Another legend lost
The art of spontaneous fermentation, hop harvest insights (where was the sun?). Stone in court again. Is West Coast IPA actually making a comeback? Four weekend must-try beers. Plus much more.
For the second week in a row, we’re saying farewell to an industry stalwart.
Alasdair Cassels, the driving force behind Cassels Brewing, died over Easter weekend of prostate cancer at the age of 71.
I didn’t know Alasdair hugely well but did spend a long day with him around five years ago and exchanged the odd email or phone call. He was a compelling man, with a powerful force radiating off him. He was one of those characters who could look you in the eye and ask questions without saying a word. And you got the distinct feeling nothing stood in his way when he set his mind to something.
As he said to me when I questioned him about some of his ambitious dreams for Cassels: “I’m determined, really determined.” And he said it in a way that left no doubt he would get what he wanted.
Beer of the week 1 Cassels Double Cream Milk Stout
Of course it has to be a Cassels beer. I’ve long been a fan of their Milk Stout, dating back to 2011 when I first sipped it in the cool August air when the streets of Christchurch were still rubble and road cones. But the Double Cream Milk Stout is the kind of beer you want for a more reverential situation. It’s big and decadent, sweet and syrupy with a moreish mochaccino mellowness. R.I.P. Alasdair.
Beer for nurses
As someone who married a nurse, this is an important one. Vicki Yarker-Jones (aka Vicki Purple) used to brew under the label Beltane. Her husband is Tom Jones (ex Emerson’s, Green Man, Herne). The pair grow hops in the Southland town of Tuapeka, where Tom drives (sails?) the famous Tuapeka Mouth Ferry. They’ve put their beer skills and hop-growing to great use to make a beer to raise funds for Vicki’s Tea Time – Me Time project.
Vicki, a nurse, educator, counsellor, and an avid steam-punker, started Tea Time – Me Time to promote self-care among nurses, which is her doctoral topic through Otago Polytechnic/CapableNZ. “Nurses care for people, but they also need to care for themselves,” she says. “Tea Time – Me Time raises funds to buy biscuits, cakes and more plus we collect cups, saucers and plates for gift bags filled with goodies for morning and afternoon teas for nurses. It acknowledges the work that they do, and it’s all about nurses taking a break to focus on some relaxing time over a cuppa”.
Tea Time – Me Time, the beer, is an XPA made with hops Tom and Vicki have grown themselves. All proceeds from a keg being poured at the Eagle Hotel in Bluff this weekend will go to Vicki’s project.
And if you want to read more about growing hops in the deep south, read The Miracle of Southland’s Holy Hops.
The Spirit of Spontaneity
We welcomed a new writer to the Pursuit of Hoppiness stable this month with Luke Owen Smith. Luke might be well-known to some folk as he managed a craft beer bar in Wellington for several years and founded the Chocolate Bar in the capital. He’s currently writing a story about chocolate beer (a perfect combo for him) but this month he tackles what might be the polar opposite of a chocolate stout: wild-fermented ales! It’s a great read…
Beer of the week 2
It’s not that often I have a pale ale that makes me pause and think, “now that’s really good”. But that was the case with Rhyme X Reason’s Joy Rider. And what I liked about it was the fact that it wasn’t all shouty, look-at-me. It was rock-solid, incredibly well-integrated and coherent. When you get a beer that it is so self-assured and so self-contained, it’s a real buzz. It’s not an insult to say that it’s the kind of beer you want to drink when you don’t need to think, just sup away and enjoy its company.
A non-alcoholic lifestyle
I read the following story a while back when I was deeply researching non-alcoholic beers but it recently popped up again in my Twitter feed so I thought I’d re-up here too. It’s a fantastic journey into the world of non-alcoholic drinks but also a deep exploration of our relationship with alcohol. And it’s got a killer ending. Save it for your long weekend reading.
From Twitter sublime to kinda a ridiculous but anyone who’s ever been friends with a grammar cop, or a journalist, will relate:
Beer of the week 3 Hop Federation Green Limousine
Pursuit of Hoppiness reviewer Tim Newman had Hop Federation Green Limousine IPA as his pick of the bunch from the 2021 fresh hop vintage, so it was with great expectations that he cracked into this year’s edition. “I’ve encountered more than a few duds this time around (hazy versions seem to be the main culprit), so I was a little trepidacious going in. But no fear, Hop Fed has produced yet another stunner. Hopped once again with fresh Nelson Sauvin, its hallmark passionfruit and gooseberry are on fine display in the aroma, with grapefruit and lime citrus adding some extra zing around the edges. The palate follows on seamlessly, with sharp citrus flowing into softer tropical fruit, cooling resin and a firm bitterness holds the flavour taut and focused. More conventional than the previous edition, with less of the magical and esoteric fresh-hop notes, but still looking good to once again be one of my favourites of the season.”
NZ Hop harvest update
Yakima Chief Hops in the Washington share some insights into the New Zealand hop harvest via their relationship with Mac Hops, a family farm partner of YCH.
The report from Brent McGlashen offers some great insight into the growing conditions this past summer: basically while the weather was hot and dry it wasn’t actually sunny enough! It shows how important UV rays are to hop yields.
“You get that feeling that this year's New Zealand harvest is like the good old fishing saying of ‘the one that got away’,” McGlashen wrote. “A reasonably easy going growing season but one that has turned out to be very deceptive. Farmers always look back on the season's results and try to map out the routes they were happy with and the ones that they could have changed. But this year, most farmers were very happy with their route planning, it's just mother nature was charting a different map.
“The beginning of harvest set the tone with delayed maturity (and start dates) and lighter kiln weights. This carried right through with varieties straying from their usual harvest windows and particularly having shortened windows. Lesson in horticulture to all: light, light, light. Although warm and humid throughout the harvest, the quality (intensity) of light was poor. There is a lot that goes on in a hop cone, particularly as it reaches full maturity. Growers will often test and track alpha and beta acid compound levels as another tool in maturity testing (along with dry matters, oils monitoring and experience). Beta acids establish first, and the rise of those big alpha compounds require those direct sunlight, high energy days leading right up to their harvest date. This year brewers will find in their hop analysis sheets expected beta levels but a reduction in normal average alphas for most NZ varieties. BUT, here is the kicker, it has been an excellent aroma year. So those bags of hop pellets will still be popping with loads of NZ hop characteristics you all love.
“A final important note here for brewers is the importance of contracting particularly in years like this. There will be some uncontracted brewers who may miss out this year on their 2022 NZ hops due to the reduced yield numbers.
Beer of the week 4 Parrotdog Bruce
My personal can of Parrotdog Bruce is chilling in the fridge ready for consumption tonight so I bring you the words of Hoppines reviewer Mark “Crafty” Gower: “Being my first fresh-hopped beer of 2022, I was eager to get Bruce out of the can —expectations high! My eagerness was rewarded immediately as the room quickly filled with that dank, grassy fresh hop aroma I live for each season! While Nectaron may be the industry’s new love affair, using Nectaron in conjunction with Riwaka hops in this beer is the master touch! The drinking experience is everything you can hope for —nice upfront peach and tropical fruit flavours with a neat, dry finish. The best part of this beer for me is how it seductively coats the inside of your mouth with trademark oily resins, envying that of a Texan Oil Baron. I’ve always felt it a challenge to bring fresh hop and hazy characters together successfully in a beer, but luckily for all of us Parrotdog have nailed it. Bruce is beautifully balanced, and jam-packed full of those familiar fresh hop flavours and aromas we all dream of each April. We are truly blessed here in New Zealand to have a hop industry that’s hot right now! As beer drinkers we are the winners !”
New brewery for Mangawhai
A new brewery is coming Mangawhai north of Auckland, and area also set to boom tourism-wise with the building of two new public golf courses by the team behind world-acclaimed Tara Iti.
Pacific Coast Beverages will boast a vineyard, distillery and brewery to be opened later this year, with a courtyard bistro overlooking the vines to open in 2023.
The brewery will be run by Sam Williamson, most recently of Sawmill, who has 20 years’ experience working in various New Zealand breweries.
“The last year has seen a huge revolution in brewing knowledge, with the advancement of analytical technology and the evolution of beer styles”, says Williamson.
“Brewers are now challenging their own preconceptions on the correct way to brew, and making hugely accessible styles with techniques that bat against tradition. I have intertwined my experience, theory and research to develop some tasty, contemporary recipes.”
We should have known it was coming when Sam shared this bar “design” on Instagram a while back 😄
Beer poetry
Writer Stephen Gallagher has taken beer reviewing to a new level with his Haiku series. Here’s a sample from Vol 3: Garage Project Omne Trium Perfectum: Rose, Saffron & Lemon Zest
Colour of sunset
Lip-smacking lemon with rose
Bye, my friend summer
Stone cold ripoff?
We’ve previously reported how Stone Brewing successfully sued corporate giant Miller over the way they blew up the word Stone on they Keystone Light beer, thus infringing Stone’s trademark. But now the shoe is on the other foot, with a North Carolina brewery suing Stone for stealing their slogan “Keep it Juicy”.
Sycamore Brewing in Charlotte really let it rip in their court document:
[As] Stone grew larger and larger, it lost its way. While it used to preach the gospel of “community” in craft beer, it now seeks to damage smaller breweries by filing questionable trademark actions against them and to steal the trademarks of those smaller breweries it believes will not fight back. Sycamore is fighting back. Stone stole Sycamore’s registered KEEP IT JUICY trademark. Unlike the dubious trademark disputes Stone initiates, this case is based upon an actual trademark inarguably owned by Sycamore that Stone is using for the exact same purpose in the exact same markets. So, Sycamore will fight to maintain ownership of its trademark and brand. And, as it does so, it hopes to remind Stone that its existence used to be good for the craft beer industry before Stone decided that competition and innovation were things to damage, not celebrate.
They even provided this helpful graphic to the court:
Stone’s lawyer argued there are 27 other beers in the country with the word “juicy” in its name. He argued "juicy" is too broad of a trademark to hold. He maintained the word describes the taste of several beers and not just the Sycamore beer.
The judge retorted that “juicy” and “Keep it juicy” were two different things. Ahead of a trial later this year, the judge said Stone could sell the current “Keep it juicy” beer already out in the market but they must cover up the labels on boxes with white labels to ensure there will not be any sort of “consumer confusion.”
Return to the West
In beers circles there’s been a lot of a discussion about the demise of what we might romanticise as classic West Coast IPA. A couple of related stories out of the US this week caught my eye.
In the first, writer Joshua Bernstein starts with the premise that people are suffering haze fatigue and that big, bitter West Coast IPAs are on the way back.
It features a great quote from Seventh Son brewmaster Colin Vent, who says of low-bitter hazies: “At a certain point, it becomes the same low hum of flavor that blurs together. You want to see that bitterness come back.”
That artcile prompted hop guru Stan Hieronymus to come up with a discussion point of his own around IBUs (International Bitterness Units) and in particular he noted the huge difference in IBU in a variety of beers produced over the past decade by cult American brewery Firestone Walker.
The story is great for home brewers because it has a recipe for Firestone Walker Union Jack but also because it reveals that Firestone Walker’s new Hopnosis, touted as the “ultimate new-school expression of the West Coast IPA” has just 45 IBU compared with Union Jack’s original 75 in 2012, and the fact that Union Jack is now a 60 IBU IPA. Of course it’s all to do with the surround malt and alcohol and dry-hopping and the perception of sweetness they bring and it’s a reminder that IBU is nothing without context!
Well that’s it for this short week, catch you next week for more news and reviews.
Michael