Brewers hop to it
ABOUT 20 breweries have just produced beers using fresh hops. To get the best out of the green hops they need to be in the beer within 24 hours of being picked.
Some are flown from where they are grown in the Nelson region; other brewers hop on to the Cook Strait ferry and get back in the same day.
More than 20 varieties of hop are grown on about 500ha in the region and more than 700 tonnes is harvested between mid-February and the end of March. The flowers, which produce cones, are dried and then stored as pellets for later use.
Hop acids and oils produce, respectively, bitterness and aroma. The fresh hops produce a ‘‘green’’ flavour, more aroma and less bitterness.
New World features three of these beers: Tuatara Conehead (5.6%) has an aroma of grapefruit and its big head carries a creamy feel, along with hop flavour and bitterness, into the mouth ($10 for 500ml). Garage Project Hops (5.8%) is more restrained, light and fruity and reminiscent of a wheat beer ($8 for 440ml). And Panhead Green Fog, which is stronger at 7.8% ($10 for 440ml), has lots of green everything.
A Monteith’s version, Fresh Hop Pale Ale (5%), is more widely available. It is a nicely balanced beer with lots of hop aroma before malt flavour takes over. It is in fourpacks ($15) and on tap in Monteith’s Brewery Bars (Craft and Portobello in Dunedin, Harry’s Pool Bar and Red Rock in Queenstown, Lake Bar in Wanaka and Monteith’s in Alexandra) and, like the others, will not be available for too long. They are all hopdominant and are better at garage temperature to allow malt flavours to compete.
Lots of aroma
The latest brew from Dunedin brewer Emerson’s does not use green hops, but still assaults the olfactory nerves with a wonderful aroma.
It is Big Rig American pale ale (5.2%) which delivers a resinouspine aroma followed by a longlasting grapefruit flavour underlined by pine, then a grapefruitlike bite to finish.
Its name was inspired by a 1930s steam truck owned by a mate of brewery founder Richard Emerson (who is into anything that runs on steam). It is in 330ml sixpacks ($23) and also best not chilled.
Lots of beer
Sixteen beers from New Zealand were entered in this month’s World Beer Cup run by an association of American craft brewers. But none won a medal.
More than 8200 beers (representing 101 styles) were entered by 2500 breweries from 66 countries. It took nearly 300 judges (nine from New Zealand) to sort them out.
New Zealand has had success in the past with Speight’s Triple Hop Pilsner winning silver in 2014 and Monteith’s Black a bronze in 2000.