Simpler sour beers hit the spot
SOUR beers (which, usually, are tart or acidic rather than ‘‘sour’’) are not everyone’s cuppa, especially the aged Belgian ones. But simpler versions are proving popular this year as a refreshing summer quaff.
They are traditionally aged for at least a year and made by allowing wild yeasts in the air or microbes from barrels to introduce lactic acid into the brew. The Belgians call theirs lambic beer; the Germans, gose.
But they can be made more quickly by adding a bacterium (as in the making of yoghurt) as Dunedin brewery New New New does, one featuring peaches and nectarines (untasted) and another using Thai lime and lemongrass.
The latter (5.6%) is soooooo refreshing! It has the tartness of a sauvignon blanc and, like its wine counterpart, goes wonderfully well with seafood.
Other sour beers found on the shelves are Moa Cherry Sour (with whole cherries and wheat), which is aged in barrels and takes a year to make; Sawmill Brewery’s Sawmill Raspberry Sour (with wheat, raspberries and hibiscus flowers); 8 Wired’s Wilder Peach (hoppier than most); and offerings from
Garage Project in Wellington.
The traditional Belgian style is made by Oamaru brewery Craftworks, with its Red Bonnet (made with sour cherries and put into pinot noir barrels) and Scotch Bonnet (whisky barrels) aged for up to 30 months. You can try these at its Harbour St tasting room on Friday nights and weekend afternoons.
The lime and lemongrass sour is included in a mixed sixpack. The hops in each can sit nicely with the malt flavours, do not dominate like some brews and the bitterness is restrained.
The refreshing pilsner’s
(5.2%) New Zealand and American hops produce hints of citrus and gooseberry. The nicest I have had in ages. The pale ale (5.2%), made with American hops and 50:50 malt and rye, is full of flavour. The APA (5.6%) is rich, and the West Coast IPA (6%) has a hint of burnt malt.
Some of the profits from sales of Sun Sun brown ale (6%), with its smoked malt and raisin flavours and featuring a bear on the can, go towards funding sanctuaries in Borneo for the little sun bear, which is losing its forest home to palm oil plantations.
The brewery’s founder, Ian McKinlay, spent time in Asia and the cans feature ‘‘new new new’’ in Chinese characters and, some, the ‘‘beckoning cat’’, which is a figurine considered lucky by the Chinese and Japanese.
New New New Corporation Fermented Beverages Division (read ‘‘brewery’’) has been around for four years and has focused on onpremise drinking rather than getting its beers out there.
The brewery taproom in Crawford St is open five days a week.
This year is being devoted to distributing the beers more widely, then perhaps opening taprooms around the Otago region. Meanwhile, some of its range can be found at New World and Liquorland in Dunedin, including the mixed sixpack of 330ml cans (about $25).