Brewing novice hits the spot

JOHN HAWKINS/Southland Times

WICKED BREW: Brewing novice Pru Bishop said it was "pretty wicked" to have a beer named after her only months after starting work at the Invercargill Brewery - and the drop is already proving a hit.

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Brewing novice Pru Bishop said it was "pretty wicked" to have a beer named after her only months after starting work at the Invercargill Brewery - and the drop is already proving a hit.

Bishop, 26, traded in her job in as a food and beverage service worker at a local hotel to ferment beer at the Invercargill Brewery, New Zealand's southernmost microbrewery, eight months ago.

And now it's her name that's going on the product.

Bestowed the moniker Smokin' Bishop, the beer is a smoked bock made from manuka-smoked malt and is the first commercially available smoked beer in New Zealand.

A bock beer is a dark, heavier beer traditionally brewed to lager all winter for consumption in spring.

With an alcohol content of 6.5 percent, Smokin' Bishop is not for your average beer guzzler who fails to appreciate the merging of flavours.

"People with open minds will like it, but people who are into Speight's and Export, they are a different story," she said.

"You have to want to broaden your horizons when it comes to beer.

"I really like bock beers. I like the fact they are full of flavour and have a high alcohol content and, for lack of a better word, because I'm a p*sshead," she said.

Luckily for this brewery worker, the "beer geeks" in Wellington seem to agree with her taste, having requested samples of the beer for themselves.

In fact, Invercargill Brewery owner Steve Nally said it had proved such a hit with beer connoisseurs throughout the country he had added it to the on-tap range at the company's Wood St base.

However, at this stage it's only seasonal, and will be available until the tap runs dry.

Miss Bishop said while her experience in the industry was limited, she hadn't looked back.

"I've got two jobs and they both involve alcohol–it couldn't get any better," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News