Epic Wellington Visit - 15th to 18th May

For all of those that live in Wellington I am coming to town to do some tastings of Epic Beer.

15th May - 'Meet the Brewer' tasting at the Malthouse, 48 Courtenay Place. 5pm to 7pm. Nothing too formal, other than taste the beers and I'll explain why they are like that and where to from here.

16th, 17th & 18th May - 'Food Show' 10am to 6pm I'll be manning the Epic Beer stand so come by for a sample. We are located in the Hawkes Bay section next to our sales agent Sileni Estates.

(I won't be on the stand from 3.30pm on Friday as I am doing a corporate tasting from 4pm)

Want to have a beer with me out side these times follow me at http://twitter.com/epicbeer

Regional Wines & Spirits Say Nice Things About Epic Lager

Epic Lager 5.0%
The advent of Epic Pale Ale has been a revelation for those who crave for flavour that the vast majority of mass-produced beers fail to deliver. It was created by Luke Nicholas who, after being introduced to craft beers in California, became brewer for Steam Brewing in Auckland. His first beer under the Epic brand name was designed to pack in as much flavour as possible into each bottle. Epic Pale Ale has the equivalent of 15 hops per bottle - a mind-boggling, 3000% more than regular beers. However, for some people this is just too much hop!

Now, Luke has made an 'entry-level' brew for the Epic brand - Epic Lager. With ‘only’ the equivalent of six hops per bottle, the recipe for Epic Lager includes a blend of Bavarian and Moravian Pilsner malts, and two aromatic, but low bitterness American ‘Noble’ hop varieties to tone down the powerful flavour. Luke reckons: "If you are (an Epic) pale ale drinker it probably won't have the hop hit you are used to, but you will now have a beer to share with your friends that are scared of hops and flavour." Our beer expert Geoff Griggs says: “Despite the reduction in hops, Epic lager is still an aromatic and flavoursome brew and it certainly gets a big thumbs-up from me.” (330 ml)

This can be found on the front page of the Regional Wines & Spirits website

Drinking Social - Epic Pale Ale

Comments made about Epic Pale Ale on the Drinking Social website

- a hoppy punch in the face with a cunningly moreish finish

- A hop fueled dynamite beer that is refreshing, balanced and quite possibly my favorite beer of all time. I may now die.

Full Story

Epic - Superhero of the NZ Beer Market

Or how about Epic Beer? Grenville Main, managing director of DNA, the design company behind the brand, describes it as ‘the ultimate niche beer’.

"You could call it passion or insanity to build a beer this strong," he says, "but we see it as designing a solution to a market that needed a superhero."

Full Story

Back from Judging at the World Beer Cup

I'm now back from judging at the World Beer Cup in San Diego. Over the next week or so, I'll be uploading a trip report and photos from my time there.

If you didn't follow my Twitter feed while I was away you can go back and have a look at all the beers I tried while on tour.

Paul Mercurio's Recipe - Epic Scrambled Eggs

BEER SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH SMOKED FISH AND GOATS CHEESE TOAST

4 Free range eggs
Fresh Dill
Cream
2 Epic Beer (Epic is a NZ brand, comes in six packs)
Vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
Salt and cracked pepper
NZ Smoked Trout, in strips
Sourdough bread, good quality to slice thinly
New Zealand Goats Cheese, good quality spreadable

Full Story

[PHOTO] Epic Lager

Brewing social alcohol

You can’t get much more social than a nice cold one on a Friday afternoon. Brewer and closet geek Luke Nicholas brews Epic Pale Ale and markets it using, among other things, blogging, Facebook and micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Here’s how he keeps up.

Full Story

Epic Lager for Easter

After some long delays this week in getting the newly bottled Epic Lager out of the brewery and on the trucks, it should be turning up at the following locations in time for Easter (fingers crossed)

ON TAP:
Hallertau
The Malthouse

IN BOTTLE (yes it is a green bottle)
New World Victoria Park - (they already sold out once last weekend)
Liquorland Mt Eden
Liquorland Albany
Don Johnson's Wines & Spirits
New World Devonport
AZ Liquor (next to NOSH, GI)
Herne Bay Cellars
Alberton Fine Foods
New World Te Rapa
New World Hillcrest
New World Warkworth
Kowhai Liquor Centre
Blend Winestore (previously Wine on Jervois)
La Barrique (Mt Eden & Remuera)
New World Eastridge

More stores will follow next week. Sorry but I don't think the deliveries will happen in time for Wellington stores. Epic Lager only arrived into Wellington overnight and probably won't make it for delivers today, but you never know.

Need a map to find an Epic Beer?

[BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT] Epic Lager

This morning at 8.40am Friday 14th March 2008, Epic Lager was born. A hoppy lager in a 330ml green twist top bottle.

Early delivers were made to Mt Eden Liquorland, and New World Victoria Park. More stock will roll out next week, including Wellington.

Epic Lager is available on tap now at Hallertau and the Malthouse.

Another on tap addition was made by Galbraith's Alehouse with Epic Pale Ale now serving on tap.

[PHOTOS] Epic with fresh hops

Harvested some of my homegrown hops, and took a few photos yesterday. Thought you might enjoy.

Cheers
Luke Nicholas

Wellington Bloggers Meet-up February 2008 3

Wellington Bloggers Meet-up February 2008 3
Originally uploaded by Miramar Mike

Bit of Epic love for and from the Wellington Bloggers at Mighty Mighty.

Cheers
Luke