Rex Attitude 1st Birthday Tasting, featuring "The Rex Range" and Digital IPA

Regional Wines and Spirits, Thursday 29th March, 5-7pm.

This Thursday between 5-7pm we will be celebrating the 1st birthday of Rex Attitude at Regional Wines and Spirits - our favourite beer store and the one we launched this controversial beer at in early 2011.

Rex immediately stamped a claim as one of the most polarising beers in history, received worldwide press attention, and went on to be one of the most talked about beers in New Zealand last year.  This all peaked with us being awarded the Morton Coutts Trophy for Innovation at BrewNZ 2011 - possibly the only kind of award that this kind of beer ever receive! 

Stu will be at Regionals on Thursday evening, with tastings of the following beers:

• Rex Attitude (the latest batch, and possibly the best, available that night in 330ml bottles and on the fill-yer-own)
• Rex Attitude "Vintage" (a small amount that was saved from the very first batch and aged in a Central Otago Chardonnay barrel)
• xeRRex - the "double Rex" we brewed to celebrate the Morton Coutts Trophy win, which is somehow less polarising than its little brother
• Digital IPA, for those strange and rare folk who can't stomach Rex or xeRRex.

We'll also have some information on a couple of new seasonal tap beers coming out in April and May, and another exciting piece of news.

Photos pinched from Jed Soane's The Beer Project website. 

 

 

The Good Beer Week programme for 2012 has been announced and we're really getting excited about the trip to Melbourne (and our wee spin-off at Good Beer Wheaty in Adelaide).  Go and check out the Good Beer Week site to check out the truly amazing schedule of events that are taking place in Melbourne that week. There's something or three for everyone!

To make life easier for Yeastie Boys fans, and to brighten the day of those in South Australia who can't make it to Melbourne, we've summarised all the events that we are directly involved in during Good Beer Week.  There may be the odd other event that we turn up to but at those gigs we'll be a part of the beer loving public. Don't be shy, please come and say hello.

 

Sunday 13th May:

The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton) 

The SpectAPular opens Melbourne’s Good Beer Week with a massive celebration of craft beer and food. For five sessions over three days on May 11 to 13, the venue will be transformed into a massive craft beer hall with hundreds of tables and benches and four container bars serving SIXTY brand new craft beers brewed by Australia and New Zealand’s finest breweries. We arrive Sunday morning and will be talking about Gunnamatta, our "tea-leafed IPA", at one of the seminars during that session. 

Check out the full details, including the fantastic array of other beers, at http://www.thelocal.com.au/gabs

 

Tuesday 15th May:

Contract Brewers of the World Unite (The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia)

On Monday we fly out to Adeaide to snoop around a city we have heard a lot of good beery things about over the last year.  Then on Tuesday evening we take over the taps of Adelaide's world famous Wheatsheaf Hotel as part of their Good Beer Wheaty programme (something to brighten the week for those South Australians unable to make it to Melbourne). This tasting will include all the regular Yeastie beers, a couple of seasonals, a world-first or two, a special guest beer and a announcement.

Check out The Wheaty website (http://wheatsheafhotel.com.au/) and follow them on Facebook or Twitter to snap up tickets when they become available.

 

Wednesday 16th May:

We return to Melbourne on Wednesday and do our best to entertain the northside and southside at two separate events. 

Brewers and Chewers (The Local Taphouse, St Kilda, Victoria)

Brewers & Chewers is a delightful and fun blend of speed dating, musical chairs and intimate dinner party! Each of the special guests will be seated at your table for part of the evening before a ringing bell indicates it’s time for them to move on as the next guest joins your table. A wonderful experience considered one of the best events of Good Beer Week 2011. Guests include leading craft beer identities Kjetil Jikiun (Nøgne Ø, Norway), Shawn Sherlock (Murrays, NSW), Brendan Moylan (Moylans, California). Steve Grossman (Sierra Nevada, California) and Stu McKinlay (Yeastie Boys, NZ).

http://goodbeerweek.com/events/event/brewers-chewers/

 

NZ Tasting Showcase (Prince Wines and Spirits, Essendon, Victoria)

Two of New Zealand’s premier brewers come together to present the beers that they are most proud of. Come and meet Andy and Brian from Renaissance Brewing as they launch this year’s batch of 2011 AIBA Champion Stout, the Craftsman. And while you’re at it, have a chat to Sam from the Yeastie Boys, have a taste of their 100% peated malt Rex Attitude and ask him, simply, why?!?!?!?

http://goodbeerweek.com/events/event/nz-tasting-showcase-featuring-renaissanc...

 

Thursday 17th May:

After a 100% success rate over the last two years, we've decided to take a one year break from the Australian International Beer Awards by not entering any beers in 2012.  This means the awards evening is a free night for us. Keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter as we've made a lot of Australian friends over the last couple of years and we've got some quite grand leftfield ideas about ways to enjoy our night off.

 

Friday 17th May:

Innspire ROX The Junction (Junction Beer Hall, Newport, Victoria)

Innspire and The Junction Beer Hall team up to bring you a very special event unlike any other. There will be no less than nine samples of beer, each carefully matched with a morsel of food to delight the senses and all presented by the brewers themselves.  Come along to hear first hand from the brewers at Renaissance, Yeastie Boys and Kaimai as they take you through their favourite creations – and maybe even a surprise or two...

http://goodbeerweek.com/events/event/innspire-rox-the-junction-nz-style/

 

 

For the last few months we have been working on a very exciting project with Wellington advertising agency Clemenger BBDO.  Wellington in a Pint was officially launched with a significant hiss and roar late last week at a jam-packed Fork and Brewer. Think froth spraying from a bottle of beer instead of the usual Champagne. Think smart, intelligent, good-looking people drinking craft beer (and the occasional whisky) instead of the wine and cocktails they would normally be pictured with. Think fun!

Wellington in a Pint has our four local commercial breweries near its centre but at its true heart is our fantastic creative community, whether that's advertising agency who came up with the original concept, the beer savvy men and women on the street who are now suggesting the concepts we end up working towards, the homebrewers who will turn those concepts into the a beers that Tuatara, Garage Project, ParrotDog or ourselves finally brew, or the pubs and bottle stores of our fair city that will dispense the end result.  Wellington in a Pint will result in beers that truly are for the people and by the people... and the fact that there is no mention of traditional beer styles or any brewing jargon whatsoever in the brief means the concept is as wide open to people as the beers we like to brew. It is all inclusive. Those who know Sam and I well will know that this makes us very very excited.

With the speed that these ideas spread on social media, I've already found the tall poppy cutters asking (jokingly, I'm sure) "What is this? Another show of Wellington insecurity" or "Can't Wellington just enjoy a pint without some cenceptual celebratory advertisment".  Certainly some people probably see what we're doing here, and what the Craft Beer Capital team did before us, as the sort of negative regionalism touched on by Kelly Ryan or take it for eaxactly what it is: a group of keen people shouting loudly about the depth and breadth of the great beer scene we have here in Wellington.

You see we're far from insecure here in Wellington, and we can certainly enjoy a quiet pint or three without mentioning it, but we love to celebrate the folk that make our city so wonderful... what else do we have? It certainly ain't the weather. Or the money. Most of all, of course, we do love great beer and having fun.  Y'all know that, of course, that's why we see you here so often. The people are why why we have some of the best pubs, whether they're serving "local" beer or the ones imported from Auckland (or Norway).

I often think we're a lot better at making and serving beer than we are about telling people about it. Others may disagree with me but it's likely that those people are already in the middle of the NZ beer scene. These people generally don't know about the New Zealand beer scene because we tell them about it, they know because people came here looking for it or stumbled across it.  Clemenger are doing a grand job in promoting this little gem we have, while showing off their own skills at the same time. I see Wellington in a Pint as an opportunity to show people just how well we have unshackled ourselves from what beer was... we're no longer a country filled with breweries just brewing "gold, amber and black". We're about peat-smoked golden ales, southern clam (or oyster) stouts, imperial coffee porters, wild plum ales and 18% barrel-aged ales (more on that fro some friends of our later). We can be anything we want next... maybe a "flat wit" (a Belgian wit dry hopped with coffee beans).

In the early nineties a section of the London music scene was dubbed, by outsiders, as "the scene that celebrates itself". In truth they were passionate and vocal about what they were doing, they were unique and original, they immersed themselves in music - their own and their peers, and they knew where they'd come from but were innovative in where they were going... they went on to change the face of the music world (and some of them continue to do so). We have always intended to do something similar in regards to beer, I'm sure our other three brewing partners in this project think along similar lines, even if we are all doing it in different ways. This project has the makings of something that will be remembered as a part of the way Wellington changed to face of beer. I am proud to be involved in this scene that celebrates itself.

The launch yet again proved to me what a interesting crowd we have in the Wellington beer scene. From the brewers to the drinkers, from bar owners to bar flies, through restauranters and musicians, to IT consultants, tradespeople, students and stay-at-home mums and dads who enjoy a beer. Sometimes we forget this on a day to day basis but when a group of people gather for good beer I am truly blown away by the diversity of those unique folk at the epicentre of our exciting revolution. And then there is the thought of the totally unrelated revolution they are involved with themselves, the one that has nothing to do with beer. Nights like this make me more thankful than ever to be involved. And more excited about the next person I'll meet and the different journey they are intersecting our path from.

The as-yet-unknown Wellington in a Pint beers are pencilled in for release in the weeks leading up to Beervana.  With Cryer Malt as a major sponsor I am sure you'll see the beers on tap (in the Wellington stand) at that event in mid-August. Check it!

In the meantime, do get involved via the website, Facebook or Twitter (also the hashtag #WLGinaPint).  And if you're skeptical, remember, this is not a case of "mine's bigger than yours" but a simple "isn't mine beautiful?". And, yes, I would like you to show us yours. We can all learn a lot from each other.

 

 

The Golden Pints 'downunder edition' are well and truly underway in 2011, with the multi-talented Kieran Haslett-Moore of Regional Wines and Spirits (and Capital Times) even picking us out for some props on his blog post.

Living in the craft beer desert that is our largest city, Sam's picks for the Golden Pints were never going to be quite as easy. But I think most will agree that he's done a very commendable job here... and Auckland's beer scene may well be on the rise in 2012. Next year things might not be so easy!

 

Best NZ Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer: Townshend Sutton Hoo (casks now being sent up to Galbraiths – and then this went on it was as perfect an example of a session ale as you get). Joint runners up: Emersons Brewers Reserve Tally Ho! / Golden Ticket Black Emperor NZ Edition

Best NZ Bottled or Canned Beer: Australis Romanov Baltic Stout (shared from Keith's secret stash – still amazing after 13 years). Runner up: 8 Wired Tall Poppy India Red Ale.

Best Overseas Draught Beer: Moon Dog Cock-sockin’ Ball-knockin’ Chipotle Stout (and passed through at Randall of smoked chipotle peppers at the St Kilda Local Taphouse – which took it to another level). Runner up: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale

Best experimental beer: Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout (I don't know how they did it, but it was just like Crème Brulee in a glass)

Best Overall Beer: Moon Dog Cock-sockin’ Ball-knockin’ Chipotle Stout (I daydream about reliving that glass of beer often)

Best Pumpclip or Label: Hallertau Maximus/Minimus pump clips (I wanted them, until Steve told me how much they cost!)

Best NZ Brewery:  8 Wired – hard to argue with this year's Champion NZ Brewery Award

Best Overseas Brewery:  Stone – sometimes maligned, but I have had some top beers of theirs this year

Best New Brewery:  Garage Project – simply doing cool stuff

Pub/Bar of the Year:  Brasserie 4:20, Rome (simply awesome – even if it kept me there until 4am when I had a flight at 7am that same morning). Auckland bars in general – because we've been waiting a while, and many are now going about building a good range of craft beer without the hooha.

Bottlestore of the Year:  Mt Eden Village Winery (the team here seem to be forever rearranging the store to accommodate more craft beer)

Supermarket of the Year: Victoria Park New World – still the standout in Auckland.

Best restaurant beer list: Alas, Auckland restaurants still a little slow on the uptake. But Coco's Cantina is an early adopter with a couple of taps.

Online Retailer of the Year:  www.beerstore.co.nz – offering the opportunity to taste so many beers that were just a dream for most Kiwi beer nerds a few years ago

Best Beer Blog or Website: I'm enjoying Alice's http://beerforayear.wordpress.com/. Humorous and an obvious love of good beer.

Best Beer Twitterer: @yeastieboys – ever since Stu removed my access to the account!

Best Online Brewery presence: Beervana – facebook profile on the ball with all the current NZ brewery news

Best event of the Year: Australian International Beer Awards night in Melbourne. After mixed (and that is me being polite) report from the previous year, this was a great night. The beer was good (as it should be), the food was great, and the company was terrific. Memorable sharing the table with Brian when the Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout picked up a trophy – and Brian taking 10 seconds to realise it had won and he had to go up to collect it.

In 2012 I'd most like to... Drink less Heineken (the downside of RWC corporate hospitality)

 

I was recently alerted to the "Golden Pints" awards - a series of beery 'Best of' lists and blogs by the UK beer blogging/tweeting community. James Kemp of Buxton Brewery (formerly at Thornbridge and Champion Homebrewer of NZ 2009) let me know about the Golden Pints after nominating Rex Attitude for 'Best Foreign beer' in

I'm not aware of any idea (or desire) for people to collate the results but they do make interesting reading and are a good source of conjecture... something most beer geeks seem more than happy to participate in. It's a great way to catch little snippets of what people enjoy in their region.

I thought it might be nice to kick off a New Zealand version of these awards so, without further ado (and subject to change over the next couple of weeks), here are my "Golden Pints for 2011"... 

　

Best NZ Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer: Golden Ticket Emperor Strikes Black (with Emerson's Bird Dog Ale as runner up).

Best NZ Bottled or Canned Beer: Emerson's JP 2011 (with a one-year-old Epic Thornbridge Stout as the runner up).

Best Overseas Draught Beer: BrewDog Punk IPA (after Rex / Hud-a-wa' release tasting at Local Taphouse Darlinghurst - this was the first time BrewDog wowed me... and bow-wow-wow!!! The Brewdog bite finally lives up to the bark).

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Orkney Dark Island Reserve (from @slowbeer Melbourne in May, opened with my dad and Scottish-based brother the night after my mum's funeral - where, coincidentally, the piper played The Dark Island).

Best experimental beer: Garage Project People's Project No. 2 (Green-beaned Saison).

Best Overall Beer: Orkney Dark Island Reserve (such an easy choice... this beer was in a class of its own, just as Mikkeller Sauvignon was for me last year).

Best Pumpclip or Label: Hallertau's entire range... from their simple numbered 'Original four' to their more elaborate special vintage releases.

Best NZ Brewery: Liberty Brewing (nanobrewer extraordinairre, and the brewer who renewed my interest in IPA...).

Best Overseas Brewery: Coronado (these guys seem, to me, to be to US brewing what Emerson's are to NZ... exquisute, consistent and underrated amongst the beer geeks).

Best New Brewery: Cassels and Sons... plenty to choose from here, and many will feature in 2012 no doubt, but this is a lovely little brewpub in the emerging suburb of "Coolston" (formerly "Woolston"),

Pub/Bar of the Year: Little Beer Quarter, Wellington (great to have a craft beer pub back in the venue where Sam and I fell in truly love with craft beer)... so many runners up in our bright and burgeouning bar scene but I'll give the nod to Pomeroy's as runner up.

Bottlestore of the Year: Regional Wines and Spirits (the combination of all those fill-yer-owns and a well thought out bottle list).

Supermarket of the Year: New World Island Bay (well worth travelling to).

Best restaurant beer list: Ortega Fish Shack, with very honourable mentions to Logan Brown and Cafe Polo.

Online Retailer of the Year: Beerstore - great site with some excellent rare beers.

Best Beer Blog or Website: Phil Cook's Beer Diary - I'm thankful he doesn't blog more or I'd never get anything done.

Best Beer Twitterer: @epicbeerkel (a very entertaining and thoughtful blogger as well).

Best Online Brewery presence: almost all the NZ breweries via NZ Craft Beer TV

Best event of the Year: Good Beer Week, Melbourne - we could all learn a lot about the way Melbourne incorporated their bars, cafes and restaurants into a fantastic week of beer... well done @thecraftypint. The runner up goes to the BrewNZ Awards - it was very special for us to pick up the Morton Coutts Award for Rex Attitude and what a great occasion to see Soren Eriksen of 8 Wired win Champion Brewery after less than 2 years in the professional game! The power of passion.).

In 2012 I'd most like to... not run out of beer as much as we did in 2011!  It has been a brilliant year for beer drinkers and I think 2012 will be even better.

 

 Slainte math

Stu

 

 

 

This week we released xeRRex in 330ml bottles. It's a one-off batch of 10%abv "Imperial Rex Attitude" that we brewed to celebrate our Morton Coutts Trophy win at BrewNZ 2011. We couldn't be more pleased with how it is tasting. Interestingly the malt sweetness from the increased alcohol makes it slightly less "peaty" than the standard 7%abv Rex (but I'd still not recommend it if you are one of the Rex haters).

We've only squeezed out around 1,000L and split that across three distributors (NZ, Australia and Italy). This means that New Zealand supplies are limited to just over 1,000 bottles. Australia and Italy will receive the beer in the new year, and details about outlets there will follow, but we've had loads of requests regarding which New Zealand outlets will be retailing the beer... they are as follows:

Auckland:
Village Winery
Liquorland Newmarket

Hamilton:
New World Te Rapa

Palmerston North:
Liquorland - Albert St

Wellington:
Regional Wines & Spirits (also web sales)
Hashigo Zake (also web sales)
Little Beer Quarter
The Malthouse
Fork & Brewer
New World Island Bay
New World Thorndon

Christchurch:
Pomeroy's Old Brewery Inn
Fresh Choice Merivale
Fresh Choice Parklands
New World South City
New World Halswell

Nationwide (web sales only):
The Beer Store

 

And to premptively answer any questions from those who tried the conditioning tank sample served at Hashigo Zake's "Pacific Beer Festival"... yes, it is carbonated!

 

 

More about the beer:

ABV: 10%
Bitterness: 50 IBU
Colour: 9 SRM

Malt: Baird's Heavily Peated Distilling Malt
Hops: Pacific Jade, US Willamette
Yeast: "Chico" American Ale

While most people will have heard about Pot Kettle Black (the beer we launched this ship on) and just about everyone seems to have heard about Rex Attitude (the beer we scared a few folk with)... we have a third regular beer on the shelves that slipped out to stores under the hoopla that was Rex Attitude.

Hud-a-wa' Strong is another of our beers that doesn't adhere to any particular style.  It's not completely off the wal but people find it hard to categorise. It was very loosely thought out in the English Strong Ale vicinity (heading towards barleywine), with a hint of new world hopping like an Amercian Amber, and although it has baffled the odd enthusiast at Ratebeer and Beer Advocate it was quite aptly summed up as a Burton Ale by beer guru Kieran Haslett-Moore. Following Kieran's thoughts I reasearched this forgotten beer style and he seems to be about right.  Interestingly this style was prominent in Edinburgh and my father remembers many beers tasting similar to this in the 50's and 60's. Yes, contrary to popular belief, there were some very hoppy Scottish ales!!

The beer's lineage, recipe-wise, lies in His Majesty 2010 - a beer that Sam and I loved so much we decided to put in 330ml bottles all year round.  The problem lay in translating the recipe to New Zealand malt and hops - the ingredients we knew we'd be able to to get a constant supply of and would keep us clear of the wild fluctuations we see in imported ingredients (especially hops). I set to work and we're pretty happy with where it is headed... although we are still plugging away with little tweaks to get just the balance we are looking for.

Funnily enough His Majesty 2010 itself was, in essence, virtually an Imperial version of Punkadiddle (the Ordinary Bitter we released at Beervana 2010) so it this a case of us influencing ourselves?*  

The name, like many of our beers, garners plenty of questions from drinkers. In short, the story on the side of the bottle is completely true - it is indeed the nickname of my great-great-grandfather. I've heard a lot of people have their doubts so perhaps I'll record a video blog of my dad telling the full story behind the name. That might be the best way to firm up a few beliefs - there's an interesting pub story about how he came to learn it...  and I'm sure he'd do it for a glass of his favourite Yeastie drop.

Anyway, whether you believe the story or not, Hud-a-wa' is becoming quite the sneaky slow burner for us and is tracking towards becoming a significant portion of our sales (without any of the press of its trendier siblings). In fact, it is selling so well that we've recently sold out of stock... do not fear Hud-a-wa' fans, we will have more in bottles in the next week or two. It's nice to know that many of you love our middle child... I'd hate him to end up with a chip on his shoulder. He's so well balanced for a middle child, though, so he should get by ok.

Before I finish I should add a note on pronunciation, as this is the other thing about the beer that we get asked a lot. The wa' sounds like war without the 'r' or wall without the 'll'. But I'm not offended by people ending it with the sound a baby makes. It's an accent thing... I've had plenty of good friends who have called me 'Stoo' too!

 

And, finally, a treat for those who love Hud-a-wa', keep an eye out for his Belgian cousin Red Rackham - a limited release that should go very nicely your with Christmas turkey. Some of you may have tried it on tap but the extra age has made it even better in the bottle. And the label is pretty bloody cool. I'm drinking some now and it is goooooood.

 

Slainte mhath

Stu

 

 

Other people's thoughts on Hud-a-wa'...

http://nzblokes.co.nz/nzblokes-beer-news/

http://philcook.net/beerdiary/2011/04/05/yeastie-boys-hud-a-wa-strong/

http://beerforayear.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/27-yeastie-boys-hud-a-wa/

http://www.raise1glass.com/post/5729833594/yeastie-boys-hud-a-wa

 

And the Stats...

 

Malt: NZ Pale Malt, Crystal 90, Crystal 250 and Pale Chocolate

Hops: NZ Styrian Golding, Pacifica, NZ Cascade

Yeast: London ESB

OG 1.070, IBU 56, ABV 6.8%

 

 

* this would have been a footnote in a Neil Miller or Phil Cook blog

Dear yeastiboys.

I am e-mailing to let you know that I tasted the xeRRex at the Pacific beer tasting in Wellington this sunday, and that it is the only beer that I've never been able to drink, EVER!! My friend, also unable to drink more than one taste, reckons it was easily the worst tasting beer he'd ever had, and reckons it's full od BENZINE! And he should know, he's works with the stuff! My other friend, also his first time to not finish his beer, reckons it was SHIT! Between us, we have over 80 years of beer drinking, and we're very dissapointed that Yeastie boys have produced such worthless shite, and its probably poisonous too! Good luck withy your next brew, but I for one will NEVER drink Yeastie Boys again.

Many thanks, ### ########

Releasing Rex Attitude has been an interesting experience (yes, "interesting" is a euphemism here).  Although we knew it could never happen with a beer so unique, in our dreams everyone would love Rex as much as us. We'll all drink jugs of the stuff every day.

Rex is no angel but it was most certainly not designed, as has been suggested by some, to be the world's first "schadenfreude" beer (the beer released solely so that that we could take pleasure in the sensory pain, hatred and offence caused by it). We love Rex and we really hope you do too. But if we didn't laugh at some of these comments, some of which we agree with and some of which we certainly don't, we'd have no other option but to cry ourselves to sleep on our peat-filled pillows...

Some of our favourites:

This one is a cracker from economist and blogger Eric Crampton:

• You’re at a bar that’s been around for a century. Until smoking in bars was banned five years ago, this is where folks came to smoke their cigars. The top of the bar is leather that’s been there since the bar was built, absorbing the dank cigary aromas until they became part of the material. The owner gave it a washing with some leather soap before you came in. Put your nose to the leather and breathe deeply.

 

 

There you have it... not many of those responses would have you think it has been our fastest selling beer ever but people have gone nuts for Rex.  Let's hope those who had kinder things to say will keep the demand ticking over.  We're keen to have it available all year 'round...

 

I love the late Kurt Vonnegut's way of thinking... I always thought we were a lot like yeast (all of us, not just us Yeastie Boys).

"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne."

- Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions