Beer community grieves after shock death

Death of popular Instagram influencer leaves Kiwi beer world in mourning. Dunedin brewery shuts doors. Inside the non-alcoholic beer boom. Beer as a status symbol. And a bunch of great recommendations

Beer friends,

This is one of the hardest things I’ve written: it’s almost impossible to come to terms with the unexpected death of Ashly Kumar. The popular Instagram personality known to many as @Beersies_Ash died earlier this month aged 27.

Ash was possibly the best-known Kiwi beer influencer on Instagram. She had a huge following not in the least because she was the antithesis of the older white male demographic that dominates beer. As a young woman of Fiji-Indian-Samoan heritage she not only stood out but shone brightly.

Born in Fiji, Ash moved to New Zealand when she was 11, grew up in Auckland and went to university in Dunedin.

She had a Masters in food science and was a recipient of a scholarship from Emerson’s created in honour of the legendary Professor Jean-Pierre “JP” Dufour. She wrote her thesis on the impact of yeast strains and fermentation on perception of hop flavour. In some ways her research was a precursor to this kind of breakthrough.

Ash loved beer, chilli, Nandos, dogs, dancing and selfies. She was planning to write a cook book. Family and friends who spoke at her funeral recalled her effervescent personality, fashion sense, kindness, her bright smile and the way she lit up rooms where ever she went.

The outpouring of grief and shock in the New Zealand beer community has been palpable since the news of her death filtered through. There’s disbelief and genuine sadness that the world has lost someone so young, bright, talented and widely-loved. Anyone who met her will testify to her radiance and infectious laugh and it’s hard to believe I won’t see her again on Insta or in real life at a beer festival somewhere. Rest in peace Ashly.

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It’s hard to know what to say next after that … how to pivot back to the more prosaic news of the week but on we must go.

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New New New no more

After being put up for sale in June Dunedin’s New New New brewery didn’t draw any buyers and will close its doors for the last time on October 1.

Owner Ian McKinlay hopes to sell the physical brewery kit, which includes an impressive mash filter, and that the venue, an historic old stable will have a life after the brewery has gone.

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Beer of the week No 1

I spent the previous weekend down in Taupo, for a bit of R&R, and while down there I caught up with the Lakeman team, sharing some beers with owners James and Elissa Cooper as well as head brewer Rory O’Sullivan.

It was great fun to go through a range of their beers and I was highly impressed with their Lager, which was clean and expressive, as well as Ghost Ship II, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout which was lovely as the afternoon warmth plummeted towards a chilly evening.

But the beer I really enjoyed was On Trial, which utilised three trial hops from NZ Hops Ltd (101, 102, 105). Super impressive pineapple juice nose, followed by ripe honeydew melon with some residual grass and lime zest at the back end. Light but creamy. And more on NZH-102 later in the bulletin.