Beer Jerk Podcast

This week I chatted to Sabrina Kunz, executive director of the Brewers Guild of New Zealand about the history and the purpose of the Guild, the annual awards, how Covid has impacted NZ breweries, non alcoholic beers, beer tourism, festivals, breweries paying to tie taps, labelling rules, excise, supermarket duopoly, trends, the future of NZ beer and Speights Mid winning the trophy in the Speciality & Experimental category.

Jules wrote the book on beer. Brewed is a brilliant snapshot of beer in NZ in 2017. He is also a wine maker (Known Unknown), retailer (Cult Wine), event organiser, educator, sommelier and all round renaissance man. We discussed how beer has changed since the release of Brewed, the differences and commonalities between wine and beer, what beer can learn from wine, terroir of hops and barley, pairing drinks with food, getting stuck in a flavour rut, the pokémonisation of beer and lots more.

Brewers Guild Awards Special! Matt & Luke host a slightly breathy podcast as they stroll the Auckland Beer Mile to find brewery burgers while discussing the big wins and surprises from the biggest awards in NZ brewing. Huge congratulations to all of the winners and to all the awesome people working hard in every area of New Zealand beer.

We are still in Level 4 lockdown as chat about perfectly the evolved Pale Ale from The Theoretical Brewer, lots about Small Gods labels and concepts, home brew dip hopping, Boak & Bailey’s book Brew Britannia, CAMRA members saving beer, cask vs keg, poorly canned beers, shipping beer during lockdown and creating TextBeer to compete with the supermarkets.

In this episode we chatted about a couple of delicious beers from Whistling Sisters, amateur enthusiasm, beer label art, 1964 beer trends, bottle caps vs corks, lavender saison, old books, pirate themed rum bars, exporting Dark Mild to England, Master Brewers, candi sugar, Goldings terroir and cuddling Logan.

It’s the Beer Jerk Zest Cast! We are zesting a wheelbarrow-load of grapefruits, finally drinking Matt’s home-brewed Table Beer and talking about the Mumme we (Small Gods) made with Double Vision, dip hopping, biotransformation of hop oils, i of the Zombier, meeting the new owner of Ballast Point, new releases, supporting independent brewers, delicious sage and disgusting wormwood tea.

Søren and I took time out of our brew day to chat about his background in biochemistry, the early days of 8 Wired, barrel ecosystems, freezing Bumaye, art vs science, coaching yeast, getting feijoas out of a barrel bunghole and brewing a 16% low carb beer.

This week we discuss Brut IPAs, Riverhead pioneers, packaging innovation, Bananaweizen, shoddy offices, bottom fermentation love, an update on Matt’s Table beer, craft beer's influence on wine, WCIPA Challenge, if sponsoring the Olympics pays off, accidentally ordering sangria and how to get 5,000+ likes on an Instagram post in an hour.

I chatted with Chris about launching a commercial brewery from a 50L kit in a rumpus room, book smarts, wet floors, processing maple syrup, burning out, emigration, catering for celiacs, label illustrations, whiskey casks, bugs in barrels, Brewtown and brewing root beer as a kid.

This week we were joined by baby Lyra as we chatted about home-brewing, impartial beer tasting, NEIPA secrets, crap beer on tap, JABS recap, brewing with a master brewer, brew day dental injuries, wax dipping cans, upsetting traditionalists, government watchlists, working with a consulting brewer and gunpowder.

Beer of the Week: Maltkult x Small Gods. Satan Satan Satan

App of the Week: BeerSmith

This week I interviewed Christopher from Zeelandt about his brewery in the Hawkes Bay, his inspirational time drinking European beers, decoction mashes and his new garden bar project. Matt and I also had a chat about mango beer tap takeovers, The Beer Hunter, foeders, Welsh Neolithic breweries, Kveik yeast, JABS, 10 year anniversaries, the Winter Drop, new releases and Bavarian smoked beer paradise.

Matt and I chat about Canyon’s fresh hop cocktail-inspired collaboration, homebrewing, Vienna Lager, checking in thimblefuls of beer on Untappd, mixologists, Bo Burnham, Taiheke vs Cascade hops, terroir, the revelation that Matt has never seen a hop garden, GABS being postponed, nutritional labelling requirements, barleywine and more.