Assuming he clears quarantine after flying in from Auckland, Joe will be in the hiz-house from mid-afternoon to preside over a Liberty Tap Car Jack, provide ballroom dance lessons to any and all customers, and deliver hourly tutorials on motivational speaking from atop the bar. [2]

In breathless anticipation of Mr Wood’s arrival, I took the extreme liberty [3] of calling him and asking a few searching questions. As an award-winning beer journalist I can say that the general difficulty when interviewing a brewer is keeping up with them when they begin gush forth on the merits of their cardamom spiced double pumpkin ale or New World Saison flavoured with the essence of spinach smoked over pukeko bones.

That is not the case with Joseph Wood. He does not like to talk a lot. [4] Getting answers out of him is like getting Helen Clark to admit to a mistake – it occurs from time to time but it is not easy and happens rarely. That said, I got three exclusive answers from Joe and a bombshell revelation about a beer featuring the current New Zealand Beer Writer of the Year.

My first question was about how the new co-located brewery with Hallertau in Kumeu was working out. Joe said “it is exceptionally busy and we are making lots of beer. The brewery works well, it functions as a brewery should, you know. [5] It is a great place to be. I get the pleasure to work with good friends – the Plowmans and all the lads. We have a good team up here, it is like a family.”

I then asked about the selection he has brought to Malthouse. Joe answered “nothing too obscure but I know it can be tough to find stuff like this on tap in Wellington. Given the time of the year we have run out of Pilsner but there are plenty of options. Friday offers the opportunity to go somewhere and try everything from Liberty in one place. Usually our beers are scattered around Wellington, from Upper Hutt to Island Bay”

The next question was “why Malthouse?” He replied “there are not many places that have been as enthusiastic to get Liberty beer on. I need to look after them.” After some prompting he added “good company – Colin has grown to be a bit of a mate over the years.” After some pleading he conceded “yeah, guys like you too Miller.”

Then Mr Wood dropped the bomb saying “look out for the new M!llers beer. I’m brewing it next week to celebrate your success as Beer Writer of the Year.” For those that do not know, Joe had previously brewed two beers under the M!llers designation – M!llers Humulus and M!llers Lupulus. [6] Both were clones of my favourite beer on the planet – Russian River Pliny the Elder. There was only one difference between the two and most people (including me) assumed it was the hops. In fact, it was the malt, with one being made with US malt and the other with New Zealand malt.

This time, Liberty will brew M!llers Humulus which was my favourite in a blind tasting at the launch. [7] Never known for his subtlety, Joe said “we don’t really have the time to do it but we just have to [expletive deleted] do it. I’m aiming for 2,000 litres but it is bit of an ask when you put that much hops in.”

The first beers featured quite awesome labels created by now SOBA President and bartender extraordinaire David Wood using images filched from my Facebook page. Dave kindly gave me copies of the labels which still sit in pride of place in my office. I mean, how often does a beer get named after you? I presumed Liberty would reuse the original labels on the grounds that I have never looked so good and everything always needs more hops. However, Joe says this batch will “have a swanky label and it is going to be exciting.” M!llers Humulus is due to be launched around 18 February and Malthouse had better get a keg. I know I will.

Back to the Liberty Tap Car Jack [8] which begins mid-afternoon on Friday 23 January 2015. Brewer Joe Wood will be in attendance all day and encourages people to use the hashtag #wheresJoe when tweeting about the event. [9]

The Liberty beers on tap for this event will be:

Liberty Citra (A constant in my top ten beers of the year)
Liberty Citra Junior (A more responsible version of the beer above).
Liberty Oh Brother
Liberty Yakima Scarlett
Liberty Yakima Monster
Liberty Sauvignon Bomb

I will be at Malthouse from 3pm on Friday assisting Mr Wood with his dancing and public speaking. I owe this man. During my pescatarian phase he deigned to cook fish on his beloved BBQ. Admittedly he did create a foil plate so that the fish never physically touched the sacred grill but he filled that platter with butter and herbs then produced fish so fine that the method of grilling will be forever known as “Getting Wood.” Oh Brother.

Next time, we drink to the Green Bay Packers. The favourite team of sensational beer writer Jay R Brooks was cruelly knocked out by the evil Seattle Seahawks after they forget to defend their huge first half lead. Having to watch the Seahawks versus the New England Patriots is akin to watching England play Australia in rugby – you cannot honestly support either team but secretly hope for a lot of carnage.

[1] Joseph was a dead cert to win New Zealand’s Most Bogan Brewer until Mike Neilson started up Panhead. Now it is much harder to call. Oh, Hells Bells.

[2] Malthouse is legally obliged to note that only one of these three promises is actually true but Malthouse also wishes to assure dedicated readers and drinkers that there will be subject experts on hand to assist with the other two.

[3] See what I did there?

[4] At least stone cold sober at 11am on a Wednesday morning. This interview may have been quite different if it was conducted at 5pm on Friday evening.

[5] Apologies to readers for all the technical mumbo-jumbo in this answer.

[6] Humulus Lupulus being the Latin name for hops. As I assume everyone is aware.

[7] I don’t recall the name of the bar.

[8] This is not the official name of the event – but it should be.

[9] This is an in joke from Beer World Cup. It is so in that even I have no idea what it means. Colin the Handsome yet Softly Spoken Scottish Proprietor assures me that is apparently hugely funny and who am I to argue to argue with a Glaswegian hairdresser who can call in my tab at any moment?

Cheers

Neil Miller
Beer Writer
Beer and Brewer Magazine
Cuisine Magazine
TheShout Magazine
New Zealand Liquor News Magazine

Links

Liberty Brewing – http://www.libertybrewing.co.nz/ 
Malthouse Facebook – www.facebook.com/pages/Malthouse/7084276173
Malthouse Twitter – www.twitter.com/#!/malthouse
Malthouse Taps on Twitter – www.twitter.com/#!/MalthouseTaps
Neil Miller on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/#!/beerlytweeting