Beer thread
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<p>Here's one for you Tim.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>From Emersons</p>
<p> </p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
<div>‘North by North’</div>
<div>Czech style Pilsner</div>
<div>Back in 2012 we released our North by North Czech style pilsner as part of our Dunedin Sound series. North by North was named in honour of the Christchurch band The Bats.</div>
<div>The Bats, have strong links to Dunedin and are usually grouped in with the Dunedin Sound bands through their association with the record label Flying Nun. Bob Scott, vocals and guitar, lives in Port Chalmers, and often enjoys Emerson’s at our local Inchbar. We are huge fans of these guys and were happy to claim them in our Dunedin Sound Series for an excuse to brew a great classic Czech style Pilsner. The release of the band’s new album in 2012 ‘Free all the Monsters’ encouraged us to brew the original ‘monster’ Czech style pilsner we called North by North after their hit of the same name.</div>
<div>North by North is a wee monster in many ways but what we are most proud of is the long, long, maturation or lagering, we give ‘North by North’. Three long months in fact. Long lagering creates a pilsner with a rich, mellow almost ‘honeyish’ malt flavour, backed up by generous amounts of Czech Saaz hop to provide a crisp firm finish. In the mainstream brewing world long lagering times are a no-no, it ties up too much tank space for too long – brewery accountants hate it! Brewers love it – North by North is a testament to doing something well and doing it right;</div>
<div>100% Czech malt, 100% Czech hops, Czech Yeast – No compromise</div>
<div>We know you will appreciate this Pilsner, try it side by side a typical Euro style ‘lager’ and taste the difference, you’ll see why we are proud of this beer. We have brewed twice as much North by North this time around – 180 kegs of beautiful brewing history, much of this reserved for Friday staff beersies at the brewery – naw… just kidding.</div>
<div>Here’s to Summer and great beer wherever you are!</div>
<div>The Brew Crew</div>
<div>Original gravity: 1055</div>
<div>Alcohol: 5.4 % vol</div>
<div>Malts: Czech Bohemian Pilsner malt</div>
<div>Hops: Czech Saaz</div>
<div>Yeast: Czech Pilsner</div>
<div>Available on draught from the brewery shop, and select bars and outlets.</div>
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<p>When I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks back, I went in to a bottle store at the end of the St Kilda shops (right where the 96 tram stops). It's got a very impressive range of different beers, including a decent selection of NZ beer too. The bloke in the shop knew his stuff too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Mostly stocked up on a few random Euro beers I find hard to source in NZ: Stiegl (Austria), Diebels Alt, S<span>ünner</span> K<span>ö</span>lsch (Germany) and Feral Hop Hog</p>
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<p>I quite enjoy Mountain Goat. I had some at Beervana last year, and had a couple when I was over in Oz.</p> -
<p>was smashing some of these the other day - found it really well balanced summer drop... could defo drink it all night long.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://garageproject.co.nz/products/hapi-daze'>http://garageproject.co.nz/products/hapi-daze</a></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="WillieTheWaiter" data-cid="476235" data-time="1425873249">
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<p>was smashing some of these the other day - found it really well balanced summer drop... could defo drink it all night long.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://garageproject.co.nz/products/hapi-daze'>http://garageproject.co.nz/products/hapi-daze</a></p>
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<p>Nice drop that one. Particularly like that they can it too which makes it both handy to travel with and (being a smaller size) cheaper to buy a unit of. </p>
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<p>Supplies are getting difficult though now that Auckland has finally woken up to the craft market and all the bars up there want to stock variety. The Auckland brewing scene is not big enough to supply anywhere near the population needs and the Welly brewers in particular are getting hammered to keep up. Panhead have only been operating for a short while and have increased their capacity twice in 12 months to try and keep up.</p> -
<p>I'm drinking diet beer at the moment and the only one I like so far is Speights Mid Ale. Actually resembles a beer rather than Amstel light etc.</p>
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<p>Anyone know of any other (Craft or otherwise) light beers that taste ok?</p>
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<p>Must be well under 4%</p> -
<p>I seem to have finally worked out the home brew system that suits me. I tried full grain brewing but without having dedicated space and setting aside a whole day just to get to the wort stage it wasn't working for me. Tried going for the more expensive and better quality kits and while they turned out quite good and I had a big supply of quite tasty beer in the garage it was missing the part where I get to add my own touch.</p>
<p>So my next experiment was to get a couple of cans of the 'cheaper' brew kits (a Brown Ale and a Stout), blend them together to make a Porter, cut the water quantity by 25% to up the alc level a touch (as they all seem to brew out at around 4%). This left me with enough wort for one large brew (23 litres) and a couple of 5 litre brews.</p>
<p>The large brew took a big wallop of hops to make a Cascadian Ale style (a bit like Yeastie Boys PKB) and the others I tried a couple of different quantities of toasted coconut and vanilla.</p>
<p>All taste bloody good and should get me through winter (and save about $500)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="481348" data-time="1427406828">
<div>
<p>I'm drinking diet beer at the moment and the only one I like so far is Speights Mid Ale. Actually resembles a beer rather than Amstel light etc.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyone know of any other (Craft or otherwise) light beers that taste ok?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Must be well under 4%</p>
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<p>Tuatara Iti 3.3% look for the red box among the Tuatara six packs in the supermarket</p>
<p>Croucher Lowrider 2.7%</p>
<p>Stoke 2-stoke isn't bad either (only 2%)</p> -
<p>Cider (not beer I know, but we dont need another thread) </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Macs Chilli & Lime cider, was a bit skeptical, and first mouthful I was so so, but as I drank more, and the little hit of chilli came along, it really grew on me, really refreshing with a great finish!</p> -
That's lovely. Did your husband enjoy it as well?
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="483461" data-time="1428100960">
<p>That's lovely. Did your husband enjoy it as well?</p>
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<br><p>OK Randy Savage, I seen some of the drinks you drink....</p>
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<p><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10556258_10153385782093018_116490566326754640_n.jpg?oh=e4d15e3f85208d50eb325185d4d91c8e&oe=55A0E0EF&gda=1436786646_a2fa223b2f3edf6bd870b60aacbbf6a5" alt="10556258_10153385782093018_1164905663267"></p> -
<p>raiding the facebook for a comeback? for shame...</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>No shame in a moscow mule my friend. </p> -
<p>but it has a straw
</p>
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<p>Nothing wrong with a good cider either pal
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="481350" data-time="1427407959">
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<p>Tuatara Iti 3.3% look for the red box among the Tuatara six packs in the supermarket</p>
<p>Croucher Lowrider 2.7%</p>
<p>Stoke 2-stoke isn't bad either (only 2%)</p>
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<p>Emerson's Bookbinder at 3.7% is still the best I've come across.</p>
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<p>I tried Tuatara Iti a couple of weeks ago - I really wanted it to be good, but I didn't think it was - seemed to have no body to it - like drinking hop-flavoured water.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="483911" data-time="1428367903">
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<p>Emerson's Bookbinder at 3.7% is still the best I've come across.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I tried Tuatara Iti a couple of weeks ago - I really wanted it to be good, but I didn't think it was - seemed to have no body to it - like drinking hop-flavoured water.</p>
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<p>That's the difficult part of making a lower alc beer. In order to get flavour you add ingredients, but upping the malt ups the alc content. It is a balancing act of adding ingredients and stopping fermentation. Stop early to stop production of alc and you get a too sweet beer.</p>
<p>The 'factory' way is often to brew out then remove some of the alc from the finished product.</p>
<p>3.5 - 4% is quite achievable with flavour rentention, drop below that and it takes great skill, especially to keep a mouth feel and not taste watery.</p>
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<p>Bookbinder is the go-to for me as well. As I've mentioned before, it is a great beer to have with lunch while travelling as you won't go near the limit if you have it with food and one 500ml bottle is plenty.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="481349" data-time="1427407312">
<div>
<p>I seem to have finally worked out the home brew system that suits me. I tried full grain brewing but without having dedicated space and setting aside a whole day just to get to the wort stage it wasn't working for me. Tried going for the more expensive and better quality kits and while they turned out quite good and I had a big supply of quite tasty beer in the garage it was missing the part where I get to add my own touch.</p>
<p>So my next experiment was to get a couple of cans of the 'cheaper' brew kits (a Brown Ale and a Stout), blend them together to make a Porter, cut the water quantity by 25% to up the alc level a touch (as they all seem to brew out at around 4%). This left me with enough wort for one large brew (23 litres) and a couple of 5 litre brews.</p>
<p>The large brew took a big wallop of hops to make a Cascadian Ale style (a bit like Yeastie Boys PKB) and the others I tried a couple of different quantities of toasted coconut and vanilla.</p>
<p>All taste bloody good and should get me through winter (and save about $500)</p>
</div>
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<p> </p>
<p>another option for the 'time pressed' is the fresh wort pack.. it's the avenue my mate has gone down... he's been using this one and I can say it's bl00dy outstanding! a few other options out there..</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://shop.brewtopia.net.nz/product_info.php?cPath=75&products_id=829&osCsid=u74jbp3q72efo0b7m92ik5gf95'>http://shop.brewtopia.net.nz/product_info.php?cPath=75&products_id=829&osCsid=u74jbp3q72efo0b7m92ik5gf95</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>a few bucks more than doing it yourself but knocks out the 'losing a day' downside of brewing.</p> -
<p>Yeah, quite a few places are doing fresh wort packs now. I didn't even realise Kereru (my local) had started them, so thanks for that link. Might give one a shot.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Price is one factor, but I also quite like playing with recipes and with these packs I'd probably keep them as is as I don't want to wreck $80 worth of booze when I can wreck $40 instead ;)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Another option in some cities are the places where you can go and brew on their premises from scratch and they also do the controlled fermentation. You go back and bottle it when ready. Costs about $140 though</p>
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<p>I was a bit optimistic on how long those porters I made would last. I'm ripping through them. Next to bottle is a smoked pumpkin brown ale. Literally smoked some pumpkin and blended it into the wort. Nearly ready to bottle and the sample I had when testing it shows good promise. Next to go down is a Chocolate Raspberry Stout.</p>
