“Are you made of stone?” – Nomad and Stone tap takeover - The Malthouse

“Are you made of stone?” is the final line of the 1989 Stone Roses song “Made of Stone.” It is also the only time the phrase appears in the song which, it must be said, features some truly depressing lyrics about car crashes under all that soaring Britpop guitar. However, “Made of Stone” is also the title of the critically acclaimed and far more uplifting 2013 documentary which followed the Stone Roses on their successful tour when they reunited after a 16 year hiatus. [1]

Now, the choice of today’s blog title was not simply so that I could go on a Jeremy Clarkson level tangent about my musical experiences of the 80s and 90s – but I am going to anyway. My first purchased music was a 12-inch single of “Relax” by Frankie goes to Hollywood, my first live “gig” [2] was The Dance Exponents at (appropriately enough) the old Malthouse on Willis Street, the opening act that night was Mikey Havoc in shorts singing his only hit “Push Push”, [3] and I own every Samantha Fox album ever made (sometimes in multiple formats).

The beer rationale behind the title is that from next Thursday (16 June 2016) Malthouse will be hosting a tap takeover with four beers from Stone Brewing (California, USA) and two from Nomad Brewing Company (New South Wales, Australia).

I am very familiar with the work of Stone Brewery and, frankly, I am a fan. I have visited the brewery, I have bought the glassware and I had my first mini-social media feud with the owner/founder. Let’s take those three revelations in order, then look at the beers.

My visit to the (then new) Stone Brewing occurred when I was covering a previous World Beer Cup. One abiding memory is the invitation – literally 40% of the invite was covered in prominent warnings that, because the brewery had only recently opened, most GPS systems would not find it and would send people completely the wrong way.

I thought it was over-kill. I was wrong. Literally hundreds of guests were hours late saying the brewery should “really let people know” about the GPS issue. On the upside, the queues for the barbeque ribs and Double IPAs were much shorter for me. Stone remains the cleanest brewery I have ever seen – I have been in hospitals that were less hygienic. It was a good night.

At the brewery I purchased an Arrogant Bastard Ale (more on that later) pint glass because I had never previously been basically challenged to a fight by a drinking vessel. Here are some highlights from the text on the glass which starts with the claim that “You Are Not Worthy”:

“This is an aggressive beer. You probably won’t like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory — maybe something with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it’s made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal.”

Hey, it keeps me grounded and is still a better love story than The Bachelor NZ.

The social media incident was instructive because it illustrates the strengths and weakness of platforms like Facebook. It is one of my very rare Internet feuds – I think I am dragging the industry average down in this field. This is the potted version of event:

1) I am Facebook friends with Stone owner/founder Greg Koch.

2) In November 2009. [4] I write a Malthouse blog about the arrival of American craft beer, including Stone Brewing.

3) A couple of days later I see on Facebook that Mr Koch is “writing a cease and desist letter to New Zealand.”

4) A couple of days after that I realise he has read the blog and is upset that the beers had not come from his authorised agents. (At the time Stone did not consider the New Zealand market large enough to export).

5) I reply to Mr Koch’s post pointing out that you cannot write cease and desist letters to sovereign nations, that no New Zealand laws were broken, that this country believes in free trade, and that I really like his beers.

6) Mr Koch and I are suddenly no longer Facebook friends.

7) My Stone Brewery glass is filled with tears for weeks.

These days, Stone beers are entering the country in an approved manner and in excellent condition. Here is the coming selection at Malthouse:

Arrogant Bastard Ale (7.2%) – In the interests of impartiality, I will let the much more talented beer writers Stephen Beaumont and Tim Webb cover this. They wrote “Stone Brewing has built a large degree of the brewery’s success on the back of this strong dark, and aggressively hopped ale, bracing in its bitterness with fruity caramelly malt to match.” I adore this beer.

Stone IPA (6.9%) [5] – I have enjoyed this one on the rare occasions I have managed to not be tempted by the Arrogant Bastard Ale or the even more awesome Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale… and let us not even talk about the Double Bastard Ale… Anyway, this is a classic beer in its own right (100 on RateBeer) with a big hoppy nose, full mouthfeel, notes of citrus and pine, solid malt background and the word that keeps cropping up in reviews – balance!

Stone Go To IPA (4.5%) – While their record (and my tasting notes) confirm Stone’s influence on big West Coast IPAs (including the upcoming Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge which was conceived after that very visit to Stone Brewery), they recognise the need for a more sessionable product. Of course, they recognise it in their own distinctive way. Nothing can improve on the brewery’s notes:

“We are the first to admit that a night of subsisting solely on big IPAs can be a short one. Enter Stone Go To IPA, our session IPA, boasting all the gloriously bitter, citrusy, piney flavour of our bigger / industrial-strength IPAs, but with a significantly lower alcohol-by-volume (4.5%) allowing IPA fans like us to enjoy more of this amazingly, hoppy beer over a longer session, without giving up any of that gloriously crave-able botanically-driven dankness. Well, OK, when you compare to our bigger IPAs you find that you give up some, as that’s what happens when you dramatically lower the abv. And while we work hard to bend the time/space/abv intensity continuum, we’ve admittedly not yet learned to break it. This comes damn close though.”

Stone Pataskala Red X IPA (7.3%) – Another new beer which was originally a very limited release. Amber in colour, plenty of caramel and biscuity sweetness before a wave of hops including Mosaic, Cascade and Amarillo – one of my favourite combinations of trademark US hops.

Nomad Brewing Company is based in North Sydney and is founded on the values of (and I’m not making this up) – “Attitude. Spirit. Hipster. Adventure. Experience. Great beer.” I’m not directly familiar with their work but they have a fine reputation in Australian craft beer circles. They will have two offerings on tap at Malthouse:

Nomad Easy as IPA (4.5%) – Like Stone and many others brewers, Nomad have recognised the demand for session beers, particularly session pale ales. Here are the brewer’s notes:

“This IPA is as full of flavour as any of its bigger India Pale Ale brothers, but at 4.5% it’s oh so quaffable! Pale orange in colour with a fluffy white head and huge aromas of tropical and stone fruit. The taste is malty-sweet, medium bodied and finishes with a balanced bitterness that’ll leave you feeling laid back and “Easy As’.”

Nomad Freshie Salt & Pepper Gose (4.5%) – Inspired by the ocean near Sydney, Nomad put their twist on the traditional German Gose beer which is brewed with coriander and salt water. Here are the brewer’s notes:

“Traditionally Goses are slightly tart, savoury and spicy (coriander), and light in body and ABV. At Nomad we tried to get as close as possible to traditional Gose as far as malts, yeast and salt dosage and we obviously gave it our very own Italo/Aussie character adding sea water and Tasmanian pepper.”

Next time, we drink to All Black Ardie Savea – the Welsh won’t know what hit them.

[1] Possibly because the rest of the band actually read the lyrics to “Made of Stone” and were utterly horrified…

[2] Listen to me – I’m talking music lingo like a record studio executive!

[3] This traumatising experience made it difficult to take his later political and social commentary in the media seriously.

[4] Seriously. This is Malthouse Blog #358.

[5] I am frankly surprised that Epic have not done a beer with this exact alcohol percentage.

Cheers

Neil Miller

Beer Writer

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