In Pursuit of Un-hoppiness

While I worked with a myriad of amazing people at The Malthouse, I learned the most from two people - Phil and Tom.

While Phil has an amazing way of imparting his knowledge of beer, Tom came from a different background. Before starting at the bar, he knew not-very-much about beer. However, he was very well versed in the dynamics of wine. And the one thing I remember the most from his vino-speak was his talks about chardonnay and oaking.

IPA Challenge poster 2012

According to Tom, wine makers caught on to aging chardonnay in oak barrels to impart flavour into the grape-juice. But somewhere along the line, one winemaker decided to make their wine oakier than the rest. Then another tried to out-oak the first. And so on and so forth, until their was some chardonnays which just tasted too much of oak for their own good. But, naturally, some wine drinkers just tried to find oakier and oakier chardonnays.

This is particularly relevant to the New Zealand beer scene at the moment, with the fifth edition of the West Coast IPA Challenge about to take place at The Malthouse. The idea is this: make a hoppy IPA in the style of those which are made on the west coast of the USA.

This started out well enough, with Epic and Hallertau facing off against each other with fairly hoppy IPAs. But half a decade down the track we now have 10 brewers taking part. And largely, they are trying to out-hop each other, with many making IIPAs at a gazillion IBUs to try take out the title of "best beer" on the night.

Original IPA Challenge poster

And I'm sick to death of this macho crap.

The behaviour is hardly surprising. It doesn't matter if it is hot sauce, running or vegetable growing, people are always wanting to outdo each other. There is something about being a human which just makes us competitive. I see no problem with a bit of friendly competition, but there comes a point in time when people just need to chill out and just simply be good.

Tom told me this is happening in the wine industry. Drinkers are getting sick and tired of over-oaked chardonnay and are heading for other styles. I'm looking forward to beer doing the same. Give me a smooth, balanced IPA over a hop explosion any day. Or even something completely different - a sour, an imperial stout or a pilsner.
 
But despite my rant against hoppy IPAs, I'm still heading to the West Coast IPA Challenge tomorrow. I'm most looking forward to Croucher Brewing's Zythosed version of their Croucher black-IPA. I'm also hoping to get in a pint of Townshend's BlitzGrieg on handpul, mainly because you can't get a pulled ale here in The Swamp. And I'm hoping to catch up with plenty of people I haven't seen in quite a while.

I also happen to be drinking Emerson's limited edition American Pale Ale. Like anything Richard Emerson brews, it's bloody lovely. It's probably the most balanced APA I've ever had as well; a thick malt sweetness balances out the chinook, centennial and amarillo hops beautifully. I got the first bottle from the liquor store, and I'm sure it won't be the last I grab.

Back to the topic of beer events this weekend - I'll also be at SOBA's Winter Ale Festival on Saturday. I'm only there thanks to Steph Coutts sorting Dad and I out some tickets, so no doubt I owe her big time. It'll be good to spend my birthday hanging around fellow beer nerds while eating as much salt and pepper squid I can. Hopefully I'll see you there!