New Kiwi Aromatics Tasting Feb 2010

The main focus of the tasting were the two beers that have been released so far by 8 Wired Brewing. Søren Eriksen has brewed some remarkable beers which considering he only discovered craft beer 4 years ago while studying bio chemistry in Perth and living next door to the Little Creatures brewery is very impressive. Søren told us how he started brewing when his fiancée gave him a Coopers homebrew kit for Christmas. Eventually the couple found themselves in New Zealand and Søren ended up working casually for Renaissance Brewing Company in Blenheim before being taken on formally as a brewer. With Renaissance head brewer Andy Deuchars decision to move to Rangiora, Søren will soon be taking up the role of Renaissance head brewer. 8 Wired is his chance to indulge his own creative impulses, and indulge them he has.

Søren’s first release was Rewired Brown Ale a hoppy American style brown ale. Søren told us how he saw brewing Rewired Brown Ale as a chance to make Brown Ales cool. They are often looked down upon and in New Zealand are often lumped in with the amber lagers that have ‘brown’ in their names. In America the brown ale style has been given a new lease of life with many brewpubs and craft brewers producing brown ales with big zesty new world hop characters. Geoff Griggs told us how he didn’t like Rewired Brown Ale when it was first brewed but that the beer had aged well with many of the ‘hard edges’ rounding out and the chocolaty malt character coming into balance with the hopping. Rewired Brown Ale presented with a big resinous citrus hop aroma, mocha cocoa notes and a biscuity malt note. In the mouth the beer was fruity and hoppy with a rich malt backbone carrying the hop flavours along to a big dry finish.

The beer that has really put 8 Wired on the map is Hopwired IPA. Released at the end of last year it appeared on more than one Best of 2009 lists, made the Top 8 of the Capital Times Beer Necessities Survey and sold like crazy both at Regional and at several bars around town. Hopwired is a seriously big intense IPA brewed with all unique New Zealand Hop varieties rather than American or New Zealand grown American varieties. For the tasting Søren brought up a sample of batch two Hopwired IPA so we could compare the first batch to the second. While Søren had made some fine tunings to the recipe the biggest difference between the two beers came down to maturity with the older batch being a lot more integrated and rounded while the fresh brew displayed a bigger hop character and a fatter bigger malt body. Hopwired Batch one was the over winner of the popular vote.

Søren indicated that we should look out for two seasonal beers, a smoked porter and an Imperial Stout, over the next year.

Golden Bear Brewing in Mapua, Golden Bay was founded by Californian expat Jim Matranga and brewery Engineer Chris Little. Jim moved to New Zealand because he loved the country but like many immigrants from America and the UK he struggled with the standard of the mainstream beer on offer. As a result he has set up a fantastic American style brewpub on the wharf at Mapua opposite the Smoke House. Jim’s wife Maryanne offers a range of reasonably priced Mexican and Caribbean cuisine to accompany the beers which are brewed in an incredibly shinny Chris Little built brew plant. For the tasting we brought in a keg of Golden Bear Californian Pale Ale. Rather than the super hoppy aromatic pale ale you might expect from a beer with ‘Californian’ in the name this beer leaned more towards the English tradition than the West Coast of America. Californian Pale Ale was malt accented and amber with a light grassy New Zealand hop character and a solid bitter finish.

The Twisted Hop in Christchurch has been producing hoppy aromatic cask conditioned ales in the heart of Christchurch since 2004. The reputation, fame and demand for their beers has grown of the last few years and as a result the Twisted Hop now contract brew both their Sauvin Pilsner and their IPA at Ralph Bungardes Three Boys Brewery. Both beers are available around the country now in bottled and keg form. Sauvin Pilsner presents with distinctive floral tart fruit notes of the Nelson Sauvin hop and a rich slight buttery malt character which presented like a beer equivalent to a chardonnay. In the mouth the beer was crisp and fruity with passionfruit notes and a creamy mouth feel.

Twisted Hop IPA is very much in the American tradition with a mix of American and New Zealand hop varieties utilized throughout the boil and maturation. With a well integrated aroma of light citrus hop notes and warm mature malt, a rich tangy palate and a long dry finish Twisted Hop IPA proved to be one of the most popular beers of the tasting. I had been privileged to taste this batch shortly after fermentation from the conditioning tank at Three Boys in early December 2009 and the 11 weeks of maturation had definitely brought this beer into focus much like the passage to India must have for the India Pale Ales of the past. The massive hopping rate had subduied a little and the malt character had begun to shin through with the result being a much softer more drinkable beer.

We tasted three beers from the Hallertau Brewbar in the rural hinterland of Auckland. First up Minimus was a low gravity take on Hallertau’s West Coast IPA Challenge contender Maximus Humulus Lupulus. Brewer Stephan Plowman has taken the concept behind his 7.1%abv American style IPA and flipped it by presenting it as a 3.8% abv golden session beer. Despite the huge drop in strength, Minimus still packs the same huge resinous aromatic punch that its bigger brother does, in the mouth the beer was much dryer with a thin pale malt character just carrying the huge piney citrus laden hop flavours and a moderate dry finish.

Sitting somewhere between the massive hoppy punch of Maximus Humulus Lupulus and the low gravity dexterity of Minimus is Hallertau’s American Pale Ale, Statesman. With a zesty citrus hops and a toasty malt note in the aroma, Statesman presented a rounded toasty malt profile in the mouth and a zesty tangy moderately bitter finish.

Finally we ended the tasting with the hugely complex and for some confronting Porter Noir. First brewed in 2007 Porter Noir starts life as a strong dark porter packed with roasty dark chocolate and espresso flavours, after fermentation and some conditioning the beer is run into pinot noir barrels from the nearby Kumeu River winery. The barrels were rinsed with hot water maintaining the wild yeasts in the barrels and keeping a degree of the wine character. The chief