Beer with a Whiff of History

This week Epic Brewing Co. release their new batch of Barrel-Aged IPA, which draws inspiration from the past and present.

Photo: Norm Blyton

British brewers created the IPA (India Pale Ale) originally as a pale ale style in the eighteen century to satisfy the demands of their countrymen living in India. The long trip from England to India, around the Cape of Good Hope emulated the cellaring that used to occur with such beers, resulting in increased depth of flavour and maturity. Doubling the amount of hops (a natural preservative) resulted in a hoppy, high-alcohol (in those days 6.5-7%) beer we know today as IPA.

In 2009, curious about how the long sea voyage in barrels would affect a beer, Epic’s Luke Nicholas put 40 litres of his Armageddon IPA into two oak barrels and sat them on the Interislander ferry for six weeks as it made it’s way back and forth across the choppy Cook Strait. The resulting beer proved so popular that Luke made another larger batch - and another and another.

Each time the beer has turned out slightly differently, reacting to the diverse barrels to give various flavours. This year Epic used new American oak barrels and aged the beer for three months, as opposed to two months for the 2010 vintage. Some fresh Armageddon was also blended with the barrel-aged ale, resulting in a beer in which the large vanilla oak character is balanced by the fresh hops. Mandarin, orange oil and cedar are evident in the palate as well. Barrel-Aged IPA is the perfect accompaniment for a creamy blue cheese.

The 2010 Barrel-Aged IPA picked up a Gold Medal and a Best in Class trophy at last year's Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards and has picked up a Silver Medal this year. Armageddon IPA also picked up a Gold Medal and a Best in Class trophy at the 2011 awards.

Epic Barrel-Aged IPA will be available in bars and retail outlets around the country. For more information, please contact Epic Brewing Co on 0800 212 337 or email orders@epicbeer.com

Epic Pale Ale - NZ's Best Value Beer

So how do I know that I'm getting value for money? Up until now it has been calculated on-the-fly based on experience, gut-feel and some badly applied maths. I was having a bit of a slow day recently so I decided to devise the beer value formula. I had no idea how this formula would work. All I knew is that it would need to prove that Epic Pale Ale is the best value beer that money can buy in New Zealand

Like any good analyst I put my newly gathered statistics into a spreadsheet.  From there I worked out a standard cost - $per/100ml. The range here was no surprise, from 51 cents for that on-special Heineken to $2.33 for Chimay Grand Reserve. Epic (on special for $13.49 a 4 pack) came in sixth at $1.02.

Now how to apply quality? That could be a bit trickier. Quality of any product is intrinsic, it is a factor of the quality of its base components and the process used to put them together. But quality can only really be judged subjectively. The most effective quality rating systems are based on common scoring criteria and applied by a large group of qualified judges. Ratebeer.com is as good as it gets when it comes to rating consumer products. 
 
I added a new column to show the Ratebeer overall score. Seeing that Epic scored 97/100 and Heineken 7/100 I knew I was onto something. Now for the formula - I simply divided the Ratebeer score by the cost. The result of this division is effectively how much quality is bought with every dollar spent. 

Now last step – sort by value - and there it was Epic Pale Ale top of the pack at 95.10 (97/1.02) - no fudging required. 

For the full original posting of this great article see Brew Nation - New Zealand's Best Value Beer

[VIDEO] British High Commissioner to New Zealand Vicki Treadell

British High Commissioner to New Zealand Vicki Treadell wants to engage with the modern generation of New Zealanders, and help them make a connection with the UK.

In this video she talks about meeting Luke Nicholas, the young entrepreneur from the Epic Brewing Company. His experience in the UK shows the possibilities Britain offers for creative innovators and young New Zealand businesses.

Original Link

Epic Beer 2010 Top 10

As has now become a tradition on Christmas Eve I highlight what I think where the top 10 achievements for Epic Brewing Company over the last 12 months. (see how things have changed in the Top 10 – 2009 and 2008 )

1. Discovery Channel series Brew Masters, and brewing the Portmarillo with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head

2. Exporting – continuing growth of exports to Australia (Better Beer Imports), plus the first exports to the US (Shelton Brothers) and Sweden (Galatea) (40 foot container arrives 2/2/11).

3. Thornbridge Stout collaboration with Kelly Ryan in Auckland.

4. Barrel ageing of beer expanded to 12 x 225 litre new American Oak (medium toast) barrels, which we aged the Armageddon IPA for 2 months and then the Thornbridge Stout for 4 months. (Last year it was just two 20 litre barrels on the InterIslander)

6. Best Beer in Australia & New Zealand 1st Epic Armageddon IPA, 2nd Epic Pale Ale

7. Epic Barrel Aged IPA, won Gold and Best in Class trophy at the BrewNZ Beer Awards 2010

8. Twitter followers grew from 4000 to 7300 

9. The Malthouse Tap Takeover, 8 Epic Beers on tap for one night, and the announcement that Kelly Ryan, from Thornbridge brewery in the UK will be joining the Epic team in 2011.

10 . Judging at the World Beer Cup 2010, in Chicago (as did Kelly Ryan)

I'd like to thank everyone that has supported, followed, friended, retweeted and bought Epic Beer this year.  We are looking forward to turning it up to 11 next year. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Hope I get a chance in 2011 to catch up and have a beer with you somewhere on my travels.

Keep drinking the good stuff

Cheers

Luke Nicholas

P.S. I'm leaving Santa a bottle of Portamarillo this year.

Embrace this ‘big’ concept by Denise "The Beer Girl"

Sometimes—actually strike that—frequently, I enjoy drinking beer that showcases BIG flavours. Luckily, here in New Zealand there are numerous craft breweries brewing beers which do just that, and do it well. But there’s one brewery that has embraced this ‘big’ concept more than any other—Epic Brewing Company.

Epic beer is just what it claims to be—the beers have big aromas, big flavours and leave a big impression. There are four (soon to be five) beers in the Epic family, and it all started in 2006 with the Epic Pale Ale 5.4%. Based on the American pale ales that brewer Luke Nicholas fell in love with while he was working in States about ten years ago, the pale ale has 23 hops per 500mL bottle—about 23 times more than your average commercial beer.

The Epic Pale Ale has a big, fruity hop aroma, and tastes fruity too. The beer boasts grapefruit and orange citrus flavours, a strong caramel malt body and the characteristic hop bitterness that makes Epic epic. At $16 for a 2L rigger at Regional Wines and Spirits or about $6 for a 500mL bottle at your local supermarket, there’s no excuse for not at least trying beer with big flavour.

But for those of you willing to risk trying something bigger, and probably more rewarding, the annual Epic Mayhem 6.2% brew has just been released. When I spoke to Luke Nicholas at the 2010 launch last week, he had trouble trying to explain what style of beer it actually is.“It’s all of the Epic beers in one. It doesn’t fit in a box.”

While even the brewer finds it hard to define what exactly Mayhem is, I can. It’s tasty. Obviously American inspired, it has the citrus hop aroma and flavours that are present in all the Epic beers, but this time the lemony taste is accompanied by an earthy character from the New Zealand hops Luke has added. A big roasted and caramel malt flavour backs up and, dare I say it, balances out the beer. Big, bold and un-boxed, Mayhem can be found on tap at the Malthouse or for about $10 at your regular take-away beer store.

Epic has two more family members. Epic Lager 5%, which some describe as a ‘lawn mower’ beer, Luke says he “wanted to have something between the Epic Pale Ale and Steinlager or Heineken”.

Though it’s the lightest Epic beer with 9 hops per 500mLs, flavour-wise it’s definitely a few hundred metres ahead of the other lagers on the market. Epic Armageddon 6.66%, with a massive 42 hops per 500mLs, sits at the other end of the spectrum and is a complete hop explosion. It has strong green, earthy and fruity hop flavours with a big dose of bitterness, a must-try for the hop-heads or those of you wanting to challenge your palate.

So next time you’re feeling hopless, you really can’t go past the company that does big flavour better than almost every other New Zealand brewery. Epic. I mean, even the name is big.

If you have any questions or comments about this week’s beers, you can email  denisethebeergirl@gmail.com

Original Article at Salient