Croucher Brewing: Highlights 2010

Season's Greetings!

As 2011 approaches, it is a perfect time to reflect on the highs and lows of 2010. Overall, it has been a really good year for us. We have made some huge decisions on the direction of our business, our beers have had some great kudos, and we have been able to grow strongly against a backdrop of recession and increased competition.

2010 HIGHLIGHTS

1. We are still talking to each other!
• That might not sound like such a big deal, but crikey, we (Paul and Nigel) have been working together for like 6 years. The seven-year-itch is just around the corner! Watch this space - next year things could be a very different kettle of fish.
2. Recognition
• It has been a great year on the awards front. Firstly Croucher Pilsner won Gold and Trophy for Champion International Lager at BrewNZ 2010... unfortunately we weren't even there to accept the awards (you can read our absentia acceptance speech here).
• Secondly, Croucher Pale Ale was named Champion Beer in the Capital Times Beer necessities Survey 2010. Our Pilsner, as well as the Pale Ale, were named in the countries Top 12 Beers.
• This blog was named in the world's 50 Best Beer Blogs
3. Seasonal Beers
• One of the most satisfying achievements this year has been the addition of regular seasonal beers to our line-up. The year kicked off with the Vicar's Vice and Cherry Bock, followed by Vicar's II, Patriot (American Black Ale), October Ale, and the most recent Mrs Claus' Famous Christmas Cake Ale. Patriot is up again next, just in time for the summer festivals. We have a few ideas lined up for 2011, so will let you know as they unravel. Making these beers is pure fun and excitement, a chance for us to experiment and learn more.
4. Steaming pistons! [obscure Thomas reference]
• After a long period of struggling to keep up with production, we made the decision to investigate contract brewing some of our bottled beers in a facility geared up for larger volumes. Our search led us straight to Steam Brewing in Auckland, they are responsible for handling the brewing of some of this countries better craft beers. It has been a HUGE change for us and our business - but we are very pleased with the beers coming out of Steam, sales are going well, and we hope we are well placed for continued growth in 2011.
5. New Business
• A couple of months ago we were invited by Galbraith's Alehouse (the iconic Auckland BrewPub) to have a permanent tap of Croucher beer in their bar. Keith and Ian have long been friends and mentors, so this is a great honour for us.
• Early this year Hamiltonian's got their own craft beer pub - House On Hood. On the recommendation of Greig McGill (renowned Hamiltonian Raconteur), House contacted us about supplying beer to them. Well it has been a great relationship. We LOVE what they are doing there (please check it out next time you are in Hamilton), and they seem to love our beer too.
• Exporting - Croucher beer is now available in Australia. We started working with a distributor a few months back, and are now sending regular shipments into and then around Australia. What a cool addition to our business - streuth, we think its grouse that our cobbers over the ditch are keen to head down to the bottle-o to grab a Croucher coldie.
6. The Release Of Croucher Pilsner In Cans
• Rotorua hosted the 'Kiwibikes Single Speed World Championships' as few months ago. One of the local bike shops, Bike Vegas, put a team in dressed as cans of Croucher Pilsner. It was a scorching hot day and these guys suffered! The highlight was Dave checking whether the cans would float or sink - check out this AWESOME video (be patient - wait for the 3rd can to come through).

2010 LOWLIGHTS
Alas, you can't have it all you own way, and there have been a few road blocks, disappointments, and drama's. Some details, however, are best kept in-house.

1. The Underground Got Buried
• At the beginning of the year we were running our own tiny craft beer pub (The Underground Bar) in Rotorua, having opened the doors in May 2009. But by the end of January it had closed down - the restaurant whose liquor licence and kitchen we utilised had decided to go out of business. It was a shame in many ways, as it had been a great way of introducing Rotorua people to craft beer, but the flip side was that we were able to put more effort back in to the brewery.
2. D Rated Food Outlets
• For some reason Paul found and then dragged me along to a restaurant in Otahuhu with a D Grade food certificate. They have to display the rating, and alongside it was a sign saying no credit cards. When Paul went to pay by credit card, they allerted him to the signs on the wall - you would think a restaurant with a D food rating on display would be doing everything in its power to NOT alert your attention to signs on the wall!

The biggest thanks goes to all of you who have gone out and purchased our beer this year. We do appreciate your support and enthusiasm, and we consider you a vital part of the Croucher Brewing Team. Thanks, and our very best wishes to you for 2011.

Nigel & Paul
Croucher Brewing

CROUCHER BREWING: Delightful aroma's made famous in Rotorua are now emanating permanently from within Galbraith's Alehouse, Mt Eden

Here is a press release going out today outlining the fantastic news that as of tomorrow (Friday) Croucher Brewing has a permanent tap at the Mecca of New Zealand pubs, Galbraith's Alehouse in Mt Eden, Auckland. And the good news doesn't stop there for Auckland beer drinkers as we are joined by Yeastie Boys as permanent new additions at Galbraith's.

Delightful aroma's made famous in Rotorua are now emanating permanently from within Galbraith's Alehouse, Mt Eden

Galbraith's Alehouse, located in a historic library building at 2 Mt Eden Road), has long been the bastion of real beer in Auckland (if not New Zealand). As well as serving its own legendary ales produced on-site, Galbraith's has been building relationships with other New Zealand craft breweries. The latest addition to their tap line-up is a permanent Croucher Brewing tap, along with a permanent Yeastie Boys tap.

Croucher Brewing is a craft brewery based in Rotorua, the aromatic capital of New Zealand (if not the world). Croucher Brewing recently had its New Zealand Pilsner named 'Champion International Lager' at the BrewNZ Awards. Galbraith's Alehouse will be rotating the Croucher line up, including the Champion Pilsner, it's highly regarded Pale Ale, and the regular seasonal and experimental beers coming out of its Rotorua brew-house.

First up on the Croucher tap is October Ale - a very traditional English India Pale Ale (IPA), based on a recipe from the mid 1800's. These hop-laden IPA's were brewed strong (October Ale is a hefty 7.5% alc/vol) to survive a long sea voyage from England to India. Other seasonal beers in the pipeline are a Christmas Ale (think hearty Christmas cake in a glass), a Belgian Singel, and just possibly a return of Croucher Patriot – an American Black Ale.

Croucher Brewing (www.croucherbrewing.co.nz) was set up in 2005 by Paul Croucher and Nigel Gregory. Their goal was to produce hand crafted beer full of flavour that showcases New Zealand hops. While they produce the odd seasonal beer using hops from the USA or England, they remain keen advocates of the characters of locally grown hops – going as far to suggest that some of these New Zealand hop variants could do for beer what Sauvignon Blanc grapes have done for New Zealand wine.

Galbraith’s Alehouse (www.alehouse.co.nz) opened in 1995 as New Zealand’s first real ale brew-pub. Since then they have developed a loyal following for their classic real ales and European inspired lagers. Head brewer Keith Galbraith and brewer Ian Ramsay source all their ingredients from the UK and EU as they believe to brew authentic (and fresh) old world style beers you need the raw materials from those regions. 


ENDS

Contact:

Nigel Gregory or Paul Croucher

The Croucher Brewing Company

(07) 348 5888

http://croucherbrewing.co.nz

Croucher PATRIOT - American Black Ale

The latest seasonal beer from Croucher Brewing has been shipped.

Croucher PATRIOT is an American Black Ale. Paul succinctly captured its essence, "it is BLACK and it is HOPPY!" Another outstanding literary contribution from Dr Croucher.

This is our first (okay Kieran, it is actually - technically - our second) beer brewed with US grown hops (Amarillo and Simcoe, for you hop boffins), and we have been 'well excited' about brewing it, sampling it, and now (begrudgingly) sharing it.

While PATRIOT is a beautiful black colour, it doesn't have the dark roasty toasty flavours we generally associate with dark beers, so it kind of messes with your brain. It weighs in at a healthy, but not overpowering, 5.5% alc/vol.

You can catch this patriotic drop soon at Galbraith's in Auckland, House in Hamilton, as well as Hashigo Zake and Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington. And if you are invited, it will be on tap at some dude's* wedding in November. We are hopeful of getting a keg on in Rotorua too - TBA.

As the South will surely rise again, a shipment of kegs has gone to the Southern Isle to our good friend Craig at Beer NZ. A list of southern outlets will hopefully appear shortly.

Please head out and track down a glass of PATRIOT, we think you'll enjoy it.
Cheers,
Nigel & Paul


* Apologies, David, that looks a bit disrespectful - it isn't meant to be, it just sounded hipper to say 'some dude'.**

** Apologies to Mr Neil Miller, the creator of the *'d footnote - I admit to plagiarism of 'Ihimaera proportions'. This blog will NOT be reprinted.

Brew Day:

Today it's our next seasonal beer, Croucher OCTOBER Ale. The October Ale style harks back to mid-18th Century and the father of IPA's, George Hodgson. It is a pale well-hopped brew using English malts and hops. Once brewed it was intended to be cellared for up to two years, but we don't think we can wait that long! We hope to have this available by the end of October, failing that we may have to rename it 'November Ale' ;-)

Croucher Brewing: the Vicar's Vice 2010 is out and about... and more...

Kegs of the Vicar's Vice (our Belgian Strong Ale brewed with buckets of citrus zest and crushed coriander seeds) left the brewery this week, and will be appearing at the following in the coming days (more to follow):

• Regional Wines & Spirits, Wellington (fill-your-own). Featuring in the Great Regional Belgian Beer Festival next week.
• The Malthouse, Wellington
• Moutere Inn, Nelson
• The Free House, Nelson
• Pomoroy's Own Brewery Inn, Christchurch
• Tonic, Dunedin

Next up in the seasonal beer department will be the Black IPA. We've gone over to the dark side for our take on the style-du-jour, India Pale Ale (IPA). Still nameless, this beer is jammed with American hops and is exhibiting simply the most delicious passion fruit aroma. Hopefully this beer will be available on tap within the next 2-3 weeks.

Croucher in Australia

Paul is right now returning home from a few days in Melbourne as part of a NZ Brewer's Guild and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise delegation of some our best craft brewers to the Beer & Brewer Expo. Paul showcased our Vicar's Vice, as well as our bottled beers so will let you know more once he has time to catch his breath.

SpecTAPular took place in Sydney and Melbourne at The Local Taphouse on ANZAC Day, where 10 Kiwi beers were pitted against 10 Aussie beers. Croucher Pale Ale was selected as one of our beers. It went down a treat! A few reviews of Croucher Pale Ale appeared on Beer Advocate in the days after the event, here are just a few choice comments:

"Oh yeah, this is a really excellent hoppy Pale Ale. Bursting with fresh hop characters and balanced for exceptional drinkability. Probably one of the top American style pales I've had, and certainly one of the best from the land of the long white cloud." - Laqueredmouse, Sydney

"Outstanding beer, this. One hell of a quaffer, sessioner, or even a cleanser. Foamy, swilly, and smooth on the feel. Almost perfect. It just doesn't have any edges, it's just meant to be drunk. Fuck it, it IS perfect." - Laituegonflable, Sydney.

Rotorua's newest pub
The Great Kiwi Ale House has opened its doors on Hinemoa Street, Rotorua (the old Cobb & Co site). It is a great looking pub, and has a few interesting beers on tap too, of most note Croucher Pale Ale and Croucher Pilsner. So get in there and support the local brewery! In terms of other taps beers, they have a Mike's beer as well as Mata's Artesian ale, Monteiths Original and Speights.

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/

You can't beat Wellington on a good day...

Wellington Beer Fest
Croucher Brewing hit Wellington last weekend for Capital's version of the Liquorland New Zealand Beer Festival. It was held on Saturday at Westpac Stadium, and it was a massive day. We totally sold out of beer 10 minutes before the bars closed - nothing worse than dragging full kegs home again!

A lot of fun was had, with the usual Croucher Brewing crew on deck along with Team Croucher Europe; namely Eva and Isabella from Austria and Thomas and Rupert from Bavaria. They kept punters entertained most of the day throwing ice at each other and posing for photo's at any opportunity.

Photo, courtesy of Michael Andrewartha, is Croucher's Nigel Gregory and Stu McKinley from Yeastie Boys.

Hayden Green from Public Address was there, and has written a smart summary of the days events - even listing Croucher Cherry Bock as his favorite beer of the day!! Kudos to us. Click here to read his report.

This festival consumed the last of our stocks of the 2009 batches of Vicar's Vice and Cherry Bock beers (although there may still be some Vicar's at Galbraith's in Auckland and Cherry Bock at The Malthouse in Wellington). Word from the inner sanctum of the brewery is that the Vicar's Vice may be back this winter, and possibly in bottles too.

Football Fever
A trip to Wellington last weekend would not have been complete without attending the Phoenix V Jets football match on Sunday, also at the Westpac Stadium. Neither of us had been to the stadium before and were well impressed. The highlight was the atmosphere created by the Phoenix Fans, the chanting and support was remarkable. In terms of beer, you may be surprised to hear that we passed on the Speights Traverse and whatever other mainstream beers they had on offer at the stadium. Rather, we pre-loaded at The Malthouse on the way to the match (from memory a Yeastie Boys PKB re-mix, an Epic Armageddon, and a couple of Three Boys IPA's between us).

Croucher 'Vicar's Vice' on-tap from today at Galbraith's Alehouse, Auckland

Two kegs of the very limited Croucher Brewing 'Vicar's Vice' hit the taps at Galbraith's Alehouse from today.

Vicar's Vice is our big spicy, citrusy Belgian Strong Ale, brewed using a bucket load of citrus peel and crushed coriander seeds. It is a healthy 7% alc/vol, and is exceptionally smooth. Feedback has been fantastic from drinkers of this beer.

If you are in Auckland this week make sure you get it to sample it! Galbraith's is located at 2 Mt Eden Rd, Auckland City.
Thanks Galbraith's!

Happy New Year!!

Hopefully you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We've been busy at the brewery preparing ourselves for festival season. We had the Tairua Food & Wine festival last weekend, which was held on a beautiful Coromandel summers day.

On Thursday (14th Jan) we are at Blues, Brews & BBQ's at Mount Maunganui. If you are in the area you simply must attend. It is a great day of music, food and obviously fantastic beers. If you are coming along, make sure you come and say hi. We will be serving our Cherry Bock on Thursday. This is our most recent release, and is has been receiving rave reviews.

Our other recent release, the Vicar's Vice is on tap at Galbraith's in Auckland, Hashigo Zake in Wellington, The Underground Bar in Rotorua, as well as one or two locations in the South Island. It is a beautiful drop, so make sure you get to try it.

Croucher Brewing Pale Ale named in Top 8 Beers In NZ

In the annual 2009 Beer Necessities Awards, run by Wellington's Capital Times, The Croucher Brewing Company's flagship Pale Ale beer has been named in the Top 8 beers in New Zealand.

 

Represented in the top eight are New Zealand’s largest brewer Lion Nathan, one of the country’s biggest independent craft brewers Emerson’s, a small craft brewer, Croucher Brewing, one of the new generation of contract brewing companies, 8 Wired and a tiny farmhouse brewer, Peak.

 

The beers were blind judged on their appearance, aroma and flavour with some thought given to their stylistic integrity. Here are the judges comments about Croucher Pale Ale:

 

Croucher Pale Ale pours a nice clear gold with a quickly dissipating head. Aroma features some fresh zesty perfumy citrus hop notes and a rich toffee note. In the mouth there is plenty of perfumy hop flavour with a big slightly early bitter finish. Good beer that could use a touch more malt balance.Croucher Brewing have been building up a reputation for their range of pale, complex, aromatic beers which they brew in Rotorua making them one of the few craft brewers to fly the flag for brewing in the North Island.

 

Brewer Paul Croucher responded to news of the award saying "We are over the moon, this is a great result for us. To be listed in the top beers in New Zealand is further reward for all the hard work of the past few years. The Pale Ale was the beer we launched the brewery with, so it has a special place in our hearts. Our Pale Ale has massive up front fruit aroma with strong freshly crushed grain. Passionfruit and lychees predominate with a stonefruit undertone - fruit salad on Weetbix. It is very smooth with a gorgeous lingering finish."

 

 

Beer Necessities Survey 2009 - The 8 Pack (highest rating beers this year):
Emerson’s - Pilsner 

Emerson’s - Bookbinder

Emerson’s - 1812 

Emerson’s - Old 95

Steinlager Pure
Croucher Brewing - Pale Ale
8 Wired - Hop Wired IPA
Peak Brewery - Great End ESB

 

 

Croucher Brewing is based in Rotorua and has been brewing for five years. It is owned and run by Paul Croucher and Nigel Gregory. The company produces three main beers; Croucher Pale Ale, Croucher Pilsner (a particularly hoppy lager) and Croucher Hef (a cloudy German style wheat beer). On top of these Croucher Brewing currently has two seasonal beers in limited availability; Vicar's Vice - a big flavoured Belgian style brewed using a bucket load of NZ cirtus peel and a kilo of crushed coriander seeds (7% alc); and a Cherry Bock - an extremely fruity dark lager style of beer brewed using a 60kg of Cherries and Raspberries (8% alc).

 

Croucher Brewing opened it's own craft beer bar in Rotorua in May 2009. The Underground Bar (underneath the Rendezvous Restaurant on Hinemoa Street, Rotorua) was set up to lead the revitalisation of beer in Rotorua one pint at a time. Craft beer has the charachteristics of being flavoursome, interesting, great matched with food and is a high quality beverage. The Underground Bar stocks the full range of Croucher beers on tap, as well as an ever changing selection of other fantastic New Zealand craft beers.

Croucher Brewing releases the Vicar's Vice...

The Vicar's Vice is the latest seasonal beer from the lads at Croucher Brewing. It is an homage to Hoegaarden's classic Verboden Vrucht, and was brewed using the peel from a bucket load of fresh New Zealand citrus (oranges, lemons, grapefruit) and a kilo of crushed coriander seeds.

Vicar's Vice is incredibly smooth on the palate, and has a delicious citrusy/spicy zing, reminiscent of the best Belgian classics.

We launched it at the UNDERGROUND bar here in Rotorua, and it has been enthusiastically embraced. It is a heavy hitter too, coming in at a healthy 7% alcohol by volume - needless to say we have shelved the pint glasses and are serving in a lovely 340ml stemmed beer glass. If you are in or around Rotorua, get in to the bar to enjoy this seasonal while it lasts.

It was just a little batch, but we have pre-sold a third of the batch to the South Island, and hope to get a keg or two to Auckland and Wellington as well. We'll let you know when and where it will be available.

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.

Croucher Brewing - Beer, Beervana and Barvana...

August At The Brewery

> On Tap - Croucher beers are currently (or about to go) on tap in a few fine establishments around NZ. Some of these are guest appearances ( see the *), so get in quicksmart!

Auckland
Wine Cellar, Karangahape Rd (Pale Ale)
Brew On Quay, Quay St (Pilsner) *
Hallertau, Riverhead (Pilsner) *

Hamilton
Ruakura Campus Club (Pale Ale, Pilsner & Hef) *

Rotorua
the UNDERGROUND bar (Pale Ale, Pilsner, Hef & Belgian Blonde)
Abracadabra (Pilsner)
Rotorua Golf Club (Pilsner)
Distinction Hotel (Pilsner)

Wellington
The Malthouse, Courtney Place (Pale Ale) *

> Beervana - this is now an annual beer tasting extravaganza organised by the NZ Brewers Guild. It takes place in Wellington on the 28th and 29th of August at the Wellington Town Hall. Tickets can be booked here. Beervana is an opportunity to sample craft beers from around New Zealand, as well as a few especially flown in from Oz. As well as sampling, there are sessions on food matching - including some with chef Martin Bosley (last year he matched Croucher Pale Ale with a delicious grilled salmon dish... yum yum!). Paul will be representing Croucher Brewing at Beervana, so if you are lucky enough to be there, make sure you come and say hi... and sample a Croucher beer or two!

> Tis the Seasonal.... Paul is working on a recipe for our next seasonal beer, and expects to brew it in the coming few weeks. Shortly, we'll let you know more about it, as well as where you"ll be able to get your hands on some.


August at the UNDERGROUND bar
> the UNDERGROUND bar is our very own craft beer bar here in Rotorua. It is fast becoming a local treasure, and is the only bar in town focused on New Zealand craft beer, so please grab your friends and come in to support the beer revolution.

> Our guest bottled beers in August are Mata Feijoa, Epic Armageddon, Founders Long Black, Emerson's JP 2009, and Invercargill Boysenbeery. Quite the mix! On tap we have the full Croucher range, including the option of having the Pale Ale hand-drawn at room temperature - this beer is delicious cold and fizzy, but the warmth really highlights the aroma and flavours.

Globalfest returns to Rotorua this weekend...

We'll be serving Croucher beer from the Kiwi tent at Globalfest being held in Rotorua this weekend at the Rotorua International Stadium on Devon Street. Globalfest is an annual event celebrating the diverse cultures living in and around Rotorua, with mini-villages set up for each. It is a really interesting event, great for the whole family with heaps of entertainment and a wide variety of international foods available.

We are again joining forces with the Kiwi community to ensure visitors to the festival don't go thirsty. We are serving the Pale Ale and Hef, so come along and say hi.

For more info on Globalfest, click here.

October means Oktoberfest

It's THAT month in beer land, and Rotorua's Okere Falls Store is hosting an authentic German beer festival running from Monday 20th October to Saturday 25th Ocktober. With Ompa music, pig's trotters, weiss wurst, bratwurst, bretzels, and of course lots of great beer.



Sarah and Andy from Okere Falls Store import German beer and are also great supporters of Croucher Brewing. Our beers will be available throughout the festival, and we'll be there pouring them on the main fetival day, Saturday the 25th. It will be a huge day, starting at 9am for a beer breakfast and going through til 9pm.



Bookings are recommended as there are limited tickets, and interest has been high. To get tickets visit okerefallsstore.co.nz or call 07 362 4944.