BREWERY // 1,000 years ago (well, at the start of the Summer) we invited our friend Molly Jones to run a festival with us celebrating diversity in the beer industry. XX Fest was a wonderful day at The Fridge & Flagon with 12 beers on tap from female brewers, guided beer & chocolate tastings, beer & meat tastings, beer yoga and panel discussions with 9.3% (equivalent to the gender pay gap) of profits going to the Women's Fund. It was also the launch of The Curator Project which formed with the idea of making 'beer with a purpose' and will sporadically release beers for special causes and events. Molly is the Curator who will bring together different talented creatives for each brew. For this inaugural beer she worked with artist Lynn Bremner and brewer Claire Madrid. Claire's day job is as a brewer at Steam, the contract brewery behind many of the most successful beers in NZ which has been awarded Champion Manufacturer 5 years in a row by the Brewers Guild.
BEER // Claire spends her time brewing other people's recipes so was delighted to be asked to create and brew her own. She is especially drawn to flavour-packed beers with lower alcohol which are somewhat of a rarity. The light, effervescent, tart Berliner Weisse style was an obvious choice. The style dates back over 500 years and was dubbed the 'Champagne of the North' by Napoleon's men. 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 often drunk "mit Schuß" (with a shot) in Germany with a dose or raspberry or woodruff syrup being added to balance the tart, dry beer. No need for a Schuß here though, '&' was brewed with a lot of passionfruit and chrysanthemum flowers. Claire regularly drinks chrysanthemum tea and thought the floral, earthy, slightly savoury notes could be the perfect foil to the sweet tartness of the passionfruit. It's a wonderfully spritzy, light and fruity beer which is best suited to a sunny picnic environment. If you insist on adding a Schuß, we hear & goes very well with gin...
BREWERY // The Curator Project
BEER // &
STYLE // Chrysanthemum & Passionfruit Berliner Weisse
ABV // 3.5%
TEMPERATURE // Cool. 7C
FOOD MATCH // Sourdough Pretzel. Chinese Smashed Cucumbers. Kung Pao Chicken. Chips & Mayo
VESSEL // Goblet
We're looking forward to seeing your reviews in the Beer Jerk Members Facebook group as well as Instagram, Twitter & Untapped. Remember to #BeerJerkNZ so we can find them.