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.

[denimglen]

Well if you lager your Ale than its lager?

Doesn't that make it a hybrid?

I think the best lager/ale thing is a bit daft - IMO of course. Anyways, at the end of the day it's just a name anyway.

[Martin townshend]

It would be nice to see TUI IPA entered into the IPA category and until it does as this is what it is according to the label, the awards aren't for me.
Had a ball at Beervana. Can't wait till next year.

[Mike Neilson]

Here here Martin!!

[Greig McGill]

It's possible because, similar to the likes of Green King IPA in the UK, IPA and "ale" in general are just marketing terms these days. Disappointing, but a reality.

[denimglen]

It's an EAST india pale ale, duhhhhhhhhhh!

[Steph]

IF the was an "east india pale ale" category, Tui would still qualify in the "shit beer category". The biggest comment I have to make is to get rid PLEASE of the NZ draught...I think bets could be taken on how long 'til Tui start advertising as "awarding winning"..."awarding winning shit beer"....

[Martin townshend]

Like the whole Radler/Saison dabarcle where DB knew exactly what they were doing all along, (as opposed to IPONZ letting them niavely get away with it,) another way to apply integrity to the brewing industry is for BrewNZ/Brewers Guild/SOBA to simply refuse entry to beers that aren't what they are advertised to be OR put them in the categories they do advetised to be.
If nothing else, it means a little pressure on market dominating control freaks (the big 2) and encourages honesty and basic beer education at the point of sale. I'd love to make an IPA and put it have it up against TUI's version, (it would probably score higher than mine....)
As per usual, I've probably got the wrong end of the stick, so set me straight please.

[Nick T]

Great idea Martin. I understand that one of the criteria for entering the BrewNZ awards is that the beer must be reasonably available in NZ, surely a rule could then be added that it can only be entered in the category that it purports itself to be (by advertising or labelling). I was initially put off IPAs when I tasted the Yeah Right 'East' IPA, thinking that if this is an IPA, you can keep it. Luckily I then tried a Twisted Hop IPA and thus my journey began....

And if YREIPA begins marketing itself as 'award winning', surely this greatly devalues the whole BrewNZ award system? Who then is going to take a BrewNZ award on a bottle seriously, apart from mass-market suckers? If you buy a product with an award on it, you expect it to be a great product, not just one that happens to fit the product class description well.

[josh scott]

Yes a lot of Money! (2250 bottles of Epic I.P.A)

Still don't think we should let the dollar value cloud our judgement when determinning what is best for NZ beer industry, although agree, it must be taken into account.

[nzbrewer]

Another reference of Epic Beer as a currency, love it.

[martin w]

i imagine next year there will be a 33% better beer available! anyone know how i can make my beer 33% better by brewing 33% longer?!!!

[David Wood]

Brew the beer 1000% longer for the best beer in the history of time.