Paul's Parliamentary Pie and Pint

Great day yesterday taking the HEF to Parliament. Was quite a start to the day, it turned out my taxi driver was an ex Khmer Rouge child soldier. Fascinating but quite a conversation killer - what do you talk about? I dropped my bags at the Bolton (which incidently had an excellent selection of NZ craft beers!) and went to observe Question Time in the house. I've figured out how it works. You ask a question that isn't a question so your opponent is totally unprepared for the question you're going to pop out as a supplementary!

As fascinating as this was, I left after about 40 minutes to begin a mini solo pub-crawl. Started at the Malthouse for a Three Boys Oyster Stout on the Handpump. Its an oldie but a goodie and when you come from a beer desert its very much appreciated. Managed an argument with Roger from the bar (a patron) about the merits of the Monk's Habit on Tap. I said "Its delicious!" to which he maligned "But its not Monk's Habit!". Got to love the passion.

I made my way to Hashigo Zake for a Rouge Russian Imperial Stout and for good measure back to the Malthouse for an Hopwired IPA. Suitably fortified I made my way to Parliament for my maiden address to caucus.

I may have overstated the significance of the address. Nonetheless, we were eating Pies and drinking the HEF in the caucus room and I did make a short speech plugging the virtues of Rotorua's great pies, made by the Lam family, and New Zealand craft beer. We had a good turnout of famous new and old MP's. Roger Douglas, the statesman, drinking the HEF. Can't work out what I feel about that! Still wish I'd taken a picture. Simon Bridges, David Bennett, Melissa Lee, Michael Woodhouse, Maurice Williamson ... Maybe we've convinced a few of the lawmakers of the virtues of craft beer.

Next there was the option of listening to the debate over the smacking legislation or going to the Backbencher  to watch the live TV7 pub debate,  "Back Benches". We chose the Pub. A quiet Hoprocker later (is it just me or is that beer getting better and better?) we were back to the Parliamentary Billiard room for more HEF washed down with KFC as a bit of a do for the 2008 Parliamentary inductees. This was a great session where I can't believe how candid the politicians were considering there were two members of the media there. Luke Valentine from Classic Hits and Neil Miller, an occasional visitor to The Malthouse. I particularly enjoyed the nerve of Mr Miller successfully executing a jumpshot on the Parliamentary felt.

Two pieces of KFC, three HEFs, and goodness knows how much gossip later, it was all over and time to go home. Fortunately what goes on tour stays on tour.

I'd like to thank Todd McClay for his hospitality and drive to promote two successful businesses from his electorate. Thanks to all of those who came to try our wares - you helped make a great evening. A big thanks also to Luke Valentine from Classic Hits for driving from Rotorua to cover this event.

As a parting question to the house: There were 100 pies and 120 beers for 50 people. There were three left of each at the end of the night. Who ate all the pies?

Croucher Brewing: Brew Day, Seasonal Beers & a visit from the femALEist...

Brew Day
It is another brew day here in the brewery, as I'm writing this update the sweet aroma of grain and water is wafting enticingly into the office. Today we are brewing The Hef, our German-styled wheat beer. Brew day is a long day and we got off to a late start!

Vicar's Vice 2010
Paul has been brewing up a storm recently, as we look to recover from summer and get ahead of the game. The 2010 Vicar's Vice is conditioning at the moment, and is due to be released in a few weeks. A list of tap outlets will be released closer to the time.We can confirm that there will be 3 kegs of Vicar's Vice heading to Melbourne for a Kiwi craft beer expose in late May. Paul will be accompanying the beer to run tastings and generally talk it up to the Aussies.

We are very pleased where each of our beers are at, but we aren't resting on our laurels. We are set to brew our next seasonal release, which we are VERY excited about. But lets wait until it is in the can before we go making any bold statements talking it up.

femALEist

We had a visit recently to the brewery from three West Coasters (USA) on a jaunt around New Zealand. And shock horror they were all women!! And they love craft beer. We had an awesome time sampling our beers, and then they returned the favour by sharing a couple of Pliny The Elder's and a Jolly Pumpkin 'Maracaibo Especial' (a sour special brown ale). Both are wonderful beers!!

Tiila writes a blog and seems to be very active in the San Fran beer community encouraging other women to join try craft beer. Here is her post on her visit to Croucher Brewing.

Croucher Brewing: Vicar's Vice 2.0, Bottle Conditioning & House opens

Following the popularity of our recent seasonal beers, Vicar's Vice version 2.0 was brewed yesterday. This is a Belgian Strong Ale made using fresh citrus zest (yes, we did it by hand using real fresh fruit, and it took flippin' ages!) and crushed coriander seeds. The brew really did smell even more delicious than usual. We are hoping to bottle some of this batch as well as get a few kegs around the country.

With our summer festival season over we have been trying to get back on top of brewing and bottling. Batches of beer seem to be disappearing out the door faster than ever so the brewery is a pretty dynamic place at the moment.

We are about to trial some bottle conditioning, starting with The Hef. Bottle conditioning is where the final conditioning of the beer takes place in the bottle rather than in a tank, and also carbonation takes place in the bottle via the natural action of the yeast. Bottle conditioning often results in a more stable and longer shelf life.

The photo was taken by Jed Soane at Wellington's Liquorland NZ Beer Festival a few weeks back. We'd love to get some captions from you. Nigel thought perhaps it was a duet of 'You don't bring me flowers' (Paul standing in for Barbra Streisand).

Finally, a review of one of our latest outlets. House is a fantastic new bar in Hamilton, with a strong focus on craft beer. They have there own house beer (brewed by us) called Mighty, and also have Croucher Hef and Pale Ale on tap at the moment. It is very cool, and an absolute must-visit next time you are in The 'Tron. Review here.

 

http://www.houseonhood.co.nz/

Croucher beers in Oz, Craccum & something Fruity...

Beer drinking in Australia just got better!! Our good friend Craig Bowen from Beer NZ in Christchurch recently sent some Croucher beer to Carlisle Wine Bin in Perth & Purvis Wine Cellars in Melbourne. This is the first time our beers have been commercially exported, and while it is a modest start it's an exciting development for us.

Craccum Magazine, the University Of Auckland Student mag, has published a beer article focused on a tasting of Croucher Pils and Hef. Interestingly, they sampled the beers along with a selection of chocolate and the combination's seemed to work!! They enjoyed both beers, with a preference for the banana-ry delights of the Hef. We can confirm that this beer indeed works well with chocolate, in fact try matching a Perky Nana with the Hef for a double banana hit! Magic!!!

Our latest seasonal beer has been brewed, and is fermenting as we speak. We are keeping the identity of the beer to ourselves at the moment, but suffice to say that it is going to be darker rather than lighter and that there it might just be a fruity little number. Due to a double fermentation, it will be a while before it is ready to serve. It will be on tap at our bar (The Underground Bar) in Rotorua, and we'll also see if we can get it on as a guest beer at a bar or two around the country.

Talking of The Underground Bar, we have started a blog purely for the bar. If you live in Rotorua or are interested in what is happening at Rotorua's coolest drinking spot, please sign up for email updates HERE. We'd really love to have you on-board as a supporter.

December at the brewery

TAURANGA SEAFOOD FEST

Since the last update we attended the Tauranga Moana Seafood Festival - and it was huge!! The event sold out, 3500 tickets, and our beer went down a treat. There was some excellent entertainment, great seafood and a crowd of people who wanted to have a good time. Our Pale Ale and Pilsner were particularly popular with punters.

NEW BREWHOUSE

It is a particularly busy time at the brewery. Not only have we been brewing and bottling up a storm to keep up with demand, but we are in the process of installing a bigger shinier brew system. These things don't happen overnight, but we are are making progress.

Stage I is complete. That was moving our refridgerated container to provide wider access to the old brew area. Two forkies came in and couldn't even move it while it had beer inside it. After a week or so frantically bottling and kegging we were able to completely empty the container and a Mainfreight forkie came in and did the business.

Stage II underway right now - pouring a sloped concrete floor for an expanded foodgrade brew area. It is pretty exciting to see the place empty, ready for concrete to pour! Once this is finished we'll be able to move the larger brewing equipment into place and commence Stage III - Installation.

FEEDBACK ON OUR BEERS

TOP 10: Renowned beer writer Neil Miller has just announced his annual Top 10 beers for 2008. Croucher Pale Ale has debuted at number 7 on the list - this is a great result for us, and perhaps next year we might even have two beers on his list!! Thanks Neil. Full rankings here.

CAPITAL TIMES: Wellington's Capital Times run an annual beer competition. In the Pilsner category, Croucher Pilsner was rated second best in the country next to the iconic Emerson's Organic Pilsner. Croucher Pale Ale came in 3rd in the Pale Ale category, with an honourable mention for The HEF.

For smaller breweries like us these sorts of articles and competitions are a good way to get feedback on our beers - we are always looking to improve and learn, so feedback is always welcome.

Neil Miller writes...

Reknowned Wellington-based beer writer Neil Miller has written his latest blog entry on The Malthouse' website. The Malthouse is one of the country's very best ale houses with a superb range of local and international beers.

This latest blog talks about similarities in the backgrounds of a couple of New Zealand brewers, Paul Croucher (Croucher Brewing) and Ralph Bungard (Three Boys), and a review of our wheatbeer 'The Hef'.

Click here to read the blog.