Beer #196 - W/C 26 November 2018
BREWERY // 7 years ago, old school friends Paul Brown & Jarred Maclachlan decided to chuck their jobs in and start a brewpub with hospitality expert Scott Taylor. The New Zealand beer landscape looked pretty different back in 2011 but they had a masterstroke to ensure they would have plenty of customers - they located in the heartland of beer-loving British ex-pats, Auckland's Brown's Bay. After closing the pub each night at midnight, they would work through the night to brew more beer. After just a few months, they reached capacity and started looking for a dedicated off-site brewery space. As the Deep Creek empire steadily grew, they tempted an extremely talented brewer, Hamish Ward, to leave his day job a genetic research scientist and head up the brewery. Their success over the past few years has been huge and they took out the Australian International Beer Awards Champion Small Brewery award last year. Their steady stream of seasonal releases means there's always something new to try from their brewpub, brewery taproom or anywhere else you find them.
BEER // Berliner Weisse is a style that dates back over 500 years. Napoleon dubbed it the "Champagne of the North" and 'Berliner' became the most popular alcoholic drink in Berlin by the late 19th Century. By the turn of our century it had almost disappeared completely. Thankfully for us American breweries including Dogfish Head & The Bruery discovered and resurrected the style a decade ago. The style is defined by the inclusion of wheat in the malt bill and secondary fermentation with Lactobacillus bacteria to sour the beer. It is extremely light, effervescent, tart and dry. Berliner Weisse is regularly drunk "mit Schuß" (with a shot) in Germany with a dose or raspberry or woodruff syrup being added to balance the tart, dry beer. There's no need for a Schuß with this beer though - the good folks at Deep Creek have already added a big dose of Black Doris plums. It's a wonderfully spritzy, light and fruity beer which is best suited to a sunny picnic environment.
BREWERY // Deep Creek
BEER // Black Doris Berliner
ORIGIN // Silverdale, Auckland
ABV // 4.5%
TEMPERATURE // Cool. 7-11C
FOOD MATCH // Chinese Smashed Cucumbers. Fries & Mayo. Brie. Caesar Salad. Very Dark Chocolate.
GLASS // Goblet