Craft beer expert Michael Donaldson’s surprise as Epic Armageddon clinches coveted IPA trophy again

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Craft beer expert Michael Donaldson chaired the judging of this year’s New World Beer & Cider Awards. The author of two books on New Zealand beer was surprised when Epic Armageddon won the coveted IPA trophy for the second year in a row.

Were you surprised when Epic Armageddon won Best IPA for the second year in a row?

I couldn’t believe it because the IPA class is so competitive. It’s a blind tasting so we don’t know who has won until afterwards. It’s also won the Brewers Guild awards twice in a row. It’s won in Sweden and Australia. It just keeps coming out on top.

Epic owner Luke Nicholas gets his hops from America. Is that unusual for a New Zealand brewer?

Yes. The majority of our brewers use local hops. There’s enough for everybody despite high demand. Luke uses US hops because he started out brewing American-style beers. They just have the flavour profile he’s after. Parrot Dog Pandemonium won Best Pilsner with Australian hops even though New Zealand pilsners are the thing at the moment for their tropical passionfruit aromas. (full story)

VIDEO – Brew Day – House of Nicholas – Sarah IPA – #FreshHopNZ15

Video from the Brew Day at Hop Federation, with Simon Nicholas & Luke Nicholas. – HOUSE OF NICHOLAS #FreshHopNZ15

On This Day In 2011 – NZ Craft Beer TV

On this day in 2011, Luke Nicholas and Kelly Ryan arrived in Christchurch to start a road trip that would change the way the world would look at craft beer in New Zealand. NZ Craft Beer TV starts here…

Day 20 – Beers of Auckland – Luke’s Beer+

Beers of Auckland Advent Calendar 2014
DAY 20 – Beers of Auckland – Luke’s Beer+

Conflicted. I was going to make up a beer I drank but I didn’t drink one. I just didn’t feel like it. I was tired. Not just from a late night but from a really big week, big month and big year. The holidays start here.

I’ve also got to a place with the Advent Calendar, where the feedback I have received has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks. Not for what I have said about the beer, but the commentary around the beer. The other observations, the food, the venue, the questions raised, the discussions started and even the photos taken.

So I thought today I would write a little about what is beyond the blog.

Beyond writing this blog I also collect and post cool/fun links I find during my day from my stream of feeds and emails. The really interesting, helpful and relevant stuff I post to my Tumblr (http://lukenicholas.tumblr.com). I have titled it Luke’s Beer+ as it is more than just my blog posts.

Think of it as a curated list of the better beer related stuff out there. If you are New Zealand based, and interested in beer, a brewer or homebrewer, then this might be of some value to you. Get the latest beer news, without having to look for it.

To make it easier to get these links (rather than visiting the website all the time) I have created a daily email that comes out at 10am every morning with the links from the previous 24 hours.

This makes it easy to skim and see if there is anything of interest. If there are no links then you don’t get an email. Most days there will only be 2-3 links, and probably never more than 6 links.

Check out the previous emails that have been sent out, to get and idea of what it looks like.

You can sign up here.

Subscribe to Luke’s Beer Blog mailing list

Day 12 – Beers of Auckland – Epic 1991 IPA

Beers of Auckland Advent Calendar 2014
DAY 12 – 1991 IPA by Epic Brewing Company

TAP: 1991 IPA
BREWED: Steam Brewing Company
ABV: 6.0%

I’d like to invite you to come and taste this beer with me at The Lumsden Freehouse today. It is being released for the first time at Epic’s 9th Birthday Party, starting at lunchtime.

Why 1991?

This beer is made with all USA grown ingredients (malt, hops and yeast). This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity in NZ to do this. Cryer Malt imported some US grown malt which we have used to make this beer.

The recipe was design as a hat tip to the moment in time where I had my lifes path changed by having a craft beer epiphany, which has ultimately lead me to making this beer.

In 1991 I was at university in California, and got my first taste of craft beer (this happened to be Sierra Nevada and it was first drunk in Chico).

The beer captures the light pale ale style that has influenced me, my beer tastes, and the way I like to brew. It is pretty simple, with the hop flavour being driven by old school aroma hops – Cascade & Centennial . 6% abv and 40 IBU. Intended as a light floral easy tasting summer pale ale (from Epic).

This beer will only be available on tap over the summer. (No bottles). So enjoy it when you see it. (and there will be some available in Australia in the New Year)

One of my favorite songs while living in California, was “Epic” by Faith No More (link NSFW, use headphones). I’ve wondered for years if this song and this influential time in my life, was the reason for the naming of Epic Brewing Company.

Some video highlights from last years 8th Birthday Party at The Lumsden

Here is another fun reason to come to our 9th Birthday party on Friday at The Lumsden Freehouse. The magnificent Giapo has created us some “Lupulingus Zabaione”

What is Zabaione? (YUM!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabaione

This limited edition T-shirt is only available for pre-order till 15th December. We will only be doing a single print run of this commemorative Epic 9th Birthday T-shirt. Please add size in comment box when paying.

The front has the shields from each of the new beers brewed in 2014.
*2014 – Imperium Stout
*Spider Pig – Loves Bacon
*Lightening Bolt – Lupulingus
*Unicorn – Mosaic OTP
*Imp – IMP
*42 – Apocalypse BIPA
*Chillies – Carolina Amber Ale
*’91 – 1991 IPA (new release for 9th Birthday)

The back lists all the beers we brewed in 2014, in order of release.

Epic Culley's Matador Pie from Green Meadow Beef We also have THE “Matador” pies from Green Meadows Beef. The pie is made with Epic Imperium Stout, and Culleys Habanero Sauce‪ #‎hotandtasty‬

Craft Beer in Auckland

#craftbeer, #auckland, #newzealand, #lumsdenfreehouse #epic9 #adventcalendar

These links might help you find out what is on tap around Auckland

https://twitter.com/TapHunterAKLD
http://auckland.taphunter.com/location/
https://twitter.com/NowPouringAKL

Day 5 – Beers of Auckland – Epic Pale Ale

Epic Pale Ale, I know, but it was going to happen eventually. I was going to make it the first beer, but discovered Beachstone on Day 1.

So how did I end up here already, falling back on an easy to get Auckland made beer? I was intending to visit Sky Sports Grill at lunch time to see if I could get my hands on a Laughing Bones beer. I couldn’t make the time for this to happen today. I did make it into Hopscotch and caught up with Hugh. It’s been ages. I was there to pick up some sour beers for a tasting this weekend. Hopscotch has a secret (not so much now) but pretty cool selection of sour beers , many of which I haven’t tried before.

After collecting a few bottles of sours, I asked Hugh “what Auckland brewed beer do you have here” that I can buy for tasting today for the Beers of Auckland Advent Calendar. (Not including Epic, Hallertau or Liberty). The answer was none. We discussed a little further over a can of Beavertown Gamma Ray, which was a super tasty American style Pale Ale, in amazingly fresh condition. It is like drinking overly dryhopped Pale Ale, that hasn’t been fined or filtered, resiny, yum (Thanks to Beertique, who are bringing it in, in refrigerated containers from the UK, only enough stock of each beer so there isn’t stock sitting around for months or years. Very impressed, it is inspiring confidence in the beers they are bring in).

Is it that hard to find Auckland Brewed beer in Auckland?

So I get back to the office and Ed (Production Manager) says, dude there is a four pack of a fresh batch of pale ale in the fridge for you to take home tonight to try. Basically she was giving me home work to do. The good kind of homework. Sometime there isn’t enough time to get tastings done during work hours.

Beers of Auckland Advent Calendar 2014
DAY 5 – Epic Pale Ale by Epic Brewing Company

BOTTLE: Epic Pale Ale
BREWED: Steam Brewing Company
ABV: 5.4%
IBU: 45
HOPS: US Cascade (15 hop flowers, not different varieties)
AWARDS: Best in Class – New World Beer & Cider Awards 2014 (plus a few other, ok alot, of awards including Supreme Champion Beer 2006, NZ Beer Awards)

Best Before 19/11/15 (we put 12 months best before on our bottles, they are pasteurized, but at a low level, 12-14 PU’s) Batch 902 11:06am

Feels a little weird review this beer, which I taste most days. But here goes. Out of the Spiegelau IPA glass.

Aroma is perfumy in a floral way, centered around turkish delight, with highlights of citrus, spice and a green hoppiness. The flavour is violet-like(floral), with hop resin, the malt balances with the hoppiness, but the finish is clean and soft, with a dry bitterness, and a long lingering hop flavour. Tasting pretty fine.

This is Epic’s biggest selling beer, and likely New Zealand’s best-selling Pale Ale from an independent craft brewery. The hops have been from the Yakima Valley for the last 3 years, but the 2014 crop the Cascade hops were selected from a Oregon hop farm. So it will be interesting to see how much the beer changes in the coming months, once the new seasons hops kick in.

Next Friday 12th December 2014 is the Epic 9th Birthday, being held at the Lumsden Freehouse (lots of out-door space for drinking in the sun, and under umbrellas for shade when it gets too hot). You are invited to join the festivities, there is a new beer being launched on the day “1991 IPA” plus a few other treats and surprises.

Guess I could ramble on about many things Epic, and Pale Ale, but you have done well to read to this point.

#craftbeer, #auckland, #newzealand, #epicpaleale

Craft Beer in Auckland

buzz and hum – Epic IMP review

I just read this positive review about the new Epic IMP on the blog “buzz and hum”. You should not only check out the other posts on this blog, but follow it to, as the reviews are thoughtful and a good read.

I still need to finish writing something official for the release of this beer. This last week has been consumed by Taste of Auckland (which hasn’t gone so well due to the weather).

Quickly, the beer is a Session IPA, 4.7% alc/vol, 35 IBU. Dry hopping is greater than Armageddon IPA. It was officially released on Friday night at Vultures Lane to a jam-packed bar. It was announced that the first keg was the fastest selling keg they have ever had. (I’m sure they tell all the brewers that right? 😉

Hops used – Comet, Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe.

What does IMP stand for?

So make sure you head to the blog “buzz and hum” and read some of the other cool posts.

Epic ‘Imp’

Posted on November 15, 2014

Session beers have certainly become ‘a thing’. Indeed, in the year since professional wrestling connoisseur, incorrigible Tory and future Beer Writer of the Year Neil Miller predicted that “balance and sessionability could well be the new black” the supermarket shelves and craft beer taps of Wellington have seen appearances from an increasing number of sub-5% abv flavoursome beers.

The first push came last summer with a number of hoppy golden ales making their mark, and since then lower-alcohol yet fragrantly hopped session IPAs and pale ales have surged onto the market – often in four or six packs, making them great accompaniments for the upcoming summer of barbecues.

And, into that fray surges Luke Nicholas of Epic Brewing Company. Being the brewer who broke open New Zealand taste buds with his highly-hopped, high-alcohol ‘Armageddon IPA’, ‘Mayhem’, and the infamous ‘Hop Zombie’, one wouldn’t necessarily have expected he’d feel the need to play in the session IPA field that’s been populated by the likes of Liberty’s ‘Oh Brother’ or Panhead’s ‘Quickchange’.

Yet into the field he’s charged, with the ‘Imp’ session IPA. As the tagline on the bottle says, “careful what you wish for”. And, with the Imp, Luke Nicholas has, to use the vernacular, “nailed it.”

The Imp pours a gorgeous burnished bronze colour; clear and sparkling, catching the light adorably. From the top of the glass lifts a invigorating aroma of grapefruit and creamy peach, underlined with a sweet toffee scent.

With the first sip I’m struck by how “soft” it feels; gentle and full, before the carbonation releases wonderfully in the mouth leaving a fizzy, full and creamy sensation.

Imp is a very fruity flavoured beer; the hops playing superbly off the gentle malt to provide a rounded, balanced, sweet and easy-drinking mouthful. Flavours of sweet lemon curd and mature stone fruit predominate at first, but a warm, bitter sensation floods the mouth as I swallow, leaving a lingering, lip-smacking grapefruit flavour.

Very fruity, very tasty.

And all that beautifully balanced fruity sweetness, lingering bitterness and easy-drinking joy comes it at a very sessionable 4.7%! “Small and Mischievous”, as it says on the label, “causing trouble, but in a playful way”. Now, that could be about the beer or about Luke ‘The Beer Imp’ Nicholas himself. But, either way, it’s an apt description. Fun to drink, fun to be around, won’t necessarily get you in trouble. Maybe.

Imp’s not quite a perfect as a session beer, however. While the flavours and sensations of the beer itself are excellent, at the moment I’ve only found this beer (with its eye-catching peacock-blue label) in 500ml bottles, and at a moderately high price point. This is a beer I’d love to see in four- or six-packs of 330ml bottles (like Epic’s Lager or Pale Ale); that’d really put this beer into place as one of my go-to sessionable beers for a summer afternoon.

But, in the meantime, it’s good to see Epic giving the lower alcohol, highly-flavoured IPA a go. Even better to see the end result being so delicious. More, please!

**(If we get good feedback and sales from this first batch then we will make more and seriously consider putting this beer in 330ml bottles)

Brew Hui – MAROONED, PART 1

It is easy to just cut and paste and link back to another piece Jason has written on Brew Hui. You should follow his posts because they are well written and thoughtful and he makes an effort to talk to the brewers out there making it happen, oh and Jono 😉

http://brewhui.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/marooned-part-1/

Below is just the piece which is relevant to this blog, but make sure you click-through to the whole article. Teaser: Kathy Ireland.

Luke Nicholas (Epic)

Of all my marooned guests, Luke pondered his answers the most carefully. His SMaSH beer ingredients arrived eventually, and weren’t entirely surprising given his One Trick Pony reputation: Golden Promise (a pale ale malt) as the base, hopped with Centennial(a variety from the West Coast of the USA) and fermented with an American ale yeast (Wyeast 1272 American Ale 2). The ingredients scream American Pale Ale – but Luke insisted that he would brew an Imperial IPA, a decision no-doubt swayed by the delicious Hop Zombie we were sipping at the time.

Luke found it difficult to narrow-down the consumable beer that he’d hope would be in the container – but he did offer a top three; and given the fact that I was swigging freeHop Zombie, I was obliged to bend the rules ever-so-slightly. Top of the list was Hopsickle, an Imperial IPA from Moylan’s in the US; closely followed by Emerson’s Porter (on the hand-pull, he was quick to add) and Kauri Falls Pale Ale from Hot Water Brewing.

There was no pondering when it came to the beer that he hoped wasn’t in the container: namely, anything gluten-free. As a judge at this year’s Australian International Beer Awards, he spent the majority of the week trying to swap his place at the gluten-free judging table with someone from the barleywine section. Strangely, no-one took him up on his offer.

As far as companionship is concerned, Luke settled on a three-headed monster: namely,Dave Kurth (from the aforementioned Hot Water Brewing), Martin Townshend (from the eponymous Townshend’s) and Kelly Ryan (now brewing at the Fork and Brewer in Wellington). Luke said that these three brewers continually challenge him to be better,and that between them they represent the most potential in New Zealand brewing. He did add one small caveat: due to similar personally types, it’s likely that Luke, Dave and Martin would all kill each other within 30 seconds of being marooned – leaving Kelly in solitude with all that Hopsickle.

READ THE REST NOW http://brewhui.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/marooned-part-1/

100 Posts & Looking Back, Wayback

When I started this blog on the 1st January I didn’t have much of a plan other than to share my journey through the world of beer. It has been pretty cool to be able to record and share my adventures, as well as my opinions on what I am thinking about and what is topical.

I have also been playing around recently with a new version of RealBeer.co.nz. The effort is patchy and not sure of when there will be anything to show publicly. The one thing about this side project is that I have come across a lot of old posts, and has made me look back and reflect on my first websites.

I created a website called “The New Zealand Brewers Network” back in 1996 after returning from living in California. It was a cute little website, and I am raking my brain on where I might have a backup of it, so I might up load it again. (a version from 1998)

I’m also considering uploading copies of the print version of Sparging and newsletter I use to produce for the brewing industry in the late 1990’s. It became a digital version around in 1999 – here is a link to the archives of Sparging Online

It’s amazing to think that this first website I created for craft brewers in New Zealand was 18 years ago. Maybe I will find it in time for its 20th anniversary.

(Here is an example of a copy of the print version of Sparging January 1999 )

UPDATE: haha this is cute too My goal for Sparging is ……. “to raise the actual and perceived quality of beer in New Zealand”

British High Commissioner, Vicki Treadell – Thank You

British High Commissioner Homewood Brewers — Yeastie Boys, Epic and Good George

Thursday night the British High Commissioner, Vicki Treadell invited the four craft brewers that had been to the UK to brew their beer for the JD Wetherspoons International Real Ale Festival. Each brewer was invited to bring the beer they brewed in the UK. The local Wellington brewing community and media were invited and every one happily tasted the beer and whisky on offer.

Stu & Sam from Yeastie Boys were there with the actual beer they had recently brewed in the UK and it was in a cask, being served via a hand pump and was tasting great.

[Yeastie Boys brewing up for UK festival] – 2014

Kelly Ryan was there (but no longer working for Good George, but now at the Fork & Brewer) along with reps from Good George and they had their new Black IPA.

[Brewer claims rare festival slot] – 2013

Luke Nicholas (me) was also at Homewood, with Epic Pale Ale.

[Epic to be brewed in England for biggest ale festival] – 2009

Jed Soane photo of British High Commissioner and Brewers — Photo Credit: Jed Soane awesome craft brewer photographer http://thebeerproject.com/

I’d like to thank Vicki Treadell, British High Commissioner, for organising this gathering, offering her residence and providing the incredible hospitality, it was wonderful evening. She has been a real champion for craft beer, not only here in New Zealand, but where ever she travels. It is a shame her time here in New Zealand is coming to an end, and would like to wish her well on all her endeavours in the future. I hope one day to share another pint of beer with her somewhere in the world.

Who Are These People? — The local craft beer community gathering at Homewood, residence of the British High Commissioner, Vicki Treadell

Unfortunately brewer Ian Ramsey, nor any Galbraith’s Alehouse beers were present.

Its been a while since I was in the UK brewing Epic Pale Ale for the JD Wetherspoons International Real Ale Festival but here are some videos of my adventure in the UK.

Pouring the first pint

Documenting the journey in the UK