SUPPORTERS

We need another $10,000 dollars to fund the editiing of the final episodes of the Mash Up series. Therefore we need to sell approx. 10,000 more bottles. Below people have taken photos of the bottles of Mash Up they have drunk to show there support. We are naming these great people here and thank them for their support. 

You to can submit you photos here 

Brent Marquis (Beerginner)
Simon Hurley
Brett Curry 
Glenn Wignall 

Mash Up - NZ Pale Ale - 6.0% abv - 50 IBU

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Entries in riwaka (2)

Saturday
Feb052011

Monkey Wizard Brewery


The Monkey Wizard Duo

From the NZ Craft Beer TV journal entry, 27/1/11:

Monkey Wizard Brewery in Riwaka is in the heart of hop growing territory. A lot of the New Zealand Saaz varieties are grown here under the names Motueka and Riwaka and the Wizard himself, Matt Elmhirst has done an amazing job at converting a former roadside butchery into his own beer heaven. The expat Brit has background heavy in science but is also heavily interested in alchemy and takes an almost biodynamic approach to some facets of his brewery operation. Together with his talented and enthusiastic engineer mate, Lyall they have built a great brewery and are aiming for a sustainable approach, with the building of things such as solar panels to help capture the suns energy being a big part of what they are trying to achieve. 

 Matt’s beers are fascinating. He is well versed in the history, science and flavours of various ingredients, with elderflowers and elderberries being two local products that make their way into his brews. He even used the elder leaves themselves to keep away insects from the bar. A truly natural approach. He is a firm believer in using the products of the land and talked with animation and passion about various ingredients. From mushrooms to black pepper and cinnamon, he was definitely a man after my own heart with regard to his use of other culinary additives in the brewing process.

His microbiology background also meant he has the ability to play around with various yeasts and microorganisms and his magic doesn’t only apply to beer. He makes cider as well as other fermented foods like sauerkraut and Lyall told me they’d recently pickled some eels!

We went through the range of beers with Matt, Lyall and Jacqui (who runs the brewery shop and does tastings) beginning with the Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka filled Brass Monkey Lager. Matt had been maturing this for 6 months and the big hop character worked well with the Maris Otter malt. It was big in flavour, an ode to the hops it used and a very characterful brew. The Savvy Summer Ale was next on the board, a pale brew with characteristic elderflowers on the nose (which Matt picks at full moon) and Nelson Sauvin hop underneath. There was a hint of grass and sappy plant in the mouth, almost Nasturtium or Caper-like which added another interesting dimension to the beer.

Matt’s subtly smokey oatmeal-filled Black Mass Stout offered the characteristic dark malt chocolate and char notes, balanced out well by the smoothness of the oats. His Berry Bounce, a slightly tart Wheat beer matured on mixed berries grown in the area around Riwaka was a perfectly balanced fruit beer. A mixture of spices and elderflowers were also alchemically employed by Matt with a wizard touch. The slight lactic sourness blended in brilliantly with the fruit characters with the raspberry note coming to the forefront. This was a perfectly executed beer and it’s great to see Kiwi breweries taking on the more unusual styles such as sour and fruit beers with grace and passion.

Matt’s Fat Kelpie Brown Ale was a well-hopped interpretation of the style and the final beer, his Limited Edition Steampunk was a rich barleywine-esque beer with big fruity malt characters. Done in a Belgian Tripel style, it yelled more American than British-style in its hop character and packaged up in a 750mL Champagne bottle with an awesome Steampunk-inspired label, this was definitely a special occasion beer.

We went and checked out the brewkit, Lyall’s deft hand at engineering showing some nifty steelwork and tanks. We sat outside, shared a sweet lemon to cleanse the palate and hit the road again. Definitely a brewery to check out for its unique approach to brewing.

Saturday
Feb052011

Monkey Wizard Brewery - History

From the Monkey Wizard Brewery website:

Monkey Wizard Brewery is located near Motueka in the village of Riwaka, close to the Kahurangi National Park. The area is well known for having excellent water and is ideal for growing both apples and hops. We use both of these in our products and we are especially fond of the New Zealand Saaz cultivars bred locally that have been named after local settlements. One which features in the pilsners is a hop named "Riwaka" and another named "Nelson Sauvin". Our two row malt is also sourced in New Zealand and comes from the fertile plains of Canterbury in the South Island. The brewery was a butchers shop originally and many of the original features have been preserved. The brewery is a 600lt batch size and we predominantly use a traditional single step infusion mashing technique, as was popular in the UK at the turn of the century and brewing is entirely done by hand in the time honoured way. The cider is also entirely hand made using an old basket press popular on the continent. Our brewery waste is composted or fed to local farm animals, we encourage people to reuse their containers and are shortly to go solar powered. The majority of sales are direct from the brewery door in PET flagons and discounts are availaible for refills. We believe the beer is best direct from us and enjoy discussing beer with our customers and passing out beer mana on the world at large. We can be very busy during the summer so please, enjoy your wait! Our motto means, "If you don't like it don't drink it." And where did we get the name from, well that's the Wizard's secret

Monkey Wizard's range of beers: 

Brass Monkey Lager - Dry hopped with NZ Saaz, Nelson Sauvin and brewed with only Canterbury malt. Brass Monkey Lager is a 100% New Zealand lager made with Canterbury malt and a hop named after the township of Riwaka where the hop was bred. Brass Monkey is handcrafted, unpasteurised and undiluted. Dry hopped to give a fresh Saaz hop taste and fermented cold as all quality lagers should be.

Abel Ale - Hop heads favourite. New World IPA with plenty of full cone South Island Cascade hops. This handmade English style ale is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, as is our local National Park.Abel Ale is fermented at warm temperatures with a traditional ale yeast and three types of malted barley to produce its fruity taste and aroma.A generous amount of New Zealand hops are then used to dry hop the beer after fermentation leaving an aromatic, hoppy finish to the ale.

Black Mass Stout - Rich and black Stout made silky smooth with oatmeal and Pacific Gem hops for a mild blackberry hint Fermented with a traditional ale yeast at room temperature giving an abundance of esters and aromatic coffee-like flavours. A hint of blackberry is produced from the addition of oatmeal to the mash. Brewed with high carbonate water like the stouts of Ireland, this is a beer to be savoured at room temperature.

Fat Kelpie Ale - A five malt blend English Brown Ale. This Nut Brown Ale is brewed with 5 different malts in the English Brown Ale style and is lightly hopped to let the malt flavours dominate.

Wizard’s Wheat Beer - Spiced wheat beer with Nelson Sauvin and seasonal fruits as the wizard feels inclined Brewed in Riwaka with both malted and unmalted wheat, this delicious wheat beer has an added touch of chamomile and coriander. The brew is named after James Wheatley, cider alchemist and chief gardening wizard.

George Best Barley Wine - Barley wine is intended to be consumed in small portions at room. This limited release all malt barley wine has been brewed in homage to the famous soccer player George Best, who we hope would favour this rare ale. Barley wines are, like George, a dying breed and we hope to revive this beer style. Barley wine is intended to be consumed in small portions at room temperature in a wide mouthed glass, much like a wine. It is brewed and dry hopped with New Zealand Hallertau aroma hops. George Best Barley Wine is stronger than most, so enjoy in moderation.

Summer Ale - Dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin Hops and aged on fresh elderflowers. A light blonde ale perfect for the summer months made with Nelson Sauvin Hops and aged on fresh elderflowers. A real treat, but only availaible when the flowers are in season around November. Elderflower has been used to make ales and wines for over four thousand years.

Steampunk Strong Ale - Belgian style ale with a fruity finish and subtle hoppy aroma. This is a rich strong Belgian style ale with a fruity finish and subtle hoppy aroma. Availaible soon in 750ml Champagne bottles. Limited amounts of bottle conditioned ale can be purchased from the brewery wired and sealed with champagne corks.