BrewZone

Learning to Speak Beer in New Zealand

2. New Zealand Craft Brewing

Luckily, beer here isn’t strictly limited to the commercial standard. NZ has a second tier that nominally met our standard of well distributed beers using quality ingredients to make a broader range of styles. Typically, they will include a Gold, a Red (which might be amber ale or lager), and a Black based on German Blackbier, in the mix.  The first such brewer we explored was Mac’s. Originally a craft brewery in Nelson, it was bought by Lion Nathan and is now brewed around the country. Even so, a Mac’s Gold packs noticeably more barley and hops into the glass than the commercial NZ lagers. And when we are lucky we find their Hop Rocker or Mac’s Black or at least Mac’s Red which are all perfectly palatable brews. The Hop Rocker is a pilsner that stands up to its name and was the most distinctly hop flavored beer we encountered early on.

This biggest competitor to Mac’s is Monteith’s which used to be a big independent brewery but now is owned by the other big guy, DB.  They distribute a fairly solid match to most of the Mac’s brews throughout the country.  Like Mac’s, they use all quality ingredients and it shows, although they are stingier with the hops and a tad more generous with sweetness. Speights also tries to run a line of competitors, but all tend to be noticeably blander.

Tiring of these limited ranges, we realized that we really need more variety than we’d originally calculated. Lucky for us the town where we settled, Nelson, is a rather beer-focused area of the country with a handful of small craft brewers located right here, and more in the nearby Tasman and Marlborough areas. Our second day in town, we booked a wine tour that added a stop at Tasman Brewing in nearby Richmond for a tasting of nearly 20 craft brews. In addition to all the NZ lager styles and more matches to the Mac’s styles, there were some distinctive beers including bock, ginger lager and our first NZ porter. Despite some minor flaws in the beers, we couldn’t fault them for their enthusiastic approach to trying anything and everything. Yet we couldn’t help noting that the New Zealand aversion to hops and fondness for sweet was also influencing their recipes. Mac’s Hop Rocker was still the punchiest beer we’d tried. We also tried locals Nelson Bays Brewery and Lighthouse Brewery. These guys are really focused on the standard NZ lager market, though they impressed us more with their dark offerings.

We soon made our way to Founders, who sell a very small range of truly handcrafted organic beers. Their mainstay Tall Blonde, Red Head and Long Black all display a clear commitment to quality and are very nice lagers, though not hugely distinct from the Mac’s lineup. They do step above with their Generation Ale, which is distinctly British for NZ, but they really set a new bar with Fair Maiden APA style ale. Finally we found some of what we had been missing, as they clearly go all out on the hops. This beer was just named the best beer in NZ, and we respect the intent and quality. Yet even so we felt that a little something was missing. In talking to brewer John Duncan, we began to suspect the hops themselves.

During our research before moving, we became very excited about the idea of New Zealand hops. New Zealand grows most of the world’s organic hops because careful breeding has produced pest resistant varieties, so they don’t require the same pesticides and fungicides. And virtually all of these hops are grown right here in the Tasman region, so we expected plentiful, wonderful hops. Unfortunately, that pest free stock is of some rather unusual varietals, as the European ‘noble’ hops just don’t thrive here. Instead, most hops here are very bitter, high alpha hops that have weak or unpleasant flavor and aromatic qualities. They are expanding into complex, floral and citrusy aromatic hops similar to the mainstay of so many of America’s stunning premium brews but they aren’t exactly the same and supply is very limited. Craft brewers here just don’t have the hops to create beers with the flavors and aromas we crave.

Since those first few months, we have done quite a bit of beer traveling around the South Island where we have encountered many more small brewers. Dead Good Beer Events has also expanded our range of experience through their wonderful quarterly beer fetes. We have learned that like Founders, these others brew mostly the familiar styles that appeal to the NZ palate, and typically have one or two outstanding specialties. A few specialize- Moa brews Belgians, Emerson’s has British ales, Mussel Inn has the unusual Captain Cooker manuka beer, and so on. This helps with the variety, though we still find only a very few that really wow us.

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This article was written on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 and is filed under Lifestyle. For more articles about: New Zealand (10), Beer (7)

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