Fine-value stout, in returnable bottle to boot
GEOFF GRIGGS
Relevant offers
Ex-patriate Lancastrian Tom Jones began his association with craft brewing in 2004, while working for Emerson's, arguably New Zealand's leading craft brewer.
At the time, the Dunedin brewery was expanding rapidly (it still is) and was selling ever-increasing volumes of beer, much of it packaged in 500ml bottles that were imported by the containerload from Germany.
A self-confessed "greenie", Jones was concerned that the expensive recyclable brown glass bottles weren't being washed and reused, and he decided to survey craft beer drinkers on the issue.
Encouraged by the results, he decided the time was right to instigate a bottle reusage scheme in the local area and start his own fully organic brewery. His timing was perfect: by 2005, Emerson's was relocating to a larger facility and Jones managed to secure the lease for its premises for his new Green Man microbrewery.
In September 2006, only six months after brewing started, Green Man was recognised with a major brewing industry award for its recycling work. The bottle collection side has now become a separate, self-sustaining business and now supplies a large percentage of Green Man's bottles, which are recovered from across the South Island. Sadly, although there is a collection point in the Nelson region, there isn't yet one in Marlborough. H'm!
With a four-year degree from the World Brewing Academy in Munich and then 14 years' brewing experience at Sternquell Brewery in Plauen, Germany, Green Man's brewmaster, Enrico Gritzner, crafts a range of eight full-time beers and occasional seasonal specialties.
The range, which comprises mostly German and British styles, includes New Zealand's and possibly the world's strongest organic beer, Enrico's Cure (14.5 per cent).
But my recommendation for this week weighs in at a mere 7 per cent. Green Man Stout is fermented with a traditional English ale yeast, but the recipe also includes German cara-aroma, Munich and carafa malts and New Zealand hops.
So, given Enrico's nationality and expertise, the beer could be deemed a Teutonic-Kiwi interpretation of the classic foreign export style.
Foreign export stouts sit at the top table of the stout family, surpassed only in robustness and potency by their rare imperial siblings. Closely related to dry Irish stouts such as Guinness and Murphy's, foreign export stouts share the same prominent coffee-like roasted malt aromas and initial malt sweetness followed by a distinctive dry-roasted bitterness.
The difference comes mostly in their alcoholic strengths, whereas Irish stouts generally hover about 4 to 5 per cent, foreign export stouts weigh in at a heftier 6 or 7 per cent.
Green Man Stout pours inky black beneath a tan-coloured head. There is a rich, malty aroma with caramel and mocha most prominent.
In the mouth, the beer is medium bodied with an edge of tartness, the palate showing an early sweetness with roast, dark fruit and charred notes leading into an emphatic, dry finish.
At about $7.50 for a 500ml bottle, it represents fine value for money, and if you're heading to Nelson, you can always return the bottle for reuse.
I'll drink to that. Cheers.
- The Marlborough Express
