We've certainly come a long way

BY GEOFF GRIGGS

With 2009 rapidly coming to an end, here's a round-up of some of the beery highs and lows of the past 12 months.

More than ever, 2009 has seen beer evolving into two distinct and separate groups. The first, mainstream beers, comprises all those easy-drinking draughts and mild-flavoured golden lagers that are designed to be quaffed for refreshment. The second category, craft beers, is very different: these are beers whose raison d'etre is all about quality and stylistic integrity; beers that you drink for their flavour and character, or to match with good food. In a year of price increases and an otherwise stagnant beer market, it's this second group showing healthy growth.

It may have started in our largest cities, but New Zealand's beer renaissance has gathered momentum right across the country in 2009. Wherever I go, I see Kiwis experimenting with a broader range of beer styles than ever before. Amen to that!

As Kiwis continue to develop a taste for bigger, more flavoursome pale ales, 2009 has seen many of our craft brewers offering such beers, often emphasising New Zealand's most aromatic hop varieties. For my money, the best of this year's crop includes Yeastie Boys His Majesty (designed in Wellington and brewed in Invercargill), Three Boys Golden Ale (Christchurch), Renaissance MPA and 8 Wired HopWired (both Blenheim).

Importers, too, have responded to increasing demand for hoppy American pale ales by bringing in Californian craft brews such as Sierra Nevada and Anchor. Meanwhile, some Kiwi brewers have been developing their own interpretations of Uncle Sam's hoppier styles. For the past two years, Auckland brewers Epic and Hallertau have developed a friendly rivalry with an annual competition to see who can produce the most extreme American-style IPA.

The so-called "West Coast Challenge" sees two hugely aromatic and bitter AIPAs, Epic Armageddon and Hallertau Maximus Humulus, go head to head.

2009 was also the year of a new type of brewing company  the brewer without a brewery. Run by beer enthusiasts (often highly skilled home brewers), these tiny companies design their own recipes then contract other craft breweries (such as Invercargill Brewery) to produce the beers on their behalf.

Without the need to produce large volumes of bread-and-butter beers to finance the running of a brewery themselves, companies like 666 Brewing, Yeastie Boys, Golden Ticket and 8 Wired have been braver and more experimental in their choice of beer styles. Each has won critical acclaim and many fans by producing small, limited-release batches of exceptionally flavoursome beers. My guess is we can expect more of the same in 2010.

But it's not all been good news. 2009 has once again seen New Zealand's largest brewers restating a commitment to just one type of beer  golden lager. Having discovered "purity" (something most Kiwi craft brewers have been doing since day one), they've now moved on to timidly flavoured, reduced-carbohydrate, golden lagers. I would suggest that if the big guys really are trying to be more socially responsible and health conscious, why don't they just encourage drinkers to drink less but better beers?

And then there's the hospitality trade. Back in 2004, I complained that far too many Kiwi restaurants and bars were still offering only a predictable and mundane beer range.

Five years later, while many shops have got the message and are brimming with interesting beers, it's the same old story: far too many eateries that pride themselves on the diversity, quality and individuality of their menus and wine lists still fail to apply the same thought and passion in their choice of beers. Why ever not?

And why don't more restaurants offer tasting notes for the beers, just as they do for the wines? Why do they assume their customers will know what all the beers taste like? And how about suggesting appropriate beer and food pairings?

Griping aside, I'd like to offer my thanks and congratulations to this newspaper  one of only two in the country with a regular weekly beer column  and to you, the reader, for taking the time to read it. Here's to a great New Year.

Cheers!

- The Marlborough Express