WELCOME TO THE NAKED HOP! A monthly publication coming to you from the Glengarry team of beer experts, where we explore everything beer related. Here you’ll find an in depth look into the beer world and what makes it tick.
For our first issue we sat down with Andrew Childs from Behemoth Brewery to learn about how he got where is he is today. We dive into the world of Hop Harvest. What is it? How does it work? We’ll shed some light on the everchanging way the industry is producing beers. For those among us who are still sitting on the fence regarding whether cans are better than bottles, or vice versa, we’ve gone in to argue why everyone might want to move to cans with the new release from Bach Brewing. Garage Project is our featured brewery this month, the cool kids from Wellington who push the boundaries in the craft world, and how they have all but conquered the craft scene. Stay tuned, as each month we’ll be mixing it up with interviews, brewery features, news, hot goss and much more.
GARAGE PROJECT
The 'unofficial’, albeit ‘official’ cool kids of the New Zealand craft brewing world. Nestled in Te Aro, Wellington, Garage project started life in 2011 in an old petrol station, where Pete’s, Jos’s and Ian’s brain-child saw them set up a nanobrewery, not realising at the time just how fast it would take off, and how popular the beers would become both locally and internationally. Fast forward a few years, and production is well under way. A range of beer with rather impressive labels (they say don’t judge a can by its cover, but clever marketing does work), with new production lines and spaces taking over Wellington CBD and tasting rooms and bars popping up across the country, who wouldn’t want to get on the Garage Project band wagon. Many an avid beer drinker will have their favourite Garage Project beer, but will never admit to which one it is. The range of beers is second to none. From your everyday lager,
aptly named Beer, to your more adventurous ones, such as the Barrel Aged Riesling Juice or the Strong Blonde Ale known as Twilight of the Gods, there is something for everyone. The beers themselves are a conversation starter, whether you’re chilling out in our fridges talking to staff, lounging in the lingering sun with a few mates while the sausages sizzle away on the quintessential Kiwi barbeque, or perhaps putting your feet up at the end of long day at the office, the
beers speak for themselves. Garage Project
them. Our team are always happy to lend a
are willing to take risks in the constantly
hand when you’re choosing your tipple, with
expanding and competitive craft beer world,
their wealth of knowledge around everything
and it clearly shows they know what they’re
beer-related (and wines and spirits). So pop
doing, both inside and outside the bottle.
into any of the Glengarry stores or browse online from the comfort of your couch while
Glengarry has been a stockist of Garage
sipping on your current Garage Project in
Project for a while now, and the shelves in our
search of a new one
fridges look like more like an art gallery with a line of masterpieces. We are always excited to
Release after release, award after award,
see a new release come in (and then fly out),
there’s no slowing down for these guys.
but also sometimes slightly annoyed that we
Which is good for everyone, right?
weren’t quick enough to get our own hands on
-SW
HOP HARVEST 2018
For those of you who don’t know what Hop Harvest is, it’s exactly what it sounds like: in the same way that grapes for wine have a harvest time every year, hops or hop flowers/buds have a yearly harvest too. When hop harvest comes around it’s a very exciting time of year, because it results in the best and the freshest beers. It’s basically like Christmas for beer geeks. Harvest is usually over late February-March, with the beers released at the end of March/start of April. Breweries from all around New Zealand lie in wait for harvest and
Fresh hop beers are the crème de la crème,
the resulting fresh hops to make their fresh hop
best drunk within six months of release, but
beers. The fresh hop cones are literally flown
even better the day of. If you’re a wine
around the country and delivered to brewers
person, perhaps this will resonate with you
who then chuck them straight into tank. Usually
if you think Beaujolais Nouveau, where the
hops are added to a brew in the form of a hop
grapes are picked and pressed
pallet or dried hop flower. This can take away a
immediately, and the wine flown around the
lot of the fresh piney/fruity notes and oils
world to be the first from harvest; Fresh Hop
associated with different hops, in the same way
is the same concept.
that fresh herbs from your garden are always better than using dried ones from a box.
-HB
BACH BREWING CANS
Bach Brewing, owned and operated by Craig Cooper and his wife, was born out of a love of craft beer. This smallish-scale craft brewery has been rapidly expanding recently, and in the last 12 months has just blown onto the market, coming out with some great seasonal and oneoffs, including a barrel-aged Seamaster Imperial Ale that is outstanding. But most recently, their core range has been in 6-pack cans. Cans are everywhere right now, and personally I prefer them. And that’s not just me; scientifically speaking, a can is airtight, which protects the contents from oxygen, and it keeps out all the light that can have a detrimental effect, especially if the beer is unpasteurised. Cans are also lighter; a 12-pack of cans weighs less than a 12-pack of bottles, and it’s more environmentally friendly, just
saying. You also will never get caught out with not having a bottle opener...handy. The Bach Brewing 6-packs are currently available in an All Day XPA and Shaka Lager, which sit at 4.6% and 4.5% ABV respectively great session-friendly 6-packs. They’ve also just released in cans the Billfish APA and Kingtide Pacific IPA (hugely popular in the 500ml format). I would approach the Kingtide with a degree of caution; sitting at a cool 7% ABV, but being such a beautifully balanced and integrated beer, it is somewhat easy to forget about the strength. We have the full range now; come and check them out and decide for yourself the answer to that intriguing question: cans or bottles?
-HB
A SIT DOWN WITH... ANDREW CHILDS
He’s the tall bloke at every beer fest. He’s the jovial, pun-loving dude responsible for some of the funniest beer labels on the shelf. He’s the behemoth behind Behemoth. He is, of course, Andrew Childs. We asked Andrew a few probing questions:
To what degree do you think Behemoth Brewing Company reflects your personality and sense of humour? Pretty much entirely. I’m a pretty laid back person who likes taking the piss out of things and making them fun. So really the beers, the
beers we have come out with, but picking up
labels and marketing are all things that I find
medals, awards and trophies is always really
fun or funny.
nice. Most recently, we’re really stoked at getting 13 places in the GABS hottest 100 NZ
What’s the biggest success you’ve had in
beers. But we are always looking to improve
your brewing career? Biggest fudge-up?
and do better every year. Biggest Fudge up.
Biggest success is hard to say, there have
Well there have been a couple. We had to
been quite a few. I am really proud of the
dump a really big batch of beer a couple of
years ago as it was not perfect. That hurts but all brewing companies experience it and it is better than letting customers drink beer you’re not happy with. Has your approach to the beer industry changed over the course of your brewing career? How? I guess it has. We started out doing simple (but pretty hop forward) mainly pale ales. But we’ve had the chance to really push the boat out with some of our beers, being big and hoppy, big stouts, sours, hazy IPAs, lots of beers with a fruit element. I guess it has changed a lot and will continue to change as Behemoth evolves.
What’s your favourite beer that you have ever made? Why? I don’t ask you who your favourite child is… I guess I would have to say Chur Pale Ale because that gave us Churly our mascot. But in more recent times it is Lid Ripper Hazy IPA. We are keeping that on pretty much permanently but have a lot more hazy IPA’s in the pipeline because I love drinking them so damn much. Bonus Question: Is there anything in particular you’d like to say? Yep, everyone drink more beer and support locally owned brewers. Also fresh is best. Drink hoppy beer as fresh as humanly possible.
-CM If someone gave you the keys to any other brewery/brewing company and said “It’s yours now, do what you want with it” which brewery/brewing company would you like it to be? Why? Wow, that is a crazy question. I am lucky that I’m really happy with the beers we do and that direction (although we would love to start playing with barrel aged beers soon). But in terms of the brewery I would love to own. The most impressive Brewery I have ever been to is Lagunitas in California. They may be owned by Heineken now but damn I would love to brew a lot of beer on their giant kit.
NAKED HOP Q&A
Introducing the Naked Hop Q&A. Here’s how it works: you ask the questions, and our Crafty team answer them. Simple. Jump on over to our Facebook page - Crafty beer - and ask your question - ensure you add the tag #nakedhop - and a selection of the Q&A will appear in the next edition of the Naked Hop.
WHAT'S ON OUR TAPS?
Our Victoria Park, Grey Lynn, Kingsland and Kelburn stores have a wide range of kegs on their Growler stations that are constantly changing. So rather than leave you guessing what’s on where, we thought it mighty handy to collate in one place what’s on. Whether you see the world as ‘glass half full’ or ‘glass half empty’, a growler filled to the top can only be optimistic. Tap beer comes with a few benefits - it’s more cost effective, and reusing your bottle means it’s better for the environment. Plus you get the chance to take home beers that are keg-only releases or oneoff seasonals. Beer stored in kegs lasts longer and stays fresher than in bottle, so many aficionados prefer tap beers for that reason alone. You can either purchase your bottle and get it filled in-store or bring your own 1, 2 or 2.5 litre bottles and let our knowledgeable staff make it that much heavier!
CLICK HERE FOR WHAT'S ON TAP AND WHERE
EVENTS AND TASTINGS
What does beer do? Well it pours, yes sometimes it froths, and sometimes it even explodes! But at the end of the day, beer just happens, and nowhere does it happen more than in our Craft Club. Once a month, beer happens more than normal in a particular place, at a particular time, often with particular VIB’s - Very Important Brewers. Sometimes there’s pizza, low n’ slow BBQ, charcuterie, stand-up comedy, craft-beer-murder-mystery, you name it! So long as it makes beer more-so, we’ll give it a crack. It’s all on our website where you can not only get all the juicy details, but book your tickets too. Easy.
CLICK HERE TO SEE TASTINGS
That's it for this month's Naked Hop. Issue Two will be hopping its way to your inbox next month. Cheers,