Antipodean Gems

One of the New Zealand breweries I was most impressed by on my recent trip (and beforehand) is 8 wired. So much so that I managed to track down some of their beers at the excellent bottle shop when I got home. Here are my thoughts:

Ø for awesome is a collaboration brew between 8-wired, Renaissance and Nøgne Ø (check out the pics on this blog). It gets its name from a now cult TV appearance of a former heavyweight boxer. Dark garnet-mahogany with fluffy ochre head. Very dull musty pine needles and caramel on the nose. Some initial resin up front, then cardboard, toffee and warming alcohol. Touch solventy in finish. Can see the nogneø and renaissance influences, sadly hops have long since faded.  A shame as its only been out for a year. (Release date was that wonderful palindrome 21/02/2012).

Saison Sauvin was the beer I was most keen to try and had actively searched for it in New Zealand but to no avail. To me it sounded the perfect combination of Belgian yeast and New Zealand hops. The actual beer was slightly disappointing though. cloudy amber with pithy tangerine and dusty saison yeast. Sweet passion fruit and gooseberry flavours followed by a mix of yeast esters and warming dry malt. The alcohol is a bit heavy in the finish. Fairly biting carbonation and medium body. 

In complete contrast Fresh Hopwired is my highest rated beer in the 8 Wired lineup, besting even their excellent iStout. Looking at the hop line-up its unsurprising as the big hitters and my favourites are there...Pacific Jade, Nelson Sauvin and Motueka. As the name suggests, this is Hopwired with the added lupulin hit that only using wet hops can provide. very hazy amber with strong passion fruit and gooseberry. Plenty of damp hops woody notes too. High carbonation, juicy medium bodied, gooseberries up front, lupulin punch on tip of tongue. Long pithy tropical bitter finish. 

Finally we have C4 double coffee brown ale. Hopped with Pacific Jade, Pacifica and new Zealand Cascade its a clash of coffee and hops. Chestnut brown fruity coffee with grey brown head. Milk chocolate and some ashen notes. Pithy orange hops come first. Plum pudding and rich fruit coffee with increasing alcohol warmth down glass. Medium body with high residual sugar, low carbonation and slight burnt toast bitterness in finish.

So a mixed bunch then, probably my fault for not drinking them fresh enough but disappointing nonetheless.

On another note I really like the 8 wired website, lots of useful information and (more importantly) each beer has its own page for linking purposes! Follow them on twitter.

CABPOM March: Brooklyn Brown Ale and Ossau Iraty

From www.artisinalcheese.com

Cheese pairings don't have to be anything fancy. Last week I picked up a bottle of Brooklyn Brown Ale from the Vineyard in Belfast and some cheeses from Sawyers Deli. On tasting the beer I knew that it would work well with Ossau Iraty, a cheese I've had many times before (you can get it in Waitrose).

Non-boring brown beer

The beer pours a russet-brown with brief beige head and smells like cadburys whole nut chocolate, with hazelnuts and cocoa powder on the nose and plenty of toffee. The body is quite thin and well carbonated with a nuttiness from brown and chocolate malts and a sweet finish. As the beer warms up a resinous pine note is evinced.

Those nutty, earthey flavours are what work so well with the aged sheeps milk in ossau iraty. The savoury cheese helps to tone down that malt sweetness and the carbonation from the beer helps to pull some redfruit notes from the cheese.

Some heftier Norse Offerings

@beersiveknown

Last week I reviewed some of the special beers from the NogneO range but they also have a number of the more common styles. Today I will review no less than 5 IPAs (all above 7.5% ABV!) plus a brown ale, porter and Imperial stout. (Two IIPAs formed my FABPOW post). Better get my drinking head on then! 

The first couple I tried were both disappointing. Not that there was anything wrong with them. Both the Porter and Brown Ale are competently brewed beers and drink well enough, but there's nothing stand-out about them. I can get better examples of each for half the price I paid in any number of off-licences in the UK. 

For the Norwegian market they showcase the respective styles, but its not a beer that would find much favour in the home of these styles.

The Pale Ale was bottled exactly 6-months ago and the hops have already faded leaving us with a pithier version of Fuller's ESB. It's marmalade hops backed up by robust malt with a good whack of bitterness/ 6% ABV but very drinkable it didn't stay in my glass for long. After the initial shock of bitterness passion fruit and tangerine make themselves known leaving you with a long fruity finish.

I'd love to try this one fresh.

The same applies to the IPA. You know that its cascade in there, that grapefruit bitterness and hint of lemons is recognisable but the taste is somewhat diminished. Its a bit stickier that the pale ale and a slight alcohol burn at the end. It doesn't need to be this strong. Heftier still at 8.5% is the Two Captains another home-brew competition winner. Its nice enough with sprightly carbonation and pineapple esters on the nose. Its almost Belgique, but apparently just a UK yeast.

Turning to the dark-side we have the Imperial Stout top rated of the range with the Rate Beer crowd. So how does it stack up? Its very viscous black, tan head. The complex nose of vanilla, bourbon, tobacco, toffee invites investigation of the flavours. Thick and rich in body, sweet malt, sticky, slight sourness. The finish is as you would expect full of rich roasted coffee and dark chocolate, but also a fair bit of dried fruit too. It didn't disappoint!

Of those I've tried I'd suggest the Holy Smoke as my favourite and if you're a fan of rauchbeer  or [eaty islay drams give it a go. The imperial stout is also particularly good; so look out for that. Aside from that try the pale ones fresh  and only try the others if your wallet can stretch that far.

Of course, NogneO produce a lot more beers, which I may try in the future, but I doubt I'll be specifically seeking them out as there are so many other brewers, UK or otherwise, I've not yet tried at all. It seems its best to try them in the UK though as (although pricey) they're apparently cheaper here than in Norway!

CABPOM December: Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout and Aged Gouda

Two very different beers.

The continental market at Christmas time is something I look forward to as it affords the opportunity to try new cheeses. Two that took my fancy this time were Old Amsterdam Gouda and a goat's milk Gouda. Being quite different from my usual choices I thought they'd be good for this month's cheese and beer pairing. I turned to the BA's food & beer guide for inspiration and they suggest that aged goudas go well with both imperial stouts and brown ales. As I have an oatmeal stout and a nut brown ale from Sam Smith's I'd been waiting to try I decided to try these together and find out what works best.

Aged Gouda, oatcakes and goat Gouda.

Goat Gouda is a hard, slightly waxy off-white with a slight sweaty-feet aroma. Fairly chalky in texture it has a light and fruity flavour with a long finish.

Aged Gouda is a pale and crumbly yellow with an open texture. Not much in the way of aroma but more than made up for by the rich and lasting mature cheddar flavour.
 

Nut Brown Ale (5%)

This is a good  amber-brown bitter with off-white head. There's not much aroma in it other than a trace of yeast esters. Quite fruity up front with plenty of bready malt, an unpleasant metallic hop bitterness and a sweet finish.A bit of a let down if I'm honest considering the good things I've heard about it.

With goat gouda the nutbrown ale loses its metallic character and flavours of bruised apples and baked sulatanas are drawn out with a long sweet toffee finish. The cheese at first becomes more intense in flavour but strangely begins to have a very sweet icing-sugar finish.

With the aged gouda I got a strange solvent flavour from the beer and the cheese loses some of its complexity, not a match i'd recommend!

Oatmeal Stout (5%)

The Oatmeal Stout is dark brown-black with an aroma of tobacco and bitter coffee. Pours with a fluffy tan head. Sweet up front in the mouth with a hint of oak and smoke. The oats give it a creamy texture and a long milk chocolate finish. Again a slight metallic hop but not too distracting from the overall flavour, much more enjoyable.

Oatmeal stout and gouda is however a revelation, the tobacco from the aroma manifests itself in taste as good quality pipe tobaco of the kind the kindly old gentlemen waiting at the bus stop used to smoke. The cheese is lifted up from the palate and takes on a meaty flavour of good quality  ham and smoked bacon all at once. A sticky liquorice toffee finish is coaxed from the beer. When an oatcake or two is added into the equation it becomes a meal by itself and one I'd happily have again!

The beer stomps all over the delicate goats cheese however, though it does draw out some of the creamy and citrus flavours you'd expect from a fresh goats cheese.

CABPOM

So if you haven't been able to guess I'd recommend Sam Smith's oatmeal stout and aged gouda as a cheese and beer pairing to try!

I've discovered M&S in Belfast has a big cheese selection so I look forward to tasting and pairing these together with beer in the new year!