Regular monthly Auckland-area SOBA meetings

[Martin Bridges]

We had a very successful initial meeting at Galbraiths on Saturday. Many thanks to the people who made the effort to come down (we had about 10 in total). A very interesting discussion was had, and some very good beer was drunk. It was really nice to meet a few people I'd previously only communicated with by email, and a few others who were totally new to me!

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss whether or not there was merit in the idea of regular Auckland-area get-togethers, and if so to talk about what form these might take. I'm pleased to say that there was unanimous support for regular meetings. Indeed it was felt that
this was exactly what was needed to get SOBA moving in the Auckland region.

In summary, we decided:
- monthly is the best frequency for the meetings
- Saturday afternoons are as good a time as any
- we should rotate the venue around different establishments (a few suggestions were mooted, and more are sought)
- each meeting should have a theme (e.g. a semi-formal tasting, homebrewing, beer guides etc.). Lots of good ideas were talked about.

There are a few things for future discussion (particularly whether or not we can do something jointly with the Hamilton-based folks) but I think a lot of progress was made.

I volunteered to come up with a date for the next meeting and after careful consideration I've come up with the following suggestion:

SECOND SATURDAY = SOBA!

My proposal is that the Auckland-area meetings should be on the second Saturday of every month at 2pm. That would mean that the next meeting would be on Saturday 10th May at 2pm, venue and theme to be confirmed (suggestions welcome).

Hope this works for people. I'll send a reminder out nearer the time.

Martin

[Andrew]

Unfortunately all this discussion just goes to prove what I have always maintained - that beer compititions are all about fidelity to style - like seeing who can paint the best Mona Lisa.
Ask yourselves - is this going to make us brew better beers?
Still no place for the Golden Goose to land.

[Doug]

Golden Goose is cleared for landing at my place anytime !

[Ralph]

How about we call it Dunedin Pilsner style or Dunepils - after its origins! Just kidding. Good to see this discussion. It would be great to enter a beer that fits into a style catogory correctly! The Pilsner tag is tricky though; as pointed out the NZ style can fall well outside a trad pilsner. Maybe we could define it and then simply drop the pilsner in the style name and simply leave it implied in the definition? Good start Luke.
Ralph

[Dan]

Does anyone know how the Soba NHC comp winner is going?

[Stu McKinlay]

Full Nelson - Isn't that a Galbraith's beer?
Keith might sue BrewNZ!!

What about Full NelsonNZ? To reflect New Zealands unhealthy obsesion with putting NZ on the end of everything...

And why can't I reply to your comment - have you got special secret admin posting rights?

[nzbrewer]

yeah I for got about Keith's beer, damn it. I think Full Nelson sums it up, and yes he would likely get upset

don't know why you cant reply, I haven't done anything different

[denimglen]

I think you can only quote a certain amount of times with this forum system, after so many indents it stops letting you. Probably to stop the page getting a metre wide I guess.

And to make this post not too off topic (and albeit from someone who hasn't joined SOBA yet and has little beer experience) how about just 'NZ strong lager'?

[nzbrewer]

I think if we can name it something specific to NZ such as Nelson then the GABF and World Beer Cup are likely to pick up the definition and we will see US breweries acutally brewing to this style. Espeicially if it is a cool name such as NZ Full Nelson style. It gives big ups to the hop growing region.

[Tony]

Outstanding, love your work.

I tried the Full nelson on Saturday as I was warming up for this coming Saturday. It is quite excellent. I think NZ full Nelson or something similar would be a great idea. Preferably with NZ in it considering the strength of our name and the fact that there are many places around the world called Nelson. Some people might have a problem identifying it with NZ hops or beer styles. Just a thought.

[Stu McKinlay]

I'm replying partly to see how many replies we can get before someone can't reply, and partly to say "Ask Keith. I reckon he'd laugh at the coincidence and be into it." Might be his chance to go down in brewing folklore (or at least on wiki!).

NZ Full Nelson is actually pretty cool, given all the serious beer names out there.

And it might inspire some brewers into pulling off the odd half nelson!

And - best of all - it'll certainly shut Tony up ;-)

Off to Wellington SOBA drinks now. 7.30pm at the Southern Cross, if anyone is around.

[denimglen]

Again as before, limited experience, not SOBA.

Helping to see how many replies before it stops.

NZ Full Nelson is a great name IMO but how serious are the folk at GABF and WBC? If they're the uptight sorta bunch maybe they wouldn't accept the name/style if it isn't serious?

Also on a side note Serria Nevada has a harvest ale that uses all NZ hops. A little more publicity from this brewery on NZ hops may help push along this beer style since the hops are a big part.

Guess I should hurry up and join SOBA so I can stop feeling bad about dropping my 2 cents.

[Dan]

Yeh who in the world knows nelson is in Nz, I grow hops in southland, if they were grown commercially here or anywhere else in Nz in the future, the nelson part of the naming would be outta place, and I believe a NZ (style) pilsner can be brewed without 100% NZ hops.

Sorry but I think full nelson sounds a bit out of place as far as brewing (styles) go.
Just some quick thoughts!

NZ real Lager
NZ style pilsner
Southern lager (As in hemisphere, aussie too)
Southern hemisphere lager.
Nzilsner
zilsner
or
Aotearoa lager! LOL
JJ just throwing out some random thoughts