
The beer will certainly put Emporium on the map – and Paynter's Cider The Alchemist
beer tourists need to put it in their Google maps the next
time they’re driving between Picton and Christchurch. A Peckham's Reserve Sweet Frenchie Cider
quick pint and game of putt-putt seems the perfect way to Mount Brewing Co. Dark 'n Stormy Cider
relax on a long drive.
Pursuit of Hoppiness - June 2019 27You can also read
