mike's Organic Brewery - Journal Entry
Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 2:34PM 
Ron Trigg from mike's
From the NZ Craft Beer TV entry, 22/2/11:
A huge feed of local bacon, eggs from the chickens outside, black pudding and sausages under our belts (thanks, Mum and Dad!), we were on the road again. We headed north of New Plymouth until we saw the tell-tale sign… "Brewery, 200 litres ahead". We arrived at the picturesque grounds of Mike's Organic Brewery (on the White Cliffs Estate) and were met by Ron Trigg, brimming with enthusiasm and energy as he began talking us through the brewery and beers.
Ron and his parents (including father, Mike… aptly named) took over the brewery almost four years ago. The family is originally from Zimbabwe and moved to New Zealand for a better life for themselves. They chose Taranaki as their new home and went about setting up an organic farm close to the brewery. When it came up for sale, they jumped at the chance of taking on the now 21 year old business, taking the organic philosophy to another level and broadening the range of beers. With a beautifully refurbished ex-school hall as their new brewery shop, an avocado orchard framing the site and extensions to the brewery itself, including more vessels and equipment, Mike's has seen a big increase in sales due to the hard work the family have put in.
We head to the shop to taste a few of the beers and notice the great 10 litre keg dispense units that are lined up on the bar. Sourced from Germany, these really look great, kind of espresso machine-like in appearance. With the Mike's fantastic new branding in a light-up display on the front, these wouldn't look out of place in any nice bar or restaurant. The great thing about the units is their ease of use. You get the keg, you put it into the machine and the unit controls temperature. You don't even need to clean any beer lines, as they all come with a one-use disposable dispense system that is replaced every time a new keg is put on. This means you have a closed system that keeps the beer in perfect condition (the gas unit doesn't even put any extra head-space pressure in the beer in the keg, hence carbonation is accurately controlled).
As if to prove the machines are worth their weight in gold, we go through the line-up, beginning with the impressive Strawberry Blonde. Made with fresh organic strawberries, this is unlike some of the sweet fruit beers you often find. It pours pale, with the faintest hint of pink, an almost Rosé wine strawberry note on the nose. Expecting sweetness, this spritzy beer is the opposite in the mouth. Delicate, refreshing and palate-cleansing, it has the berry perfume without the sweetness, finishing dry and remarkably crisp. This is a real gateway beer. White and Rosé wine lovers and mainstream lager drinkers and those that don't appreciate the subtle nuances that a delicate craft beer can have should try this, it's great.
We then tried the Organic Lager. This is another gateway beer, appealing to those stoke on the bland stuff for most of their lives, but lifting it up a notch. It's well executed with juicy malt characters and the faintest touch of light citrus and fresh-cut grass from the hops. It finishes smooth and goes down too easily. Another great beer served at the perfect temperature and carbonation and as fresh as can be. The Organic Pilsener is up next. The aroma blows us away, big aromatic hops, wonderful body and a persistent mouth-filling bitterness put this Pilsener up there with some of the best we have tried on the trip. The past four years have seen these guys working hard and this beer sums that up. Ron looks on like the proud father he deserves to be. A lovely drop.
We try the brewery's most famous drop next. Mike's Organic Ale is a bit of an institution and even appeared in Michael Jackson's (the Beer Hunter, not the pop star) book as a rare example of an antipodean mild. It has a nice maltiness on the nose, is smooth and flavourful with undertones of rich toffee and roasted malt in the mouth and finishes slightly nutty and dry. It's how I like a brown beer to taste. It's how a brown beer should taste. And the best thing is… it has hops. They dance around the nostrils as you sniff the glass and follow through with the faintest hint of berry and citrus in the mouth. This is a great beer and is as good, if not better than, I remember it tasting many moons ago.
As we entered the building, we couldn't help but spot the myriad of ex-whisky barrels lined up on the porch, filled with porter and slowly ageing away. Mike's Whisky Porter deserves the People's Choice award it got at last year's BrewNZ competition. It is rich and chocolaty, with lovely wisps of whisky and oak. It drinks like a rich, decadent, fruity port with an underlying Sherry character, heading towards Amontillado. It is a beer to drink when it's cool and you want something hearty, but equally when it's hot as hell and you have chilled it down in an ice bucket. We also try the big, hoppy, rich India Pale Ale. The big bottle looks the part. These are both beers to be savoured and talked about. The hops in the IPA leap from the glass, their American citrus and pine and fruit influence flooding the senses.
Mike's have done good!
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