Beer Friday! - Renaissance Brewing Co.

Hello again folks, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday! Jumping straight into it, this week I elected to purchase the Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout from Renaissance Brewing Company. Based out of Blenheim, the heart of New Zealand's wine-producing region, Renaissance is actually the only brewery (that I am aware of) that had product in the LCBO at the time of my departure. As such, this particular beer is not the first Renaissance offering I've had, but it is certainly the first that I remember.

The brewery, being located in a world-renowned wine producing region, certainly has a lot to live up to in terms of the quality its neighbours put out. Renaissance takes on this challenge with zeal, with their website stating "We produce top end, ultra premium ales that enlighten the palate and thrill the senses. Our beers are made from the pure waters that flow from the southern alps and we only use locally grown hops from our own backyard." This mantra and committment to producing top quality product has led them to being nominated for a number of awards, including winning an Australasian Brewery of the Year for 2012. Renaissance are is a great example of a New Zealand craft brewery that puts out top quality product.

Renaissance's back-of-the-bottle description prattles on about a whole pile of stuff that makes no sense to me, including cocoa nibs (is that licorice?) and the ubiquitous (and creepy) "smooth mouth feel." Moving on to regular people words, I must say that Craftsman has quite a wide range of complex flavours. After a few weeks of reviewing lighter, more straightforward beers, this one is a great change of pace. It starts, with a strong, almost smoky flavour, transitioning into a more bitter, chocolately type taste. The aftertaste is mildly hoppy, and it has a surprisingly pleasant burn to the finish. Despite all this, the flavours cohabit quite nicely, giving Craftsman a really smooth character. The coffee flavour really doesn't come through on a regular sip, but it was very apparent when I let it linger in my mouth before swallowing (I tried to wite that sentence in a way that doesn't sound overtly sexual, but it's impossible). All in all, from the rich, dark brown colour to the wide range of complex flavours, this beer is pretty darn remarkable. Certainly one of my favourites thus far (damn well better be, it' $9 for 500mL), I'll give it a  Gold Medal in the new Olympic sport of being a damn good beer.

Why Atlanta? Two words: DONOVAN BAILEY.

BONUS ROUND!!! - Monteith's Unfiltered Apricot Wheat
Everyone likes getting more than they bargained for, and this week, you get a double dip of Beer Friday! action. This is happening due to my prevailing laziness in getting this post out on actual Friday. After writing up my Craftsman piece last night, I was feeling a little WAVY and decided to put off editing until today. HOWEVAH, when I was out doing some errands today (I put on my big boy cape this morning), I noticed that the grocery store had Monteith's new range for sale, so I had to pick one up.

A little background: Monteith's, based out of Greymouth, was an independent brewer up until recently, when they were bought by DB, a large NZ brewing conglomerate (they also own Tui and distribute international beers such as Heineken, Tiger, etc.). Monteith's put out a range of great beers (the Summer Ale and Radler being my favourites), but DB decided to halt Monty's operations in Greymouth, renovate the existing brewery (turning it into one of the most technologically advanced in the Southern Hemisphere) and turn its focus to producing a "Brewer's Series", a selection of beers made in small batches with the line-up changing frequently. Monteith's Unfiltered Apricot Wheat (along with Alcoholic Ginger Beer, Barrel Aged Porter and India Pale Ale) is the first of the "Brewer's Series" to hit NZ shelves since the brewery in Greymouth re-opened this year.

The beer itself, according to the label, is based on the Bavarian Hefeweizen (wheat beer), and incorporates some NZ touches from there. Otago apricots are combined with wheat malt and noble hops (I imagine these to be the hops that would sit in the House of Lords in 17th Century England) in an attempt to create a refreshing, summery type brew. Generally speaking, wheat beers are quite cloudy, and I was quite surprised to find that this one was relatively clear. Not a terrible thing, but for a beer that's advertised as "unfiltered", slightly confusing. As for the taste, I didn't get the flavour of the apricots coming through as much as I would have anticipated, and in general, the taste itself is rather plain. Perhaps adding a slice of fruit to the proceedings (like an orange in many other wheat beers) would help a little, but that would go against my attempts to to contract scurvy*. To be perfectly honest, I had really high hopes for Monteith's new stuff (because their old range is so great), but this one is a little disappointing. It'd be a decent beer for sipping on at the cottage, but it it doesn't really elevate itself beyond a lot of the other wheat beers out there. I don't want to give it a rating, being as it's probably going to be a sad one. Oh well, it's still beer (and I will sample as many other Monty's products as I can get)!

Until next time...

Dave

* - Two points: 1. I am not actually trying to get scurvy. 2. According to Scarfy legend, the last documented case of scurvy in NZ was from a student flat here in Dunedin. Awesome.