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The Empress’s new beer
October 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
It is said that while on a trip to England the Russian Empress Catherine the Great fell in love with stout and asked for some to be sent to her back at the Russian court. Unfortunately the first shipment of beer was spoiled during the sea journey to the Baltic ports and Catherine was not impressed.

Beer – the new wine
September 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
Remember the 70’s and 80’s when sweet cask wines like Cold Duck, Velluto Rosso, Wohnsiedler, Blenheimer, Montel, Liebestraum and Chasseur were all the rage? What do you reckon would have happened if, back then, you had put a bottle of one of today’s dry Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs on the dinner table of the average Kiwi family? My guess is the wine would have been tasted and promptly dismissed as “too acidic”.

Taking the p*** out of Australia
August 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
Mention the words ‘Australia’ and ‘beer’ in the same sentence and you instantly evoke images of macho men in the outback guzzling ice-cold stubbies. However the reality is somewhat different.

The spirit is willing...
July 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
Beer and whisky have much in common. Both are made with malted grain, usually barley, which is infused with fresh water and fermented with yeast. It’s therefore not surprising that these two great drinks go well together and can sometimes even share the same glass.

Cool brews from the deep south
June 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
Trust me to pick the coldest weekend of the winter so far to visit Invercargill!

Tripel and strife
May 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
For the first time one of this country’s big brewers, DB - in the guise of its craft brand Monteith’s - has had a crack at a classic Belgian Abbey-style Tripel.

New Zealand International Beer Awards 2006
April 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
Working from nine in the morning until after six at night the seven of us - four New Zealanders, two Aussies and an American - sighted, sniffed and slurped our way through no less than 196 beers in forty or so style categories. By the end of the week we’d awarded 15 trophies and 79 medals and found ourselves a supreme champion – and it was great news for Kiwi brewers.

Celebrating vintage
March 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
I’ve always said our brewers could learn some valuable lessons in marketing from the wine industry so I was delighted when, a few weeks ago, Mac’s senior brewer, Colin Paige, invited me to Nelson to witness the creation of this country’s first beery equivalent of Beaujolais Nouveau.

This party turned sour
February 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
A few weeks ago I was asked to present a beer tasting for a group of friends who were getting together for a birthday party. In this situation, in order to challenge as many preconceptions of what beer tastes like, I always try to include one example of Belgium’s weird, lambic family of wheat beers.

The last white Christmas
January 2006
Author: Geoff Griggs
When I visited Belgium in 2001 the pride which the people of Hoegaarden had for their brewery was only too obvious; having exited the motorway from Brussels I was amazed to see Pierre Celis’ original copper brew kettle taking pride of place in the centre of the town’s main roundabout.

Czech mates
December 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
Although less well known internationally than its compatriots, Pilsner Urquell and Budejovicky Budvar, Staropramen is the biggest selling beer in Prague and is an excellent example of the Czech Pilsner lager style.

Mac’s heads north
November 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
... as the few remaining six-packs of Sassy Red disappear from the shops another exceptional brew from the Wellington brewery’s portfolio has taken its place.

Emerson’s revisited
October 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
... no trip to Dunedin would be complete without a visit to New Zealand’s most respected craft brewery.

Buds but not buddies
September 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
With a history of brewing dating back to the 13th century the Czech city of Pilsen is well known to beer lovers as the birthplace of the world’s first clear, golden coloured, lager beer. However Pilsen is not the only famous Czech brewing city; another, Ceske Budejovice, was once the home of the royal court brewery of Bohemia.

BrewNZ - the best of the brews
August 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
With just three days to judge over 160 beers in fifteen style-based categories, ten judges began tasting at nine o’clock each morning. The schedule demanded we assess more than fifty beers each day and on two of the days we didn’t finish until after seven pm; as the saying goes, “It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it!”

Spiced brews for wintry nights
June 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
With Monteith’s citrus flavoured Radler becoming a full time member of the range and the gingery Summer Ale making its inevitable annual appearance it’s been almost a year since I’ve had the chance to review an all-new Monteith’s beer – especially one that’s aimed at true lovers of malt and hops. However the latest seasonal offering from DB’s craft brand has just hit the shelves and looks most promising.

NZIBA 2005
May 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
The inaugural NZIBA was held in Nelson in 1999 and continued there until 2002. However for the last two years the competition was run in conjunction with BrewNZ in Wellington. This year the two events have separated once again and the NZIBA has returned to Nelson.

Mac’s gets sassy
April 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
Ever since it opened three years ago the capital’s waterfront brewhouse has earned a formidable reputation for its flavoursome beers, to the point where it is now widely regarded as Lion’s most radical brewing operation in New Zealand.

What makes a beer premium?
December 2004
Author: Geoff Griggs
In marketing-speak the “premium beer” category includes premium lagers, microbrewery and craft-brewed beers and imported beers. Of these however it is always the first category, premium lagers, that receives the lion’s share of the brewers’ marketing budgets.

The land of the long white cloudy beer
February 2005
Author: Geoff Griggs
Today, with the exception of Guinness, all the best-known international beer brands are refreshing golden lagers. These modern brews are all derivatives of the first Pilsners and account for some 95% of the world beer market. But when it comes to refreshment and flavour the world of beer certainly doesn’t begin and end with golden lagers.

A year of beer
December 2004
Author: Geoff Griggs
It may have started in Wellington but the last twelve months have seen the beer revolution gathering momentum right across New Zealand. Kiwis throughout the country are now experimenting with a far wider range of beer styles than ever before.

Hop heaven
November 2004
Author: Geoff Griggs
After a tasting tour of the US West Coast’s breweries in late 2002, Kiwi brewer Richard Emerson returned home full of enthusiasm for the region’s emphatically-hopped beers and it was only a matter of time before his Dunedin brewery came up with its own interpretation of the style.

Beer heroes
October 2004
Author: Geoff Griggs
One of the things I enjoy most about Rick Stein’s TV cooking programmes is his refreshingly honest, unpretentious style of presentation. Stein’s love of tasty food is immediately apparent in the zealous, almost evangelical, way he talks, but he’s also passionate about great beer.

Cascade Special Stout
August 2004
Author: Geoff Griggs
Like New Zealand, Australia is best known internationally for sweetish, golden lager beers but, despite a generally warmer climate, there’s also a great tradition of brewing dark beers across the Tasman.

Monteith's Oud Bruin
July 2004
Author: Geoff Griggs
My first encounter with an Oud Bruin was in a Calais hypermarket. Scanning the shelves I saw a plain brown bottle wrapped in a sheet of white tissue paper. I bought one. Although I didn’t know it at the time, the beer, Liefmans Goudenband, is regarded as the classic example of the style.