Yeast discovery creates ultimate taste of NZ

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Welcome to the Rugby World Cup semifinal, Black Caps v India in the Cricket World Cup, long weekend beer newsletter.

With all that going on, you’ll definitely need an extra beer or two in the fridge.

We start this week with Froth Tech, the Kiwi yeast lab that — to my mind at least — has made one of the biggest breakthroughs in brewing that we’ve seen in New Zealand for a while: isolating a native New Zealand brewing yeast.

I won’t say there’s been a race on to find a native Kiwi saccharomyces yeast, but it’s definitely a massive piece of the puzzle for creating a totally unique New Zealand beer — outside of wild ferments, of course.

The discovery and isolation of the yeast, named Wilding, is a massive step forward for the Kiwi beer scene.

Emerson’s have brewed a Wilding beer which will be launched next Friday and the promise is a farmhouse-style ale with “notes of pear and apple with hints of banana and subtle warming spice notes,” according to Emerson’s brewer Mason Pratt.

And to top it all off, Froth will be releasing Wilding in homebrew sized pouches! They have a PledgeMe campaign underway to pre-fund the homebrew offering so if you’re homebrewer who wants to experience the taste of New Zealand, or just brew with liquid yeast grown right here in Aoteroa, then get in.

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The Beer Project relaunched

If you’ve seen recent editions of the Pursuit of Hoppiness print magazine (and remember you can get it delivered free to your mailbox with a subscription to this fab newsletter) you’ll have seen Jed Soane’s amazing photo essays.

Jed’s been an integral part of the beer scene for many years and has been documenting the Kiwi beer scene since 2009 with The Beer Project.

It’s been a long-term project with the final aim being a book.

Jed’s off to explore more breweries this summer and is looking for crowd-funding support for the project (and we all know how expensive petrol is, let alone accommodation and food!)

And the rewards are tangible: calendars, prints, postcards from the road trip.

A book is finally taking shape but I am missing breweries from a couple of more out-of-the-way regions: Taranaki and Northland. This summer I am planning a road trip to photograph as many breweries in these regions as I can and I need a little help from you to cover the expenses. I have some fabulous rewards related to the project to offer you in return. And every supporter will receive a 10% discount on The Beer Project Book when it is eventually released.

More support means more travel, more breweries, more photos.

Help The Beer Project hit the road this summer!

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Beer of the week No 1

I’m blown away by Parrotdog’s Watchdog non-alcoholic beer. Non-alcoholic beers just keep getting better, and both Steam Brewing, where this and the Bach range are made, and bStudio, where Garage Project Tiny and State of Play originate, are doing a fantastic job to create clean, fresh, flavoursome boozeless beers. There’s been such advances in this area, particularly the yeast strains, that if you’re still in doubt about what a non-alc can taste like, I highly recommend this one. Watchdog was brewed at Steam because Parrotdog don’t have a pasteuriser, which is critical for these beers. Watchdog opens with some gusto and delivers a good frothy head which (as is nearly always the case with these beers) fades away quickly. I can live with that though as the flavour is a bar-lifter. A welcome addition to the non-alc showcase.

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