The Malthouse Epic Tap Takeover - 15/12/10

15th December 2010
The Malthouse
48 Courtenay Place, Wellington
Doors open 12pm 

8 Epic Beers - 1 Epic Bar

Try eight Epic beers on tap, for the first time in one location

Why?

This is the unofficial* 5th Birthday of Epic Brewing Company.

Also this is the official tap release of the Epic /Dogfish Head collaboration brew Portamarillo (as seen on Discovery Channel series Brew Masters, well seen in the US, NZ screen date to be announced)

Plus it's Christmas time.

Luke will also be announcing some really Epic news for 2011. 

This will be the single most Epic event this year

On Tap
Portamarillo - Epic / Dogfish Head
Epic Lager
Epic Pale Ale
Epic Mayhem
Epic Armageddon
Epic Thornbridge Stout
Epic Barrel IPA
Epic Barrel Stout



[* unofficial as it was the date of first bottling but didn't actually officially start selling commercially till the 1st May 2006 ]

[** also there will be a few bottles of 2007 Porter, and a small sample of Impropriety (the distilled Epic Pale Ale), only available while it lasts]  

[*** the first 50 people get free Air Guitar rental for the evening] 

Beervana is the one time of the year that you can visit a single location in New Zealand and try the largest range of New Zealand brewed beers in one place. On offer there will be over 160 different beers from all around the country.

The benefits of this are you get the freshest beer from nearly every brewery in NZ, you get to discover many small breweries you may not have heard of and even less likely to visit them in their remote, far away locations.

You also get to meet the people that made the beers. Pretty much every stand has the actual brewer there, so you have a chance to meet them and find out the interesting stories behind the beers and the brewer and what drives and inspires them.

There is a downside. You can’t physically get around to every stand and try every beer on offer. So as a professional in this area of sampling beer, I will outline some strategies so you can make the most of your visit to Beervana.

1. KEY FACTS
Dates: Friday 27th & Saturday 28th August 2010
Sessions: There are four sessions, two each day. 12-4pm & 5-9pm
Beers: 160+
Breweries: 35+
Price: $30 (includes, glass & one free beer)
- (bring cash with you for additional beers, miss the queues at the cash machine)
- (pricing per sample vary by brewery and alcohol strength)
- (gold coins will speed transaction time)
Samples: Full taste 200ml & ½ sample 100ml

2. PICK A SESSION
Depending on how much you like crowds and how long you want to talk to your favorite brewers then the session time is important. (This might not be relevant if all sessions sell out) Generally the afternoon sessions are more relax and less of the festive & celebrator mood the evening sessions have, therefore if you are interested in engaging in conversation with brewers the afternoon is best.

3. SAMPLE SIZE
If you are there to taste as many different new beers as you can (as you should be because this isn’t really the place to be if you are just coming to drink your favorite beer brand you drink every day), then you would be best advised to just go for the half serve size. This means you will be able to try nearly twice as many different beers. In a session it would be reasonable to budget on being able to try possibly up to 30 x 100ml tastes.

4 hours x 60 minutes = 240 minutes
30 x 100ml = 3000ml or 3 litres (that is actually a lot of beer)
240 minutes / 30 samples = 1 sample per 8 minutes

4. BE SMART WITH YOUR TIME
You have 4 hours in a session to check out a huge number of beers, more beers than is physically able to be served to you in this amount of time. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TRY THEM ALL (160+ different beers)

Some might think that 30 samples in 4 hours isn’t many but you need to factor in the delays at the popular stands (oh yeah, they will all be popular, its beer), plus you will want to spend some time with friends socializing and discussing the beers that you are trying.

5. BE STRATEGIC
Since you are probably only going to be able to taste 30 out of 160 beers you are going to want to think about how to do this in a way that isn’t random, and has you trying beers you don’t like that much.

BY STYLE – this is possibly a good way to do it if you have a favorite beer style or two. Example, head to every brewery and just try there IPA’s, this way you can see if there are other breweries making your favorite style of beer. You might find some new favorite beers.

BY BREWERY – pick out some breweries that you will try all their beers. This could be done by breweries “you are never likely to visit (geographically)” OR “you have never heard or tried their beers before”

BY AWARDS – on Thursday evening 26th August the BrewNZ Beer Awards results are announced, so that you will then be able to take the results and walk around the venue and try all the trophy winning beers. Many of the award winning brewers will display there trophies on there stands.

BY FESTIVE BREW – every year for the BrewNZ Beer Awards there is a category for brewers to make a new beer for the first time, and made to a theme. 2010 the theme is “Let’s Go Native”. Many of these beers will only ever be available at Beervana and the few days following this event.

6. ITS MORE THAN SAMPLING
You can learn about beer beyond just tasting it. There are multiple seminars each session talking about beer and food, and cheese, and chocolate and even sensory evaluation. There are a range of experts presenting, you have a chance to taste beer and food together, as well as heard about the fascinating world of beer, including a special guest speaker Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewery in the US.

7. YOUR CHECKLIST
- pick a session
- go for the half sample
- have a strategy (brewery, style, award winners, festive brew)
- bring cash, preferable gold coins, for fast transactions

The bottom line though, this is a chance for you to try beers you haven’t tried, a chance to learn from the people that make it and have a good time with your friends while learning the diversity of styles and flavours that beer has.

Want to stay up with what is going on follow @BeervanaNZ on Twitter, and become friends on Facebook.

Cheers
Luke Nicholas

(Luke is owner/brewer of Epic Brewing Company, owner/webmaster of RealBeer.co.nz as well as international beer judge at the World Beer Cup. Having attending many beer festivals, including Beervana Luke realized may people missed out on optimizing their experience due to not enough information.)

Five shoe designers unveiled there original shoe designs at Qubic Store on Friday 28th August.

The winning design could be the Epic Beer shoe with your vote

Voting is now open

http://shoe.epicbeer.com




UPDATE:
Epic Armageddon IPA WINS - Gold Medal & Best in Class Trophy at last weeks NZ Beer Awards.

As always GZ members are invited to come have a taste of the new @epicbeer Armageddon IPA

Launches are:
Friday 17th July at the Malthouse, Wellington (Time: after work till late)
Friday 24th July at Brew on Quay, Auckland (Time: after work till late)

Want a free taste come up to me (I'll be the one in the EPIC t-shirt) and say hi, I'll buy you a beer.

Cheers
Luke

Here is a bit about the new beer...

This series of videos (filmed at the Malthouse in Wellington) explains the story behind the origins of Epic Armageddon I.P.A., The West Coast IPA Challenge, the reasons for putting Epic Armageddon I.P.A. into oak barrels, naming them Pete & Melissa before putting them onto the Interislander for a six week ocean voyage between the North & South Island of New Zealand (actually it is multiple sailings between the two islands three or four times a day) and then making the beer available to taste at Beervana, Wellington Town Hall, 28th & 29th August.

Epic Adventure Part 8 - Made From New Zealand
Introduction about Luke brewing in the UK for JD Wetherspoons Real Ale Festival, then brewing some Epic Halcyon at Thornbridge Brewery (UK), using two New Zealand brewers - Luke Nicholas and Kelly Ryan, plus some New Zealand hops and New Zealand water. Then two 5 litre mini kegs are shipped from the UK for tasting by an exclusive group in Wellington, and we see the unpacking of the keg.

Epic Adventure Part 9 - Made From New Zealand
Luke introduces Colin Mallon of the Malthouse in Wellington. Colin talks about how the two got to know each other, became friends(?), traveled to the UK together for some market research, Luke pours Colin the first pint of Epic Pale Ale at the JD Wetherspoons Real Ale Festival for his birthday. A meeting with Pete Brown author of Hops & Glory, Melissa Cole and a visit to the Rake in London. And a very cool idea inspired by Pete's book.

Epic Adventure Part 10 - Made From New Zealand
Luke talks to Stephen Plowman from Hallertau BrewBar, about the origins of the West Coast IPA Challenge, a trip to California in April 2008, inspired by some crazy hoppy beers, brewing for the 2nd Annual West Coast IPA Challenge, and unleashing of some pain on the beer drinking public.

Epic Adventure Part 11 - Made From New Zealand
Luke talks to Neil "Haiku" Miller about the naming of Armageddon, Pete Brown's book Hops & Glory (again), the second coming of Armageddon and a reference to the impish brewer.

Epic Adventure Part 12 - Made From New Zealand
Luke summarizes the epic journey to this point, meeting Pete Brown, reading about his own barrel called Barry (you will need to read the book to find out the full story), two oak barrels filled with Epic Armageddon IPA, an ocean voyage on the Interislander between the North and South Island of New Zealand, here's to Pete Brown and Melissa Cole for inspiring the current stage of this epic journey.

New Zealand’s top brewer Luke Nicholas will be one of only six international celebrity brewers at the ‘World’s Largest Real Ale Festival’ in Britain later this year. Luke, head brewer at the Epic Brewing Company, has accepted an invitation to fly to Britain and make a special batch of his multi-award winning Epic Pale Ale for the International Real Ale Festival.

The two week festival is run by giant pub company JD Wetherspoons from April 15 to May 4 2009. During this time, their 700 British pubs will sell more than 2.5 million pints of real ale. Over 50 cask ales will be available during the festival but only six will be made by international brewers.

Luke says it is a huge honour and opportunity to be selected to produce 100,000 pints of his hoppy Epic Pale Ale for the festival. “It’s the first time Epic Pale Ale will be served from a traditional cask which is tremendously exciting. It is also fantastic to have the chance to brew at the historic Everard’s Brewery in Leicester. This independent brewery was established in 1849 – just nine years after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. It will be great to work surrounded by such history,” he says.

The beer will be brewed at Everard’s in mid-March before going on tap in April. Luke says he was invited because his signature Pale Ale is a world-class beer.

“Since launching in May 2006, Epic Pale Ale has won major beer awards and critical acclaim. Most New Zealander’s are only just beginning to discover the flavours I like to pack into my beer. It’s still quite unknown here but is gaining an international reputation as a ‘must-try’ New Zealand beer. International judges and experts that have tried it, hold it in high regard. Maybe brewing for the biggest festival in Britain will create a little profile and help Kiwis realise what they have on their doorstep!”

Luke has amassed a history of top awards for his beers over the last decade including the unique distinction of brewing the Supreme Champion Beer of New Zealand a record three times. He is raring to unleash his beer on unsuspecting British palates. “Another Kiwi brewery sent the Brits a pub. Epic is sending them the brewer. They won’t know what hit them!” Luke laughs.

Epic Brewing Company – www.epicbeer.com
Everard's Brewery - www.everards.co.uk
JD Wetherspoons – www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

But before I go I will be in Wellington for the beer festival on the 28th Feb. Make sure you are at the Malthouse on the 27th Friday (night before the Beer Fest) to have a drink with me. I'll make sure there is some Mayhem.

As New Zealand begins a long, hot summer of beer festivals, Epic Brewing Company announces the welcome return of their most famous limited edition festive brew – Epic Mayhem.

This 6.2% hoppy strong ale has been brewed only twice before, once in 2006 (when it won Gold and Best in Class for Festive Brew at the BrewNZ Beer Awards) and again in 2007. It will be on tap for a limited time at selected venues and beer festivals around the country. This year for the first time it will also be available in bottles. The 2009 Mayhem will be sold in the same distinctively tall 500ml bottle which Epic Pale Ale and Epic Lager already use.

Head brewer Luke Nicholas says that Epic Mayhem is a beer that will challenge the senses. “Epic beers are increasingly available at supermarkets, bottle stores and bars. People are starting to discover that beer can be much more than just a cold and fizzy beverage. It can have aroma and flavour too. It should have aroma and flavour! Mayhem takes this up a notch with its hop-fuelled intensity.”

Epic Brewing Company is a brewery which has always loved and celebrated hops. Hops grow on a flowering vine and are used to give beer aroma, flavour and bitterness. Mayhem is packed full of US-grown Cascade and New Zealand-grown Riwaka hops. The bottle label boldly states that there are 26 hops in every bottle of Mayhem. That is outrageous given that most beers sold in this country have the equivalent of a single hop.

 “Mayhem simply shouts hops at a time when hops are in short supply globally and prices are at record levels. At Epic, we know there are two ways to respond to these tough times. Brewers could cut back and hope no one notices the lack of flavour. Or brewers could do what we did, ramp up the hops to celebrate everything that we love about them – the punchy aroma, the sweet citrus flavour and the lingering, refreshing finish,” Luke says.

Epic Mayhem will be shaking up the beer reality of Kiwi drinkers at the following beer festivals:

14 February – Kumeu Beer Wine & Food Festival – Kumeu Showgrounds

28 February – New Zealand Beer Festival – Waitangi Park, Wellington

14 March - New Zealand Beer Festival – Ellerslie, Auckland


FREE BEER
Come by one (or all) of these Beer Festivals and mention GeekZone or Twitter to me and I'll shout you an @epicbeer

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Auckland Geeks get Epic Beer Love