The Malthouse

Bit of a different tack for today's blog. Some Wellington beer nostalgia. Long before there was a craft beer scene, you basically took your luck on whichever of the big breweries supplied the bar you happened to be at. If you were feeling fancy you might grab a Heineken or a Tiger but that was about it. There were a couple of places where you might have a little more choice but they were the exception.

One such place, however, was the Malthouse. And I am not talking about the Malthouse up the end of Courtenay Place. Before that bar cemented its place in craft beer culture, it was situated on Willis Street. It was an odd place. You had to go up a big set of stairs that looked like you were heading into an office building, but at the top they opened up and you came into a (usually) crowded bar packed with all manner of people. Students rubbed shoulders with suits and bogans and nobody really cared as long as they could get good beer. You could sit around and watch sport, you could play pool, you couldd sit out on the long deck at the front. A trip to the Malthouse was usually the sign of the start of a big night. The decor was pretty tired and looked like an old hotel bar but that all added to the charm.

Although my love of tasty beer may have matured in London it was definitely born at the Malthouse. I still remember looking at the array of taps trying to decide what I wanted to drink and seeing a beer that was definitely New Zealand, but wasn't from the big breweries. It was called Tuatara. It was expensive compared to other beers on offer (although not by today's prices...) but it was an explosioin of flavours in my mouth that made the other beers I had been drinking taste like water. I kept drinking the water but from there on I was always left wanting more.

(I wrote this as a thank you to the Malthouse for being the first beer institution that I recognise to follow me on the Twitter.)

Moa Methode

Moa, Moa, Moa...one of the most divisive brewers in New Zealand. They want to be a craft brewer but they also want to be a big corporate listed on the stock exchange. I'm not really that bothered by the politics around craft brewing (although plenty of people are) but there are a few things that Moa has done that can't help but alienate some of the market. (Define what is and isn't craft brewing?  It's still all beer...)

All of that aside it doesn't mean I am not going to drink their beer. It is readily available at a lot of bars and supermarkets, although I note that they have had to drop their price in recent times. I am definitely enjoying my Pilsner's this year so thought I would check out Moa's offering, the Methode. It is a nice colour and it goes down smoothly. The taste is very mellow and perhaps a little too mellow for me when I think of a Pilsner. I want a bit of a kick and the Methode just doesn't have it. Happily drink it at a corporate do but otherwise I'm not in any great hurry.

(Oh, yeah I forgot to take a photo. It's OK, cause you can check out the website above.)

Tuatara Delicious Neck

Making beer available at movie theatres was a great move. I can still remember a time where the  best you could get was a giant cup of coke and a ridulously large box of popcorn. Trust two of NZ's top talent in their respectives fields, Tuatara Brewery for brewing, and Taika Waititi for movie making, to combine the two at a new level to support Taiki's latest movie, What we do in the Shadows, a story of vampires flatting in Wellington. A trip to the movie at the Embassy Theatre gave me an opportunity to sample the spawn of this union in its intended environment, Delicious Neck - What we brew in the Shadows (got to love a good pun.) All profits from the beer apparently go towards paying for wider distribution of the movie.

The movie was entertaining, although very much an inside nod and wink to Wellingtonians. (Did anyone else notice that all the bars mentioned in the movie don't exist anymore?) The beer has a detailed label, unlike the minimalist art usually favoured by Tuatara. As it was straight from the bottle I didn't get to see its colour (I assume it was dark red...). As an Immortal Pale Ale (perhaps not the first?) it had a strong taste with plenty of hops packed in there. It was a reasonably smooth finish and went down surprisingly easily. Before I knew it I had drained the neck. I didn't taste any blood, but of course the brewers at Tuatara probably have hops running through their veins...

Fresh....

Beer is always better when shared with friends. The same is particularly true when it is your own beer that you are sharing. With my latest batch about the right age to now drink and a visit to my friend Tom (Hi Tom!) I felt it was a good time to break out a couple of bottles. Our friend Nigel (a significant beer aficionado and hop head) was also there so the pressure was on to see what the taste was like. After chatting about this blog (honestly) the time was right to crack the bottles. We poured out a jug and dispersed into into glasses. It was a bit cloudy, but I put that down to the movement while travelling but still had a nice amber colour. We each took a drink from our vessel and gave it some thought. Tom described it as a "Fresh" which means it needs to age a bit more. Nigel said "It tastes like home brew" which, although it seems like it should be obvious, was a particularly true statement. Nigel and Tom used to produce plenty of their own home brew many years ago and I drunk my fair share. It always had a distinct taste to it. Up until now my brews have suggested at that taste, but this is the first one that screams it. Surprising seeing as this was a more expensive brew kit. I had expected it to be more like something you would buy at a bar but perhaps, as Tom said, it just needs a bit more time...

Bach Brewing Kingtide IPA

Another IPA today. This one from the very Kiwi named Bach Brewing (not to mention it being a great beer pun.) As a relatively new brewery they only have a few beers, the latest being the Kingtide Pacific IPA. Bach Brewing's labels make you yearn for that ingrained kiwi desire to be sitting at the beach in summer with you feet up drinking a beer.

Next time I find myself in that glorious position I want a bottle of Kingtide Pacific IPA in my hand. There is a nice balance between the hops and the citrus. It just tastes like summer. Keep brewing this Bach Brewing I am looking forward to having another go at this when Summer is back (even if it is only briefly in Wellington...)

Emerson's 1812 Hoppy Pale Ale

You always know when you have an Emerson's beer. They are the only significant brewery in NZ whose bottles don't have long necks. As I pour most of my beers into a glass to give them an airing while I drink them it doesn't really matter but it is still cool that they have that point of difference.

 

Emerson's take on the fashionable brew of the moment, the Indian Pale Ale is the 1812 Hoppy Pale Ale. The beer itself lives up to the billing. You get plenty of hops up front but they don't hang around for long so unfortunately there isn't much of a finish on it. It is nice enough to drink and I would happily down a few but it won't be my go to Pale Ale when there is so much other choice out there.

Tuatara Nui

We all know hops are all the rage. Every NZ brewer is packing them in to their beers. Tuatara is no exception. Nui (Maori for Big) is one of their latest creations and is one for the hopheads. At 7% alcohol it is also one for the boozeheads. They suggest drinking it with an Iti (Maori for small) at only 3.3%. I will have to leave that for another time though as I had only grabbed a Nui when I was down at Moore Wilsons.

Hopheads won't be disappointed. It has a strong hoppy taste but isn't too bitter so would be quite a good gateway hop for those who find the bitterness on Panhead's brews too much....

Yeastie Boys The Sly Persuader

Yeastie Boys have a new beer range out called the Spoonbender series. It has taken me a while to realise this but Yeastie Boys thing seems to be taking two distinct brewing styles and mashing (like the beer pun?) them together to see what happens. As you have seen that doesn't always work for my pallet but if you are going to be innovators you have to push the boundaries. They also collaborate quite heavily with other people in the industry. If you look at their bottles you will see that they are brewed all over the place. I'm not even sure that they have a brewery of their own to tour?

Anyways, enough digression, there are three beers in the Spoonbender series but I have only tried one, The Sly Persuader. I don't understand the science behind it all, but basically Yeastie Boys have teamed up with Australian winemakers, Some Young Punks, and somehow added the wine to the beer via a candi-sugar. As I said I don't understand what that all means but this isn't supposed to be a science lesson so I won't try to explain any further.

Before moving to the taste I thought the label was worth a mention. Apparently the people depicted on the labels are members of old school photos. There is something slightly haunting about the way that they have been painted. I chose the Sly Persuader, of the three, because he seemed the least intimidating.

All of the above has combined to bring quite a different taste experience. It is still beer, there is yeast and hops there but a sweetness comes through from the wine sugar that just takes it all to another place. The flavours are subtle, not too much of any single one but it still takes a while to come to grips with the whole thing. It is almost like an IPA Radler even though it is a Belgian Blonde Ale.