Monday 16 July 2012

A beery weekend

First of all, this post took FOREVER for me to write. Why? Because I kept being distracted by awesome jams on YouTube.


But sweet hops and funky yeast - what a weekend! I am buggered after a huge weekend of trying beers, meeting brewers and surviving some typically disgusting Wellington weather. The pull of two beer events falling on and around my birthday was too great, so I just had to get to them both.

First up was Malthouse's annual West Coast IPA Challenge. It's 5th incarnation saw a crap-load (yes, that's a technical term) of beer on offer. Heading there straight from work in Palmerston North without a meal stop may not have been the best idea, especially with one of the weaker IPAs on offer weighing in at 6.7%

But goodness there was some great stuff. Blending Epic Hop Zombie and Garage Project's Super Angry Peaches together was the thing dreams are made of. Big, swirling, odd dreams, but dreams none the less. The stonefruit of the Peaches and the lychee from the Zombie really did make a great drink, which I believe was given a name worth of the beverage - Super Angry Zombie.

Naturally, having a blend of an 8.5% IPA and a 10.1% IPA - both with huge hop flavours - blew my tastebuds to smithereens. So I afraid I couldn't taste much of the Yeastie Boys Motueka Raven. A black-IPA brewed with Kiwi hops, it was... nice... I think. I honestly couldn't taste much, and it more served as a palette cleanser than anything else. I'll have to try find some to have again sometime.

The weirdest beer I had was something from Brewery Britomart called Nessie’s Conundrum. While it made Neil Miller's nose curl from across the table, I was a bit of a fan. The peat-smoked IPA was just wacky enough to be a bit of fun and cut through the hops, which were well and truly stinking out the bar by then.

But the beer which impressed me the most would have been Black Dog's Unleashed IPA. A DB-owned brewery, the beer brewed just a side-street away from the debauchery of Courtenay Place, I've had mixed feelings about their beer before. Their Rich Bitch chocolate cherry porter was a let down, while the Chomp IPA was a bit underwhelming. So it's nice to see the brewers unleashing the flavours. I know I wasn't the only one impressed with the beer, which won plenty of fans on the night.

So after chowing down a monster of a breakfast at Cafe Polo in Miramar on Saturday morning and walking around the city in some shocking weather, I headed to The Boatshed for the SOBA Winter Ale Festival.

Confession time: it was only the second beer festival I have ever been to. I went to the last version of Beervana to grace the great dame that is the Wellington Town Hall, but since then it has been a dry run.

But what a festival! Plenty of beers of all manner of styles. IPAs, porters, plenty of handpulled ale, and even a 13% imperial stout. However, I did have far more beer than I did the night before. Something about it being my birthday meant I got a few beers shouted for me, as well as five free beers from my former boss. All in all - it was a long day.

But! Highlights from SOBA WAF - Garage Project's Cherry Bomb porter was great! Chocolate notes from porter + cherry juice = omnomnom. I really liked Funk Estate's coconut stout as well. It had some weird sour thing going on which I had never found in a stout before, but it worked.

I also finally had a beer from Kereru - a Silverstream-based brewery. I have a soft spot for The 'stream - as I called it when I went to school out there - and I'm glad the beer from there is great. The rye ale I had from hand pump was delicious and I'll be sure to grab some bottles of beer sometime soon.

And after THAT, I went to The Local out in Strathmore for some dinner and a beer. And what better way to end the evening, than with a beautifully cooked lamb shank and a bottle of Tuatara Porter. Seriously, grab the lamb shanks out there - well worth the trip/money/whatever excuse you make not to go.

So all in all, a big beery weekend. I'm having a dry week to let the liver bank balance body recover a bit, but I think it was well worth it.

Brewery update: It has been paid for (which I'm sure Chris appreciates) and I am planning on picking it up this weekend. But there's also something else special coming up on Saturday, which remains secret-ish... for now...


1 comment:

  1. Yeah a bit disappointed with Hop Zombie taking the cake... even Luke Nicholas said he thought it should be the super angry zombies. Had to leave early on Friday so didn't get a chance to catch up. Let me know next time you're in town.

    ReplyDelete