Best of Brew NZ and Beervana

[Steph]

Thought I'd start a thread to give some "mad props" to my favs from Brew NZ and Beervana. Here goes:
- The great guys from stewarding. It was much harder work than I thought but I had a great time hanging out with Martin, Stu, Craig, Chris and the gang.
- Smelling how good one particular beer was in the pouring judge, looking up its number and then finding out it was Armegeddon and realising how privileged we all are.
- Being privileged enough to score some fantastic beer, including an awarding winning and delicious His Majestys in the bottle and being given one by the Yeastie Boys in the rigger.
- Meeting some of the awesome judges. Dave Logsdon was just fantastic and it was great chatting with Shane (from Steam) and Richard from Wig and Pen (among others).
- Hanging out with the guys from Renaissance Brewery. Brian is a legend for buying me coffee on the Saturday morning session of Beervana. Along with Andy and Soren that lot are the nicest brewers around.
- Meeting all the volunteers, including all you lot from RealBeer. There were some super cool people who let me boss them round a fair bit and didn't seem to mind too much.
- Laughing when Daniel from the beerstore introduced himself and said "you seem to drink a lot". And, explaining to lots of poeple that that is how I managed to get involved with BrewNZ and Beervana!!
-Almost forgot....Awarding best shirt to Matt from Harringtons for two awesome shirts on mash-in and at the awards. Big ups to Stu's shirt and pant combo and Paul Mecurio's hilarious beer shirt at Beervana.

Phew, and sure I've missed a bit out....Like the beer. I'll have to get back to it.

[Father]

Good points G.

I think I agree with them. Personal perception comes in here I think.

Perfect case in point.
I won't forget that Brown Ale of yours at your place in Hamilton that night. Low low Gravity, Huge BU's, way out of style, massive HIGH brewing standard and, totally insane yet in balance and oh so drinkable. No it might not have fitted a category very well - but it was based on something like an ABA..... using the style guidelines as a base and brewing something you want to drink from them is a great way to brew. Man that met my 4 pint rule for sure especially with that Perfect Storm DVD wave coming at me from your wall sized screen after 8 pints of it! Stories from my beer youth.....

If you brew that again I'll be a taker...... to hell with the medals

Chris

[666 Brewing]

Ahhh yeah, those were the days. The home brewery still cranks out those sort of beers, dont know if the 'general' public is ready for them though;-)

[Greig McGill]

That's right. They're not. Please send them all to Barry and I at the RCC. Thanks. ;)

[Soren]

“medals are not I repeat not awarded to beers 'over' other beers”

I don't know if this is pointed at my comment or not but I am aware that the beers are not directly competing against each other and that the medal is awarded based on the quality of that beer in an isolated tasting and that (in theory) 1000 beers could receive the same medal in the same class. That doesn't change the fact that the public will se that only 1/3 of the total medals in class E (European ales) and F (NZ, US and international) were awarded to NZ breweries (I pick those because I assume they are the biggest categories).

“How can we make 'the local industry better' if we dont judge ourselves against some form of standard or international competition? Oh hang on there's an idea - we could have a NZ only olympics or …..”

We judge ourselves against (and aspire towards) the international competition every day but that doesn't mean that we need to compete against these in the NEW ZEALAND awards... As far as I know the NZ music awards is for kiwi artists with a couple of international categories. There are national sports competitions and the beer-equivalent to the Olympics is NOT BrewNZ. If we wanted to compete agaisnt the best in the world we can send the beer to the World Beer Cup...

I am not saying that I have the answer but I fear that allowing all these great international breweries to out-compete locals in the national competition may set them up to take the local market by storm when they finally get the distribution pipeline in gear.
I think that BrewNZ is partly about rasining public awareness about the greatness of beer that we all know but it is mainly about promoting the NZ craft industry. Allowing the international breweries into every category will achieve the first but not necessarily the latter.

I would suggest that we make BrewNZ about NZ breweries and NZ beers, maybe with a couple of international awards. If it turns out there are categories that result in no medals (because there are no NZ beer good enough) then so be it. Most of the breweries are still learning and we'll get there sooner rather than later.

And another thing, I know that NZ draught is the biggest selling style in the country and that needs to be acknowledged, but it really sends a completely distorded signal to the public when this category is awarded a trophy. To the average punter this sends the message that there is no need to spend $6-7 on a bottle of Three Boys (who didn't even get a medal!!) when Tui has been acknowledged as a better beer!

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

I am guessing that there is something about the revenue earned from these International Brewering entering their beers. It must go some way to pay for the judges and other expenses associated with running the awards.

Whether that is the right or not, I'm not sure. But it is definitely a consideration.

[Daniel Parker]

I think that International Beers *Should* be allowed to enter, providing they are generally available in the NZ market.. i.e If you go into a specialist liquor outlet (if in Hamilton, someone like the Hamilton Wine Company) you should be able to get them most of the time.

Beers that win awards that I don't get to try bug me.. and I have access to a lot more beer than the general public.

Daniel

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

Daniel - are you holding back on us? :o)

[josh scott]

Sorry Chris,

Well be available from Glengarry stores next week or order direct from brewery.

We are doing a release of Barrel aged beers next week.

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

Good news. I've heard so much about it, but didn't get the chance to taste it.

[Steve Nally]

For starters I don't like eating mutton birds, as a kid Mum made Dad cook them in the garage which would stink for a week and that's where in kept my bike, every morning for a week I'd be reminded...

I agree that as a defining point in my brewing life, being a Steward is it. I learnt so much and also was inspired. Last year the Guild didn't want brewers involved as stewards, I was pissed,not sure if they are allow back.
I'm very passionate about this and I see the need for change, part of the problem is the feedack, it's shit.
I can send beer away to be sensory accessed for $100 and get a full report...?

Chris is right you have think why are you entering beer awards to what goal? I do it to take a snap-shot of where our beer is in the market. The Invercargill Brewery entered 7 beers and ciders we got a bronze for The Smokin Bishop, our contract beer and cider did better than us so that tells me our focus at this time is the contract beer and that we have to do some work on our own products and we will just that. On the other side is that there needs to be some serious changes in the system. See my latest posts, with the help of Luke

[nzbrewer]

Agreed. I am shocked Stu was allowed to be a steward. Anyone entering beers shouldn't be allow in an area where they can have potential influence over their beers, or competitors beers. Also having access to judges by brewers during judging is unacceptable. This I agree should be part of the transparency.

It seems several things changed back in 2009, which had been worked through over the previous years, to make improvements. A step backwards. We need an official procedures manual which outlines how the industry wants to run the judging. Things shouldn't be so easily changed when we get new people running things. We lose years of debate, and decision making.

And we will end up going over the same ground year after year.

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

In Stu's defence (seeing as he is not here), he was ask to be a steward as opposed to the other way round. And I know he also made sure it was appropriate that he did so. I asked the same thing of him, as I was also surprised - though I am sure nobody would think that Stu would do anything untoward (but I realise this is not the point).

I'm new to this game, so I am not too sure what the issues are. Though I am assume they are more to do with the judging than the stewarding? A lot of the people who follow this forum gave up their time (and money) to do what is in the end, for our benefit, so I only have the upmost respect for them.