On 1 May, I received a press release from NZ Craft Beer TV announcing the launch of a new collaborative brew called Mash Up. The opening line was “if there was one road trip that would invoke jealousy amongst the nation’s beer drinkers, it would have to be the one that involved visiting the majority of craft breweries in the country.” Luke Nicholas and Kelly
Ryan from Epic Brewing Company covered 4,500 kilometres over 17 days to film craft breweries from Invercargill to Auckland. The main purpose was to film the boys visiting breweries, sampling beers, discussing brewery history and the passion that which resulted in people from all walks of life choosing brewing as their occupation. Basically, they drank beer and talked. A film and sound crew accompanied Kelly and Luke on this – excuse the pun – Epic Journey. The footage is being edited into a series of on-line episodes with the intention being to pitch the series to television while still retaining creative control.
There was however one other more liquid outcome – Mash Up New Zealand Collaboration Ale, a 6% pale ale made with British malt and fresh New Zealand hops. 44 breweries were consulted about the ingredients and recipe and many participated in the actual brewing. Mash Up is intended to be a summary of what was happening in New Zealand beer. Luke Nicholas stressed to me “this is not an Epic product. It is NZ Craft Beer TV product looking to capture the essence, ingredients, techniques and philosophy of brewing in summer 2011.”
I clearly was not the first person to ask why then the bottle I sampled had an Epic cap because Luke had already prepared a little Mash Up question and answer sheet and that was the first question. Basically, there was a mistake at the brewery during bottling which could not be easily reversed. Future batches will have Brew NZ caps as originally intended.
Most New Zealand collaborative brews to date have involved usually two brewers working by side by side on brew day. Mash Up has 44 contributing brewers, many of whom were not present on brew day. Luke explains that their philosophy and ingredients influenced the beer and all brewers were able to comment on the recipe. He actually quoted the Wikipedia definition of collaboration:
“Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal, but in its negative sense it is working as a traitor. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) — for example, an intriguing endeavour that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Most collaboration requiresleadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources”.
I think he meant the bit about deep collective determination to achieve an intriguing endeavour that is creative in nature part more than the traitorous part.
The breweries listed on the delightfully retro Mash Up label are: Brewery Bar, Croucher, Aotearoa, Sunshine, Roosters, Hawke’s Bay Independent, Peak, Yeastie Boys, Tuatara, Bennett’s, Liberty, Mike’s, Shunters Yard, Steam, Epic, Hallertau, Three Boys, Wigram, Twisted Hop, Dux de Lux, Cassels and Sons, Golden Ticket, Golden Eagle, Green Man, Invercargill, Arrow Brewing, Wanaka Beerworks, West Coast, Totara, McCashins, Townshend, Monkey Wizard, Mussel Inn, Golden Bear, Sprig and Fern, Lighthouse, Nelson Bays, Founders, 8Wired, Waiheke, Coromandel, Beltaine, Valkyrie and 666 Brewing.
With 44 breweries involved, Mash Up is being touted as potentially the world’s largest ever collaboration beer. Showcasing his trademark modesty and low media profile, the Impish Brewer is quoted as saying “we thought of contacting the Guinness Book of World Records to get this verified but didn’t want to give them too much press.”
The label also notes special thanks to NZ Hops, Cryer Malt and Gladfield Malt. I was disappointed to find out that some breweries did not want to be part of the wider NZ Craft Beer TV process. The project was looking to raise the profile and prestige of the entire craft brewing industry and was worthy of complete support.
Mash Up is on tap now at Malthouse and tasting fine. It’s a balanced pale ale with a full bodied sweetness providing a base for sharp, lemony hops. Certainly not a hop bomb, it is hoppy, quenching and very drinkable for a 6% drop.
Unbelievably, at the same time as the NZ Craft Beer TV road tip and collaboration brew the Epic crew have also developed a new beer. Epic Hop Zombie is a 8.5% Double IPA which, given the name and brewery’s track record, is extremely likely to be a hop bomb. [2]
Hop Zombie is launched in Wellington on Thursday 12 May from 4pm to 3am. [3] Launch organiser Colin the Handsome Yet Softly Spoken Scottish Proprietor has written “Luke and Kelly will be in the ‘house, but sorry no air guitars please!” This last condition was greeted with sadness by one and a half Auckland brewers.
[1] It should be clear that I do not consider the 2000 movie Road Trip (featuring Tom Green being desperately unfunny and Seann William Scott playing exactly the same character as all his other films) to be a foundation of any civilisation.
[2] I certainly hope so.
[3] According to Facebook which is never wrong.
Cheers
Beer Writer
Real Beer New Zealand
Beer and Brewer Magazine
Links
NZ Craft Beer TV – http://nzcraftbeer.tv
Mash Up Q and A – http://nzcraftbeer.tv/tripjournal/2011/5/2/a-little-q-a-on-mash-up.html
Epic Hop Zombie – www.epicbeer.com
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/