Col may be (briefly) gone but the world can still follow him courtesy of his @malthouse tweets. These are still primarily focused on people (“nice tweeps like @MelissaCole”), beer (“Tasty one from Oakham – Amarillo 😉 nom”), bars (“Yay! Got to the @Rakebar having half while waiting on @rabidbarfly”), food (“Top lunch @ jamies Westfield ** – nom nom nom – too full to shop now”) and service (“cold chips got microwaved when I complained- wankers!”) ***

The Rake Bar is a constant theme from Colin and many other beer-savvy travellers. This rather famous London bar has a great beer selection and is effectively a spiritual cousin to Malthouse. It actually prompted this week’s blog topic – how two of the biggest beer brains in the world view the beer around here.

In a global exclusive, famous English beer scribe Roger Protz penned the following piece specifically for this blog. Roger is a perfect English gentleman in person, a snarling tiger behind the keyboard and excellent company over a pint. Here is what the man himself had to say:

“The beer revolution has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere. As a visiting Pom, I expected to be knee-deep in Foster’s and XXXX but found instead a veritable cornucopia of fine beers. The range is remarkable and so is the quality. Brewers at Beer Expo in Melbourne kept pressing in to my willing hands fine examples of pale ale, IPA, red ale, true Pilsner, Belgian Tripel, German weisse, porter and stout.

A visit to Redoak in Sydney was a delight for brain and tastebuds – a vast range of exquisite beers carefully and lovingly matched with food by David and Janet Hollyoak. In the Sydney suburbs at Malt Shovel, Chuck Hahn showed me his bottling line where thousands of bottles of Porter were clanking round on the carousel. I’d previously revelled in his beers in one of his brewpubs in Melbourne.

I haven’t yet had the pleasure of visiting New Zealand but I met many Kiwi brewers at Melbourne and was impressed not only with their beers – including some aged in wood – but their passion and commitment to the noble cause. Keep up the good work down there!”

Hopefully the erstwhile Mr Protz can be lured over the Tasman for a first visit, perhaps just in time for next year’s BrewNZ Awards and Beervana.

The next piece is not quite so exclusive because it is actually two quotes from an All About Beer magazine article written by the legendary American beer scribe Jay R Brooks. Jay visited here in 2008 and he shares the common international bemusement that New Zealand legislators (and wowsers) ever thought Six O’Clock Closing would work. Conversely, he does refer to Auckland as the capital city proving even the very best can make mistakes…

Two paragraphs of the article particularly stand out:

“It’s also impossible to tell the full story of New Zealand brewing without mentioning their locally grown hops and barley. It’s the rare country that can grow all of the ingredients it needs to make beer, especially organically. But because of the islands’ isolated history, no natural pests developed, making it remarkably feasible to grow hops and barley without pesticides. Many craft brewers have seized on this fact to create beers, using both organic and local ingredients. At one time, organically grown New Zealand hops accounted for 80% of all organic hops sold worldwide.

There is a new passion that’s immediately evident among New Zealand’s craft brewers, who want to create a vibrant beer community. Many have been to America or tasted our beers and, as a result, many point to the U.S. craft scene and say that we have become a model for a world in which a wide variety of beer can flourish. New Zealand seems poised to be one the next great brewing nations. It will be wonderful to see what the Kiwis brew over the next ten years.”

I think the beer scene in New Zealand has made significant progress even in the 23 months since those erudite words were published. So, while some of us might sit nurturing a pint and wondering what things are like at the Rake or Moylan’s, chances are there is someone in London or San Francisco doing the same thing about the Malthouse.

* I have been forcefully informed by hirsute members of the Malthouse staff that there is a subtle but important difference between a “hillbilly check shirt” and a “stylish guy plaid shirt.”
** One of Jamie Oliver’s ‘Italian’ restaurants. According to the website, it is completely unique. There are currently thirteen of them throughout the United Kingdom.
*** Mr Oliver’s persuasive team of lawyers wish to clarify that the aforementioned chips were not prepared at Westfield, nor is Mr Oliver, nor any of his team, to be referred to as a wanker. The chips in question were in fact ruined by Courtfield at Earl’s Court.

Cheers


Beer Writer
Real Beer New Zealand
Beer and Brewer Magazine

Links

Roger Protz – http://www.beer-pages.com/
Jay R Brooks – http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/
All About Beer “Kiwi Kerveza” – https://allaboutbeer.com/live-beer/travel/2008/09/kiwi-kerveza/?singlePage
Malthouse on Twitter – http://twitter.com/malthouse
Malthouse Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wellington/Malthouse/7084276173
Real Beer – http://www.realbeer.co.nz
Beer and Brewer Magazine – http://www.beerandbrewer.com/