Beer #187 - W/C 24 September 2018
BREWERY // Craftwork is the favourite brewery of most NZ brewers (go on, ask the next one you see) but their tiny brewery means not many people have a chance to drink their beers. Former teacher Lee-Ann Scotti & bookbinder Michael O'Brien started the brewery in the stone basement of Lee-Ann's Oamaru house in 2014 with a 50 litre system. Since then their brewery has doubled in size. They brew the beers they like to drink, mainly Belgian styles - Farmhouse Ales, Belgian Strong Ales and all kinds of glorious barrel aged and spontaneously fermented wonders. And the tiny 100L batches means they can afford to experiment. Until very recently, every beer was hand bottled, labelled and capped in the basement brewery. Due to demand, they have recently started brewing some of their beers at their friend's brewery in Wanaka, Rhyme & Reason, where they can create a whopping 1,200L of beer and they have discovered the wonders of a bottling machine.
BEER // Grisettes were first brewed for the stone quarry miners in Belgium's Hainaut province. A cousin of the Farmhouse Saison, the beer is relatively low in alcohol, light and refreshing to slake the thirst of workers covered in grey dust. It would have originally been served by young working class maids who dressed in grey smocks who were known as Grisettes (gris meaning grey in French) who gave the beer its name. The style is easy drinking but flavour filled with significant hops and yeast esters. Craftwork managed to use all organic ingredients in this brew which isn't easy to do in New Zealand. They used Ardennes yeast of the same variety as the famous La Chouffe beer. Thee 3 varieties noble hop varieties add a touch of floral citrus to the peppery notes from the yeast. Oats and raw wheat were used to give the beer a great mouthfeel. All together, it is a refreshing, slightly sweet, quaffable beer with a dry finish that pours with a big fluffy head. Michael & Lee-Ann created the original marbling for the label.
Check out the video below to hear what they have to say about the Grisette.
BREWERY // Craftwork
BEER // Grisette
ORIGIN // Oamaru
ABV // 5.5%
TEMPERATURE // Cool. 10-12C
FOOD MATCH // Mussels & Fries. Cheese Cubes with Celery Salt. Panna Cotta. Cassoulet.
GLASS // Goblet
Craftwork. Grisette from Beer Jerk on Vimeo.