Beer #213 - W/C 25 March 2019
BREWERY // Fermenting is a family business for the Haworths who founded Abbey Estate Winery almost 20 years ago in Hawkes Bay. Abbey Brewery started out in 2012 under the name Fat Monk selling beer at Abbey's cellar door. Dermot Haworth took inspiration from the great beers he discovered while travelling the world and, after perfecting recipes on a small pilot brew kit, decided to start contract brewing with Mata. Those initial beers went down well and Dermot built a brewery on site at the Hastings winery and dropped the Fat Monk moniker. As you might expect, Abbey take inspiration from Belgian Trappist styles and you'll always find a couple of those in the range. Not one to be pigeonholed, he has also taken inspiration from milkshakes and slushies for recent releases. The best place to drink Abbey beers is at the brewery where they have a dozen beers and a dozen wines pouring as well as a packed live music schedule throughout the warmer months.
BEER // Hoppy hazy beers have recently taken over the beer world but they are nothing new in Vermont where they've been knocking them out since the '90s. Heady Topper from The Alchemist is commonly regarded as the beer that inspired the New England hazy trend with other breweries such as Hill Farmstead quickly joining the hazy fun. The style is a foil to the aggressive bitterness we saw in the IBU arms race in West Coast IPAs a decade ago. NEIPAs are all about soft, round mouthfeel and big, juicy aromatic dry hopping. Dermot used a lot of oats and flaked wheat in the maltbill to give Calypso plenty of body. The yeast strains used also different to their West Coast counterparts, with more esters giving fruit aroma and a sweeter impression. We're not sure any other NZ brewers have made a beer with the Calypso and Bravo hop combination featured here - Calypso has an earthy tea-like profile with notes of pear and stonefruit and Bravo is also earthy with light floral orange flavours. Although hazy in style, Calypso isn't especially hazy in appearance- concerned about the haze blocking the heads of his bottle filler, Dermot filtered the beer.
BREWERY // Abbey
BEER // Calypso
STYLE // Hazy APA
ORIGIN // Hastings
ABV // 5.5%
TEMPERATURE // Cool. 7-10C
FOOD MATCH // Bun Thit Nuong (rice vermicelli w. seasoned barbecue pork). Beef & Mustard Sandwich. Leek & Potato Soup. Gruyere.
GLASS // IPA Glass