Wired and ready to wow and excite

BY GEOFF GRIGGS

His name may sound like a Scandinavian cellphone company, but Soren Eriksen is the young Dane behind New Zealand's newest beer brand, 8 Wired.

With a master's degree in biochemistry, Soren describes himself as "a nomadic Danish brewer, who has finally found permanent ground in Marlborough" and declares his intention is: "To produce mind-blowing beers that will wow craft beer lovers, excite fellow beer geeks and educate the misguided who still believe that `beer is just beer'."

He sounds like my kind of brewer!

But although Soren has just released his first two beers he doesn't have his own brewery; the 8 Wired beers are produced at Renaissance Brewing Company's brewery in Blenheim.

Since arriving in Marlborough in 2008 Soren has worked with Renaissance's Brian Thiel and Andy Deuchars at their Dodson St brewery.

With complementary skills and a shared passion for brewing great beer, the three have become good friends and help each other in the production of both company's products.

Soren's choice of company name is an obvious tribute to the legendary Kiwi ability to make almost anything with No8 wire, and the theme is continued in the naming of the company's inaugural beers.

The first release, ReWired, is an extravagantly hopped reworking of the traditional brown ale style. The robust (5.7 per cent) brew has a brisk dry roastiness and dark chocolate malt character followed by an equally emphatic burst of hop bitterness.

Lacking the sweet malt cushion and restrained bitterness of a traditional brown ale, ReWired is certainly not a beer for the faint-hearted – nor is it intended to be! My pick of the pair, however, is HopWired, a uniquely Kiwi interpretation of the modern American India Pale Ale style.

HopWired is made with a grist comprising predominantly Canterbury-grown pale ale malt and generous additions of three Kiwi hop varieties – pacific jade, Motueka and, most obviously, Nelson sauvin.

Soren's description of the beer is spot-on: "Although there's plenty of malty sweetness, this beer is all about the hops.

"But unlike an American IPA, which will mainly challenge you with grapefruity and pine-like flavours and aromas, the Kiwi hops used in HopWired produce something more like a tropical punch bowl: passionfruit, limes, oranges and sauvignon blanc grapes to name but a few."

I couldn't have described the beer any better but I would add that, at 7.3 per cent, HopWired is dangerously sessionable for such a potent brew.

Trust me on this, I'm speaking from experience!

8 Wired is not Marlborough's first brewing company without its own brewery. Last year another Blenheim-based brewer, Graeme Mahy, launched a series of beers under the 666 Brewing brand. Although Graeme is highly qualified and has his own brewing equipment, to date the 666 Brewing beers have been made at the Lighthouse Brewery in Nelson.

And it's happening elsewhere too. Other brewery-less Kiwi brewers include Yeastie Boys and Golden Ticket, both of whom have their fine beers produced by the Invercargill Brewery. Meanwhile Auckland brewer Luke Nicholas (whose juicily hopped Epic Mayhem has recently returned to the shelves), produces his award-winning Epic range at Steam Brewing Company in Otahuhu.

What all of these brewers have in common is a desire to bring big-flavoured, challenging beers to the market, without the need to produce and sell large quantities of more mainstream products in order to finance the running of a brewery.

The two 8 Wired beers are available only on draught, but Soren promises they'll be appearing in 500ml bottles in the next few weeks. They can be sourced either direct from the brewery or from Christchurch beer distributor BeerNZ.

Meanwhile, Marlburians can try both 8 Wired beers at The Old Bank in Redwoodtown and ReWired is also on tap at Blenheim's Dodson Street Bistro & Alehouse. Cheers!

- The Marlborough Express