Monday, August 30, 2010 at 9:02AM Luke Nicholas of Epic Brewing Company and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery sit down for a chat while brewing the second installment of their collaborative brew PortaMarillo using two native New Zealand ingredients, tamarillo's and pohutakawa wood chips, at Luke's brewery in Auckland, NZ.
Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 11:49AM @EpicBeer makes "The periodic table of Kiwi Twitterers" by @LukeAppleby
"So if you're keen to join the conversation, but are perhaps looking for some interesting people to follow, I present you with the The Periodic Table of New Zealand Twitter Users.
It's by no means a full set - more like a hand-picked selection.
Sure, it might be a little bit biased towards the media/technology side of things, but those types are generally interesting, intelligent, engaging and active, so I reckon it's a good crop. There's something (or someone) there for everyone."
Also on Twitter - We Follow
@EpicBeer is currently the 20th Most Influential Twitterer on the topic Beer
Finally, it is the easiest why to stay up to date with the latest in the @EpicBeer world. Haven't had the time recently to update the blog, or do a newsletter. Follow on Twitter @EpicBeer
Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 5:39PM 
This Saturday, Malthouse will host the Third Annual West Coast IPA Challenge. According to legend, the Challenge was conceived by Luke Nicholas (Epic Brewing Company) and Steve Plowman (Hallertau Brewbar) during the 2008 World Beer Cup in San Diego, CA. Luke was a judge, Steve was there just ‘hanging around.’
Over several pints of various unctuous India Pale Ales brewed in and around California, they began to discuss whether similar beers could be made back in New Zealand. Each was adamant they could certainly do it, but somewhat more sceptical that the other could. The result was a challenge – brew a hop-fuelled IPA which was inspired by the beers of America’s West Coast.
The 2010 Challenge will be held at Malthouse starting 3pm on Saturday 17 July and, according to Facebook events at least, finishing at 3am on Sunday 18 July. For the first time, people attending the Challenge will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite and an official winner will be declared on this blog next week… though probably leaked on Twitter well before then. Voting will be conducted through a trusted system from antiquity * but the details will not be revealed now for fear that a brewer – potentially an impish one – might attempt to rig the ballot.
In preparation for this gladiatorial event, I talked to both the brewers. First up, I asked if there were any changes to their beers from 2009. Luke indicated there were no changes to his Epic Armageddon (6.66%). ** “Basically, my seasonal beer has become permanent so the recipe is set. However, I do have a super secret beer I will be putting on tap at the Challenge. I’ve kept it completely under wraps – Mr Plowman doesn’t even know about it. There will be a sneak preview on Saturday,” Luke said.
By way of contrast, Steve has tinkered with Hallertau Maximus Humulus Lupulus (6.8%). *** He explained “I wanted to up the drinkability a little bit so I played around with the malt balance. There is less Crystal Malt and more Munich Malt. I also used less Columbus hops, more Simcoe hops and the same amount of Amarillo.” The hop fuel for Armageddon is quite similar with the traditional ‘shed-loads’ of US-grown Cascade, Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe
The next question was geographical rather than philosophical. Why would two brewers based in Auckland hold a showpiece event like the Challenge in Wellington? The answer, it seems, is the venue and the drinkers. Steve said “There is nowhere to have it in Auckland. If we had it in Auckland, half the number of people would turn up and half of them would be whingeing about the beers being too hoppy. Drinkers in Wellington have much more hop-focused palates, more so than anywhere else in the country. In the end, it is based on a simple concentration of hop fiends.”
Much to everyone’s surprise, Luke agrees. “Auckland does not have a rocking freaking venue. **** Malthouse and Wellington is where the good beer people are. There is also a sympathetic publican who lets me air guitar all night long!” ***** In related news, everyone who RSVPs on Facebook for the Challenge will receive a free set of air guitar strings courtesy of Malthouse.
In last year’s Challenge preview, each brewer talked a lot of retro pro-wrestling smack about the other. As indicated at the time, the exchange was entirely fictitious. This year, they were persuaded to offer a few real insights and insults after been told that the other had already done so. In terms of journalism, that is a small step up the ethical scale at least.
Luke cryptically suggested that his opponent “should be ready to face the Apocalypse” and “watch out for the Four Horseman.” He also hinted at a Double IPA Challenge in the future. Steve was at his epicurean best noting that “Luke has been running around talking up his big rep. Just because you are the flying brewer does not mean you are a hoppy brewer.”
The final word, for once, goes to Steve Plowman. Asked to sum up the Third Annual West Coast IPA Challenge he pauses thoughtfully then observes “Hops will be the winner on the day – and that’s the best result you could ask for really.”
* So obviously not MMP then
** The Number of the Yeast
*** The Neighbour of the Yeast
**** Some editing may have occurred here to keep the site’s PG rating
***** Not!
Cheers
Beer Writer
[Epic Apocalypse, 6.25% - Cascadian Dark Ale, aka Black IPA, quiet release at West Coast IPA Challenge]
apocalypse, black ipa, cascadian, hallertau, neil miller, the malthouse Monday, July 12, 2010 at 4:31PM Kelly Ryan does such a great job telling the story of the brew day I have just cut and paste it here for all to read. Original Post
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After a wee hiatus I’m back again to finish regaling (or boring, the terms are interchangeable) the world about the fantastic New Zealand craft brewing scene. My beer tour of New Zealand near an end, it was time to hit Auckland and jump back into a brewery to take part in New Zealand’s first ever international collaboration brew!
Some of you may recall this time last year, Luke Nicholas from Epic Brewing was over brewing his brilliant Epic Pale Ale at Everards as part of the JD Wetherspoons International Real Ale Festival. I’d never met Luke, though heard and read a load online about his positive impact on the NZ craft beer scene, his unwavering devotion to education about beer and his sheer, unrivalled enthusiasm. Coupled with the fact that when I tried his beers I was blown away by how good they were, there was no choice but to ask him if he was keen to do a collaboration, which I wrote about here.
So now it was my turn! After regular email, twitter and phone contact over half a year, we’d managed to come up with a recipe we were both pleased with. Luke had never brewed an Epic Stout before, us Thornbridgers were relatively deft at dark beers (I can say that, it’s my blog…) and Luke was also really keen to have a play with some UK hops.
The decision was made to go with the brilliantly aromatic Target hops that we’d showcased in our Halcyon Green Hop Harvest beers in 2009 and 201o, as well as Bramling Cross, the key hop in our Hopton. Considering Bramling Cross had been tough to get a couple of years back, it’s great to see it back on the market and as brewers, it’s a case of use it or lose it. The world doesn’t need any more of these great hop varieties to disappear into nonexistence. So with the orange marmalade, yellow stone fruit and pineapple characters of Target coupled with the slightly earthy, citrus-dusted and berry-smacked delights of Bramling Cross, we had the makings of a beer!
Epic Thornbridge Stout - the pre-label (Photo: Jed Soane)
Luke weaved his malty magic and a backbone of British Maris Otter was accompanied by copious amounts of Munich malt to add a layer of caramel (and sometimes even strawberry-like) intensity and this was also joined by a good whack of brown malt. Brown malt is something we’ve played around a bit with at Thornbridge, noticeably in Bracia but also in our raspberry infused porter, Katipo. It gives the beer quite a bit of astringency, a tarry, almost charred treacle note and a hint of dryness. It is the maturation of beer with brown malt that is interesting to me. As the beer develops over a period of months, the brown malt character softens. There is less of that burnt acridity but no loss in the fantastic flavours that it provides. It softens and improves and is a great addition to any dark beer that is to undergo extended tank or bottle maturation (the longer the better, I reckon!). The brown malt was joined by the full, rounded flavours that CaraMunich give, the soft, colour-rich CaraFa, Pale Chocolate for a hint of chocolatey goodness, Dark Crystal for that toasted nut and dried fruit character and some Roast Barley for a touch more dryness and burnt coffee edge.
Our final recipe tweaks done a couple of days before, we were ready to rock! I arrived in Auckland the night before, checked in to the hotel and had a sleepless night. I was transported back to childhood, that Christmas Eve feeling when you can’t get to sleep, eyes wide open, ear canals stretched for the jingle of the reindeer’s bell. My alarm was set for before 6 as it was an early start. Why were the digits on the alarm clock changing so slowly? I went through the recipe in my head. The usual doubt and worries that accompany a new brew rang loudly. Was the malt bill okay? Would that much dark malt overwhelm the hop character we were trying to acheive? How much dry hopping did we want to do? Should we have got some other British varieties to include? How many times before had I lay in the dark and thought about these types of things…
Don’t be afraid of the dark…
The day dawned, fresh and sunny, I went outside and waited for Luke to pick me up. “Sorry, dude, running a bit late,” was the text. So I waited. Luke arrived, fully amped. “Dude! Had an EPIC night, hardly any sleep,” he said as I jumped into the car. He didn’t look like he’s only had a couple of hours sleep, Luke always emanates an almost impish exuberance (they don’t call him the Impish Brewer for nothing, I guess) and I was about to find out why! Luke had been at a Faith No More concert the night before, the same band that came to fruition with an amazing song called, funnily enough, Epic. Luke had sussed some Epic brews out for the band, got backstage and been drinking with Faith No More all night! Lucky bugger! I forgave him for being late.
We arrived at Steam Brewery, and I met brewmaster, Shane Morley, a brilliant brewer who manages a vast array of beers and beverages, no mean feat for such a small brewteam. We finalised the recipe, altered the salt profile slightly and began mashing in! The brewery itself has been cobbled together from a mish mash of old dairy vessels and brewing equipment and like most breweries, is a marvel of engineering. Steel, pipes and steam, pumps and cyberpunk imaginings coupled with that rich, biscuity, malty aroma… William Gibson discovers brewing… now there’s a novel…
Luke and I checking out the mash (Photo: Jed Soane)
Mash in, we turned our minds to the avenue of brand new medium toast American Oak barrels. They had just arrived from Napa Valley in the US and were ripe for filling with Luke’s ridiculously hoppy Epic Armageddon IPA. First up, the Steam Brewing lads drained the fermenter cone of dry hops. Now, I like to think we use quite a liberal amount of hops at Thornbridge, albeit more on the hot side than in dry-hopping, but the hop slurry that erupted from the base of the vessel seemed to go on forever! Luke just grinned… of course he did…
If you could smell the aroma coming from these barrels... was soooo good (Photo: Jed Soane)
Oak casks filled, I showed Luke the correct way to put a bung in (didn’t want him whacking it with a mallet, getting full rebound and smashing himself in the face did I… well, not unless a video camera was ready…) and the beginnings of another beer, Oak aged Armageddon IPA, were complete. The great thing about being there for the inaugural filling was the fact that half of our Epic Thornbridge Stout was also destined for these casks. Can’t wait to try that one!
Discussing the intricacies of crappy wort run-off with Shane (Photo: Jed Soane)
Lautering began, but with a few difficulties as the mash stuck slightly, restricting runoff. Shane did a few tweaks but was worried that the extra calcium carbonate we had added to the mash hadn’t dissolved properly (further research indicates it’s pretty much insoluble in water). Gypsum and baking soda all the way I reckon! The reason we’re keen for some carbonate or bicarbonate ions is that some of the compounds that result from the kilning of darker malts can be quite acidic. Carbonate ions are alkaline and help to mellow this character.
I managed to stay right up until the end of the boil, with the wort tasting fantastically rich. Nutty, sweet and chocolatey with just the right balance of acidity and hop character. I’d had a brilliant day with the Epic and Steam crew, the Epic Thornbridge Stout was bang on target. Already I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a bottle of New Zealand’s first ever international collaboration brew, I was stoked to be part of it!
Shane working hard, Luke and I sampling harder! (Photo: Jed Soane)
A few months later I found myself in Chicago, having been invited to judge in the incredible World Beer Cup. Luke was also there with his judging hat on and he’d even managed to bring a pre-release bottle of our Epic Thornbridge Stout. It finished bang on at 6.8% AbV and a well rounded 54 IBU. I tasted it and was instantly impressed by the smoothness. The hand bottle conditioning was slightly overcarbonated, but the potential was there. Wafts of chocolate malt goodness, great body and drinkability and that charred dry brown malt character. It needed longer though, another month or so maturation, even a couple of months in the bottle and it would be spot on. I’m hoping like hell that Luke has saved me a couple of bottles! Stan Heironymus wrote a post about the tasting here.
The inaugural ETS pouring (Alex Barlow from All Beer is very excited!) (Photo: The lovely Melissa Cole)
Luke wasn’t afraid of the dark… neither should you be!
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 10:08AM My friend Luke Nicholas, the founder and brewer for New Zealand’s Epic Beer, was in town on Monday for a couple of days, before flying to Delaware to do a collaboration brew with Sam Calagione at Dogfish Head. I met up with him at 21st Amendment for a quick drink and to try two of his new beers.
The first, a stout, was also a collaboration between the Thornbridge Brewery in the UK. Rich and chocolately, it was a very nice stout. The second, Oaked Aged Armageddon IPA, is Luke’s regular IPA, but aged on lightly toasted oak. It uses all American hops: Cascade, Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe. At 66 IBUs it’s a big, hoppy, floral IPA. But for New Zealand — whose mainstream lagers are even lighter than our mainstream lagers — it’s so huge it’s … well, epic. But the toasted oak adds a nice dimension that’s subtle but a welcome addition.
Luke and Zambo.
Also, new head 21A head brewer Zambo was just tapping their most recent creation, a Belgian-style IPA, similar to the Belgian Pale Ale they did last year, but hoppier, of course.
Me and Luke outside 21A.
21st Amendment, Ssan francisco, jay brookes, luke nicholas, sf, zambo 