Eddyline's 'Mic Drop' win at Malthouse Challenge

Three Boys' award a victory for Christchurch. Maltster apologises for "upsetting" job advert. Selter's fall from favour. Scientists confirm hops have terroir. And what's Jaws got to do with lager?

Welcome to the Friday Night Beers!

We’re in what feels like a string of awards announcements, with the latest being the annual Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge. That came along while I was still following up on the NZ Beer Awards the week prior. So there’s lots of success stories to kick-off this bulletin.

I also take a look at Gladfield Malt’s PR nightmare around the job post they published last week, and there’s a couple of cool stories I recommend, including a deep look at the pros and cons of Untappd, and a Jaws-connection to a popular US beer.

Plus there’s the usual weekend drinking endorsements, including the return of a cukt favourite… but first The Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge

Moab Heynekamp from Eddyline accepts the Golden Gumboot for winning the Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge

I guess you could call it an upset … or at least a rarity: Eddyline became the first Nelson brewery to win the coveted Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge last Friday night. There’s only been two previous South Island winners, that I can of, Moa (2011, 2016) and Renaissance (2014) … so while the top of the south has been well-represented it’s the first time a beer from NZ’s hop capital has taken out the Golden Gumboot.

Eddyline’s winner in the rock ’n’ roll-themed event was called That Eddy’s Drop and there’s some terrific pics from the night that you can view here.

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Three Boys win a victory for Christchurch

I really enjoyed this story from our Christchurch-based writer Tim Newman in the wake of Three Boys winning the Champion Exhibitor trophy at last week’s NZ Beer Awards and how it was a victory for all of Christchurch.

And in more awards follow-up, I had a chat to Pete Gillespie from Garage Project about their new-found sense of celebration when it comes to awards.

Plus there’s look at Kainui Brew Co’s fantastic comeback and why we haven’t seen much of them in recent years (tip: you’re going to have to go to The Far North to sample their beers!)

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Beer of the week No 1

I mentioned last week the return to NZ of Yeastie Boys and how at the time of writing Gunnamatta wasn’t yet available. Well guess what? No sooner had I said that, than Gunnamatta became available. Naturally I had to try it …

My biggest question is whether the beer would be as I remembered it. It’s been so long all I had was a ‘sense” of how it tasted. My first reaction was that this appeared sweeter than previous iterations (no bad thing). Second the bergamot really soars and is clearly-defined. Third, the tannic element is still there but not in a way that makes your gums go furry. And the hops are expressively fruity. All in all it was a terrific sensory experience in which all the flavours — malt, hops, tea — come together in an interwoven triangle of taste. In short it was delicious.