GOLD RUSH JESS WOLFGANG

OF RHYME & REASON PICKS HER FAVOURITE BREWS OF THE MOMENT.

IT WAS JUST OVER 10 years ago that I picked up a mash paddle for the first time and also started dating a Kiwi hanggliding pilot/engineer. We have now shared a decade of brewing beer and building beer-bottling machines together. Rhyme and Reason (RXR) is our young brewery and tap room based in a shed in Wanaka. In our first year we released over 40 different seasonal beers. And as we pour into our second year of production, the ideas are flowing and being creatively executed on the brew floor. It is such a fun time to be brewing craft beer. Back in 2008 a lot of my daily job was convincing customers to try something new and step out of their comfort zone. Now, in 2018, I am lucky to have such fun and enthusiastic locals popping in and asking, ‘What’s new? When is that coming out?’ A proud moment for me was walking into our tap room, seeing mud on the floor and a table of tradies sitting in their high-vis shirts and drinking the Cherry Kolsch. Big blokes happily drinking pints of pink. My passion for beer is almost as strong as my love for chilli. It was only a matter of time before the two became one. I spent time thinking about beer styles and all the wonderful varieties of chillies and which two would work together in concert. I settled on the French saison beer and the habanero chilli. The saison yeast produces citrussy lemon, orange and spice flavours. The habanero matches that with zesty mandarin and tropical fruit. I use a mixture of European and NZ hop varieties which also lend citrus and spice flavour. The pleasant heat from the habanero is balanced with the fruit character and, as always in a saison, the yeast has the last word and the beer finishes refreshingly dry. We were very chuffed to be awarded a silver medal for this at the 2018 Brewer’s Guild Awards. I am excited about what lies ahead for RXR in the coming years. I hope to find myself still behind the mash paddle creating new fun beers and sharing them with Wanaka. I hope to see our crew (Sarah, Bjorn, Ian and Jimmy) grow with our business and when they move on, because they will move on, I hope they take a sense of ownership and the skills needed to chase their own brewing dreams.