Emerson’S Masterclass 2010 With Richard Emerson And Geoff Griggs

We kicked off the tasting with the beer that at one point Wellington consumed more of than anywhere else, Bookbinder. Richard told us how proud he was to be able to pack so much flavour into a moderately alcoholic beer. He said how he was trying to promote Bookbinder to the trade as a great lunchtime beer as you could consume a pint with a meal and still go back to work and function.
Next up we tasted the beer that I brewed with Richard down in Dunedin as a collaboration between Regional Wines and Emerson’s Brewing Co. R.S.B. was brewed as a New World Extra Special Bitter meaning I took the strong tap beers of England as an influence and formulated a recipe using mainly local ingredients.
Then we tasted the current Brewers Reserve Oreti Red, a strong New World Amber Ale or as Richard likes to call it a Red IPA. Oreti Red was a re-gigged version the June Brewers Reserve Hoppiest Indian. Richard told us how the name Oreti Red came from the name of the beach that Burt Munroe used to ride the Fastest Indian down.
Then we presented a beer from the past blind to those in attendance under the name of Long Lost Friend. Richard asked what people thought of the beer, lots of aged descriptors came out with rich complex malt aromas, a hint of marmite, vanilla, stone fruit and some slightly funky Belgian characters all being picked up by the crowd. We then revealed that beer was in fact the much loved APA which had been accidentally cellared after being lost in the library.
Then we tasted the 2009 and 2010 vintages of Taieri George side by side. Taieri George is the spiced ale that is released annually to commemorate the life of Richards father George. The older 2009 vintage was the clear favourite across the three sessions with slightly more mellow carbonation, and a more open aroma of Christmas spice.
When Richard initially started preparing to brew some Belgian style beers he did a trial brew where he divided a batch of Belgian Tripel into a series of different 200 litre fermentors and inoculated them each with a different yeast strain. These were the trials that went on to become the first of the annual JP series of Belgian beers that commemorate the life of Jean-Pierre Dufour. We were lucky enough to taste the Lurven strain trial batch. With 4 years age this brew was still surprisingly youthful and zesty with a vibrant aroma of Belgian spice, and candied malt, in the mouth it was very smooth and dangerously drinkable for it’s 9%abv.
Then we tried the JP 2009 a spiced Belgian stout that when young was displaying a big ‘minty’ aroma and flavour that was at the time of its release described by Geoff Griggs as tasting like toothpaste. A year of age had mellowed this character a lot with much of the spiced character taking on peachy stonefruit notes and the malt profile had taken on a very smooth luscious character.
Finally we ended the tasting with the freshly released JP 2010 a fusion of the American Double IPA and Belgian strong Golden Ale styles. JP 2010 was bursting with vibrant fresh lime and tropical fruit hop aroma supplemented with a subtle Belgian yeast character. In the mouth the beer delivered heaps of zesty hop aroma with a solid pale malt backbone and a rounded slightly tart rather than bitter finish.

The final vote showed a landslide preference for the Oreti Red making it possibly one of the highest scoring beers ever at the Regional tasting. JP 2010 came second with the 2009 Taieri George coming third.

Check out what happened at the Masterclass last year here.

The Products...

Emersons Bookbinder 500Ml
A wonderfully drinkable interpretation of a classic English ale style. Bookbinder b...
$5.70 500 MLS

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