Tiny operator buys brewery off Lion
Plus, best April Fools Day jokes; a rant against "crispy" and beers of the week
I’m sure your day was full of April’s Fools jokes. It’s past noon now, so you won’t get any foolishness here, but…
I spotted a handful of good jokes earlier in the day, including Shining Peak’s fake billboards for the last few cans of their Skunk Juice … with the accompanying post citing a lack of US hops for the limited number of cans left. I’m sure they sold a few.
And Good George are always ready for April 1. This time they announced they were pulling together an America’s Cup sailing team built around Lisa Carrington, Richie McCaw and Peter Montgomery. And they even had a beer “brewed” for the event … a Bandwagon Lager!
And then there was this brief attempt from North End Brewing, but they couldn’t quite go through with it!
But the winner in my books, is Lakeman Brewing with their Zoom colab
Beer of the week No 1
Do you ever have a beer that you can’t stop thinking about? For me, 8 Wired’s Fistful of Raspberries is the beer equivalent of a musical earworm (can I suggest Raspberry Beret?). I mean, look at that picture, it’s such a glorious colour. Made in the traditional Belgian Framboise style (although it’s hard to say exactly what is ‘traditional’ as many of those beers are quite sweet and this is not. It’s more along the lines of Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus I’m thinking). Anyway, it’s bursting with raspberries that soar and are then are more firmly integrated into the doughy, tart, slightly vanillin malt base. There’s some requisite phenolic character lurking deep inside as well. It’s tart without being acidic, and the aroma/perception of sweetness does a lot of balancing. It finishes gently tannic and dry. Moreish. Drink with something like a chocolate brownie on the side.
Two Thumb buys brewery off Lion
Christchurch brewery Two Thumb has reversed a recent trend in craft beer circles by buying a brewery off Lion.
Two Thumb has just signed the lease on 380 Colombo Street, Sydenham, the site of the former Fermentist Brewery and Taproom, which Lion opened in 2018 with much fanfare as a carbon neutral operation.
Lion closed The Fermentist in September last year, citing the downturn in revenue as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It will become the second venue for Two Thumb in addition to their existing brew bar (which features a tiny brewery) on Manchester Street.
In taking over the lease of the building from Lion, Two Thumb have also completed the purchase of the state-of-the-art brewery equipment installed at the premises. The brewery is largely solar powered and features cutting edge eco-friendly technology.
Two thumb co-owner Mark Limber admits it’s something of a gamble.
“We’ve always cut our own path and been bold enough to not follow the crowd and do what’s right for us. When everyone is facing one way looking for the next big thing, it’s sometimes useful to take a look in a different direction and see what opportunities might be being missed. This incredible facility was sitting there unused, and we are delighted that we managed to convince Lion to sell it to us.”
The new brewery will allow Two Thumb to increase its own production capability as well as provide a local contract brew facility for other small breweries.
“The craft beer family in Christchurch is a pretty close knit one. We have more brewery labels per head than anywhere else in New Zealand. If we can help support other local brewers with production, then we’re keen to do it. Craft beer is a growing market and consumer choice is good for all of us,” Limber added.
The Manchester Street site will continue to operate as a bar and function venue, with one-off and small batch recipes continuing to be brewed there. “That’s the old iconic Dux de Lux brewery kit. Its Christchurch heritage, we are not getting rid of that in a hurry. Besides, it still makes damn good beer,” Limber said.
Stone wins court battle against MillerCoors
Speaking of small taking on big …
A San Diego federal court last week ruled in favour of Stone Brewing in a trademark dispute filed four years ago. Stone filed the lawsuit against MillerCoors (now Molson Coors) for illegal use of Stone’s registered, incontestable STONE® trademark after the company rebranded its Keystone beer as STONE. During the time of infringement, Molson Coors sold more than $1.7 billion of Keystone beer branded as STONE.
Stone Brewing is America’s ninth largest craft brewery and in 2020 it produced 40 million litres of beer, which represented only 0.5 per cent the volume of beer produced by Molson Coors.
“From the moment our team saw Keystone’s intentional theft of the STONE® trademark, we believed this day would come,” said Maria Stipp, Stone Brewing CEO. “We are committed to doing everything in our power to protect the incredible reputation of the Stone brand and the passionate team who built it.”
Stone Brewing Co-Founder Greg Koch added, “This is a historic day for Stone Brewing, and for the craft beer industry. Molson Coors threatened our heritage, but we stood up to that threat. They will put the ‘Key’ back in ‘Keystone’ ending their hostile 4-year co-op of the Stone name. Cheers to our legions of fans, friends and supporters who believe in the good that craft beer brings. This is your win too.”
Autumn beers
I got asked recently by Business Desk to recommend some Autumn beers.
I’ll confess to having made a small error in that story by omitting Three Boys Oyster Stout (I know, what was I thinking!?) but my excuse is that at the time of writing it was 26C in Auckland and the first bluff oysters had yet to materialise. So imagine the following list had 11 beers on it instead of 10 …
Beer of the week No 2
Kereru Brewing in Upper Hutt have been an industry crusader for gluten-free beers and they’ve gradually pushed their gluten-free aspirations along the flavour chain. They started with Auro, a simple golden ale, and followed with a gluten-free pale ale Apex and a boysenberry gluten-free ale Aviatrix. But I think they’ve hit the pinnacle of the “style” with Hazee, a gluten-free hazy pale ale. It’s made with sorghum and rice and I think the haze-factor helps immensely in bringing body and mouthfeel to these normally lighter style beers. It’s only 4 per cent ABV to boot. If you known any gluten-free people who are looking for great beer, this is it. But I’d also suggest regular beer drinkers give it a go just to see what can be achieved with alternative grains.
Behemoth raises $50K for Ukraine
You have to hand it to Behemoth, they know how to jump on an idea and are not afraid to mix politics and hops. Their Dump The Trump IPA a few years back made global news and they’ve dabbled in the politics of vaccinations with some targeted messaging around Brian “Pastor of Muppets” Tamaki.
Behemoth produced 1,000 six-packs of 440ml cans that sold for $50 each. The beers were called Russian Warship Go F’ Yourself Hazy IPA; Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Heroes Pale Ale; and We Need Ammo Not a Ride IPA.
The beers sold out within a couple of days, with all the revenue of $50,000 donated to the Red Cross.
Ohakune Beer Festival
There’s always been a small gap in the central North Island when it comes to craft beer but that’s slowly changing as evidenced by the upcoming Ohakune Beer Festival. There will be three “local” breweries pouring beers — Ruapehu Brewing, from Ohakune, and Whanganui’s Roots Brewing and Lads Brewing. Wellington’s Abandoned will be coming along as well for the Easter Saturday event.
Is that beer crispy?
I did enjoy the following (self-described) rant from Jeff Alworth on the Beervana Blog in which he despaired at the use of “crispy” as a beer descriptor.
To use “crisp” to describe lagers, those quenchers with a hard edge arising from the crackle of carbonation and whiff of sulfur, is a fine metaphor for something stiff. If beer can be called dry, then surely crisp is acceptable. “Crispy,” however, is unnecessary, low, crass, and wrong. Stop the madness!
Beer of the week No 3
This one’s not from me but from Pursuit of Hoppiness review Tim Newman but I had to share it because he was so enamoured with Happy Camper APA from Eddyline in Nelson.
Tim wrote: “We might be getting into the shoulder season, but this outdoorsy Nelson-brewed Happy Camper APA is here to embrace the last breath of summer. Citra, Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin drive a superbly sharp lemon citrus dominant nose, with some tropical fruit and funky gooseberry in support. The palate is brisk and breezy, and at only 5 per cent ABV, this strikes a great balance between fresh hop fruitiness, a clean malt body and tight bitterness. A crisp, fruity and exceptionally fresh APA that lands a bullseye on its target style.”
Thanks for reading and enjoy your Friday night beers.
Michael
A great round-up here Michael and great to have discovered Friday Night Beers.
I'm something of a fellow traveller with writing drink content and pairing it with quirky topics like philosophy and comics over at https://drinktothat.substack.com/