BREWERY // 8 Wired began on Christmas day when Søren Eriksen's future wife, Monique, gave him the gift of a Coopers malt extract brew kit. A few successful home-brews later, he decided to jack in his career in biochemistry and landed a job at at a brewery. A few years later they created a brewery of their own in beautiful Warkwork. A wide range of traditional and innovative styles are being constantly released by 8 Wired and their barrel ageing programme is one of the largest in our hemisphere with 7 huge
foedres and hundreds of wooden barrels. Last week they opened a brewpub & distillery in Matakana - 8 Wired Barrelworks.
Brothers Josh and Jake Uljans and Karl van Buuren started Moon Dog in 2010 with a plan to brew “Really Ridiculously Fun Beer”. Their original Melbourne brewery was built up bit by bit with the help of eBay. Still proudly independent, they have seen huge growth in the past few years but retain their original spirit. Their first brew kit is now used for small seasonal brews in their brewery bar while a shiny big kit next door is used for most of their beers. They recently opened a gigantic 1 hectare brewery with a lagoon, rainforest and secret tiki bar named Moon Dog World.
Back in March our mates from Moon Dog came to visit and we took them on a tour of NZ to collaborate with some of our favourite breweries.
BEER // We LOVE barleywines. If you haven't tried one before, you can rest assured- this is most definitely a beer. The name comes from the alcohol strength which is generally around the same as wine. The style has an interesting history with a commonly told origin story being that during the 18th and 19th centuries, Britain was often at war with France meaning no claret for the dining tables of the upper classes. English brewed barleywine took the place of wine handsomely. The high alcohol content comes from using a lot of malt in the mash (double that of a standard beer) which makes for a very rich, complex beer with lots of sweetness in the toffee and roast coffee flavours. For those with the patience, it is great to cellar barleywines as the flavours will continue to mature and change over the years. Byg Is Beautiful is an American barleywine meaning it is brewed with a lot of hops, making it quite different to English versions which are more fruitcake-y. The NZ hops add a bitterness which compliments the sweetness beautifully. The brewers decided to age it on oak for 3 months which gives it further vanilla oak complexity. This is a beer to savour, be sure to drink at room temperature to release all of the flavours and aroma.
If you want to grab some Byg Is Beautiful for the cellar, our webshop is the only place you'll find it. And it is surprisingly well priced. We look forward to seeing your review in our closed Beer Jerk Members Facebook group.
BREWERY // 8 Wired & Moon Dog
BEER // Byg Is Beautiful
STYLES // Barleywine
ORIGIN // Warkworth
ABV // 11%
TEMPERATURE // Cupboard temperature. 14-17C
FOOD MATCH // Toad in the Hole Pecan Pie. Dark Chocolate. Stilton. Goar Cheese & Fig White Pizza.
GLASS // Snifter, Wine Glass