BREWERY // Citizen is not a beer company. Citizen is a food upcycling collective - which launched less than a year ago with a mission to reduce food waste. Co-founder Donald Shepherd decided to start with beer made with Aoteorea’s most wasted food product: bread. They collect bread that is still 2 days away from it’s ‘best before date’ (but supermarkets can’t sell) and use it to replace 1/4 of the malted barley in each brew meaning the can in your hand contains a slice. Since launch, they’ve rescued over 136,000 slices. Citizen beers are made at Sawmill (NZ’s only B Corp brewery) and whose owner, Mike Sutherland, is a Citizen co-founder and co-owner. When a brew is completed, they process the spent grain would-be-waste into flour which Wild Wheat bakery use to create Citizen Sourdough bread. Citizen will soon be releasing a sparkling Piquette fermented using waste grape skins from vineyards and also a range of sauces using discarded fruit and vegetables.
BEER // Each day we take the most incredible things for granted. Things that created a sensation in their day and improved lives hugely: wheels, buttons, plumbing and lager are just a few examples. As every brewer and connoisseur knows, a well crafted Pilsner is a magnificent thing - crisp, bitter, bubbly, bright and easy to drink. The Pilsner style came about in Bohemia in 1838 when a Bavarian was hired to teach local brewers the German art of 'lagering' which is the process of maturing bottom-fermented beer for a period of several weeks at near-freezing temperatures to result in a beer which is clearer with a more developed and cleaner taste. The noble style travelled to the New World with German emigrants including Pabst, Miller, Yuengling, Coors, Anheuser & Busch whose offspring subsequently proceeded to destroy it over the next century by using ever cheaper ingredients and production methods. Fortunately it is still possible to find carefully crafted Pilsners such as this one by Citizen. It is alive with fresh tropical hops atop a slightly toast-y malt backbone. Very easy-drinking, it pairs well with food and and the dry finish makes it rather more-ish.
BREWERY // Citizen
BEER // Pilsner
ORIGIN // Matakana
ABV // 4.6%
TEMPERATURE // Straight from the fridge- around 5C
FOOD MATCH // Pretzel. Sourdough & Butter. Toastie w. Sharp Cheddar. Garlic Pizzadough Knots. Rosemary Shortbread.
VESSEL // Tall Pilsner Glass