| Croucher has a top 2010 |
| Wednesday, 15 December 2010 10:27 |
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The recent announcement that Croucher Pale Ale is the Champion Beer in the 2010 Capital Times Beer Essentials Survey caps off a top year for the likeable chaps at Rotorua’s Croucher Brewing Company. Their Pilsner took out a gold medal and a trophy at the BrewNZ Beer Awards earlier this year and Croucher have begun contract brewing at Steam to meet increased demand from both domestic and potentially international drinkers. Let’s examine each of those three achievements in turn. The judges of the Capital Times annual beer survey noted “This year’s champion beer is the citrusy fruity expertly balanced pale ale from Croucher brewing in Rotorua. The Croucher beers are tasting fantastic and are well worth searching out. Croucher Pale Ale is an indigenous take on the American Pale Ale style supplanting locally grown hops for American ones and giving the beer a big striking citrus and tropical fruit character as a result.” It received the highest mark of the day - 4.5 out of 5. I’ve commented on the Croucher Pale Ale many times over the years (and not just because their must-read blog calls me a “beer celebrity” * and an “occasional visitor to the Malthouse”) ** I have called it a “the best smelling thing to ever come out of Rotorua” and “a seriously pleasant pint.” I also looked back to the review I wrote when the Pale Ale was just making its commercial debut and it is still very valid now: “Croucher Pale Ale pours a beautiful burnished gold with a thick collar of foam. It throws a punchy malt nose with lashings of tropical fruit. In the glass, it has a full, biscuity body with pronounced orange and caramel notes. The beer finishes strongly with a lingering dry finish which leaves you immediately ready for the next taste.” It is a worthy winner. The success of Croucher Pilsner at the 2010 BrewNZ Beer Awards was both deserved and hugely popular. This Bohemian-style Pilsner began life as an award-winning home brew by Paul Croucher and this year became the company’s first trophy-winning beer. Of course, neither Paul nor Nigel actually heard the rousing applause their win provoked in Wellington, principally because they were both in Rotorua brewing more beer. Paul later noted on their blog: “It’s probably time to make an in-absentia acceptance speech for our Champion International Lager Trophy. Firstly, we can’t believe we missed the greatest moment of our brewery’s life! The best knees-up of the year just seemed a bit indulgent when we had no beer. (Is that the fundamental measure of incompetence – no beer in a brewery?)” The issue of no beer in a brewery leads exceptionally nicely into the final topic – making more Croucher beer available for New Zealand and, potentially, overseas. The Beer Essentials judges noted that Croucher had “done a lot to expand their business over the last 6 months”. Once again, the Croucher blog *** takes up the story: “We are in Auckland today bottling the first Croucher beers coming off the line at Steam Brewing. While we continue to brew furiously in Rotorua, we have taken advantage of Steam's expertise to help us produce some serious volume. Don't worry, we haven't sold out! **** Rather, we are taking advantage of an opportunity to help us grow our sales and distribution. Over the past year we have been really up against it trying to produce enough beer to meet demand and also provide enough stock to actively grow our distribution around New Zealand, and God forbid, having enough stock to even consider exporting.” Over the Christmas period, the Malthouse will run normal hours until 23 December and then following holiday opening ***** hours will apply: Dec 24 – last orders 11pm This is the last Malthouse blog of 2010 so I want to finish by thanking people for their comments and support. It is great that so many people seem to enjoy reading it because it really is a tremendous amount of fun to write each week. The blog will return on 19 January talking about the Malthouse obviously but also looking to promote craft beer to a wider audience which is good for the whole industry. Have a hoppy festive season! * Highly implausible Cheers
Links 2010 Capital Times Beer Essentials Survey - http://www.capitaltimes.co.nz/article/3637/BeerNecessitiesSurvey2010.html |
