Hops over the top, but not the price
BY GEOFF GRIGGS
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Beer
Last week I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Brian Thiel, of Blenheim's Renaissance Brewing, told me an Auckland liquor retailer had refused to stock his latest seasonal release on the basis that it was too expensive.
In an email explaining his decision, the shop's owner wrote, "There is no way that anybody will pay that for any single bottle of beer, no matter how good it is".
With a retail price of about $11.50 for a half-litre bottle, Renaissance's new MPA (Marlborough Pale Ale) is by no means cheap, but is it really that expensive? If the beer were sold in standard (750ml) wine bottles, it would cost about $17.25 the price of a decent, but by no means special, bottle of wine.
Doubting the Auckland shop would have reservations about stocking wines at that sort of price, I visited its website. My suspicions were soon confirmed. More than half the wines listed were more expensive, in some cases 10 times that price.
So why would a shop that describes itself as a haven for "true connoissuers [sic] seeking to expand their pallet" (I hope its service is better than its spelling) have such double standards when selecting its beers and wines?
I have no idea, but several other Auckland retailers, including at least three New World supermarkets and a Glengarry liquor store, have no such misgivings and are selling Blenheim's newest beer.
At 8.5 per cent, MPA is loosely modelled on an American-style Double India Pale Ale (IIPA). The 2000-litre batch consumed a colossal 21 kilograms of New Zealand (Rakau) hops that's about 250 of the aromatic green cones per litre of beer. By way of comparison, a litre of a standard Kiwi lager or draught contains about three.
Although the aroma of the bronze-coloured brew is surprisingly subdued, MPA is loaded with grassy hop flavours which, along with a suggestion of alcoholic heat, overwhelm the effect of the malts.
The finish is intense, with a rising, unrelenting bitterness, which is hardly surprising, considering this is almost certainly New Zealand's most bitter beer.
Renaissance MPA is suited to only the most ardent hop lovers and the fearless, but even so, it's no more challenging than many austere or robustly tannic wines.
And Renaissance isn't the only Kiwi brewery with a new ultra-hoppy beer. Last week, I wrote of how, in an attempt to mimic the arduous six-week sea voyage endured by the original India Pale Ales, Auckland brewer Luke Nicholas recently filled two oak casks with his new beer, Epic Armageddon IPA, and sent them criss-crossing Cook Strait on the inter-island ferry.
Although those barrels will not be tapped until next month's Beervana tastings in Wellington, the bottled version of Epic Armageddon IPA is now available at selected outlets around the country and, I'm glad to say, a few cases have made it to Blenheim.
Armageddon pours a bright amber colour with a deep off-white head. Hopped exclusively with American varieties, the beer almost jumps out of the glass as it assaults the nose with a massive hit of citrus zest and sweet, lollyish, tropical-fruit hop aromas.
A first sip confirms the intensity of the hop attack and, despite some cushioning sweet maltiness, in the end, the inside of the mouth is left dry with a coating of hop resin. After a glass, you'll likely end up with a fixed hop grin.
Armageddon isn't quite the end of the world, but it is certainly brash, intimidating, full on and over the top in other words, just as an American IPA should be. I love it.
Having said that, at about $10.50 for a 500ml bottle, it is probably still too pricey for a certain Auckland liquor store. No matter. That means more for the rest of us.
Cheers!
- The Marlborough Express
