How far we’ve come
Chief Judge of the New World Beer & Cider Awards, Michael Donaldson, reflects on what this year’s Top 30 says about the local brewing scene…
There’s no better example of the evolution of New Zealand’s collective beer palate — and the simultaneous maturity of the brewing scene — than the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 30.
This year’s awards produced one of the most diverse line-ups so far (okay, six of the Top-30 are hazies, but that’s in line with those beers accounting for an astonishing 20% of the entries and the fact that roughly a third of all beer being drunk right now are hazies, according to recent Scan Track data from Nielsen1), but outside the hoppy bulwark of hazies, IPAs and pale ales there’s something interesting going on.
Three of the Top 30 are what I’d call ‘esoteric’, or perhaps challenging beers, but they’re done so well I defy anyone not to like them.
First, we’ve got the Supreme Champion, Emerson’s Weissbier. It’s the first time New World has opted to name an overall best-in-show, but the judges could not have picked a better beer.
Richard Emerson first made it in 1995 when it was so far ahead of Kiwi palates it was just too hard to sell. No-one wanted a cloudy-looking beer because they thought it was off. It’s why Emerson’s tagline for the re-released beer — “German-style hazy” — is so funny. Weissbier is defined by bubblegum, banana and clove flavours and it seems Kiwis are ready for those sort of taste sensations now, having been weaned on fruit-driven hazies for the past three or four years.
Staying with fruit, but moving across the border to Belgium, 8 Wired’s A Fistful of Raspberries is made in the style of Belgian Framboise, which uses a wild-fermented lambic base overlaid with raspberries. This Kiwi version bursts with raspberry aroma and flavour but with an undertow of acidity and some of those classically rustic, wild ferment flavours: think silage or horses. It’s a stunning beer designed for food and sharing, and another example of how far we’ve come, because this as far from New Zealand draught as it’s possible to get.
One of the coolest winners in the Top 30 was Bones of The Land from North End. This saison is a tribute to the famous Saison Dupont and the romance of Farmhouse Ales post-World War II when the influence of hoppy British beer was absorbed into a traditional, hyper-local brewing methodology. This manages to be fruity, spicy, hoppy-bitter and slightly tart all at once with aromas of hay, lemon, bread and pepper.
Other examples of diversity in the Top 30 include Urbanaut’s booming 6.5% ABV lager, Hacienda Disco Beer, a big, hoppy lager made with champagne yeast for a light body and super-dry finish, while Hamilton’s Bootleg Brewery served up a touch of Saturday nights in the Waikato with their T Straight Burnout Smokey Stout.
Within the more traditional styles there’s heaps of variation, including Brave Brewing’s Bottle Rocket (a pale ale that thinks it’s an IPA), and Rhyme X Reason’s Space Monkey, (a pilsner that could be mistaken for a pale ale). There are new hop techniques in Epic’s Crypop IPA, the use of potatoes in Garage Project’s Proper Crisp IPA, and white tea used in Bach Brewing’s Peach Pucker sour.
Plus, there’s a first-ever low carb pale ale with Epic Blue, which stood up to the other pale ales in the field and delivered — a real boon for the fast-growing “lifestyle” drinks category.
And before I forget, there were two non-alcoholic IPAs in the Top 30 too: Bach All Day and Garage Project Tiny. If that’s not a reflection of how far we’ve come in such a short time, I don’t know what is.
Michael Donaldson is a Beer Writer of the Year, journalist and author
beernation.co.nz