In Which I Teach Christian About Beer
That's right, Dan: you read it correctly. Schooled.
I was a latecomer to the alcohol-appreciation party: long after my fellow Ascenders had discovered the joys of Saranac's many excellent brews I was taking MGD baby-steps in the Penn State dorms. So imagine my surprise then at Mr. F's blank look when I ran through my new list of New Zealand favorites.
Emerson's 1812? Wigrams Dunkel? Epic IPA, brewed in his very own fair city (recently ranked fifth in global quality of living, seven above our own)? He had heard of none of these outstanding beers. I was amazed.
Shortly after we arrived in Wellington I purchased a six-pack of Monteith's Original Ale, hoping to find some distant cousin of Saranac's: the label made claims to the pale ale family, that it's taste was dominated by hops. After cracking one open, I called him up.
"What the hell is up with this Monteith's crap?" I asked, not realizing it was one of his favorite beers. "It calls itself a pale ale? It tastes like Coors."
Silence emanated from the receiver. I had come all this way, over years and careers and oceans, only to deeply wound my friend's taste in beer. I think I could hear Joanna gasp in the background. Short of insulting his wife, I'm not sure what I could have said to hurt him more.
Fortunately Christian is thick-skinned and not one to take my attempts at humor to heart. He also knows it'll take more than a few beers to pay him back for introducing me to Old Speckled Hen, Kilkenny, Saranac and AC/DC. We shared some of my new favorites this weekend, after a glass of the Laphroaig single malt he brought me upon our arrival. I hope he enjoyed them as much as I have.
And yes, we bought them all at Moore Wilson.
I was a latecomer to the alcohol-appreciation party: long after my fellow Ascenders had discovered the joys of Saranac's many excellent brews I was taking MGD baby-steps in the Penn State dorms. So imagine my surprise then at Mr. F's blank look when I ran through my new list of New Zealand favorites.
Emerson's 1812? Wigrams Dunkel? Epic IPA, brewed in his very own fair city (recently ranked fifth in global quality of living, seven above our own)? He had heard of none of these outstanding beers. I was amazed.
Shortly after we arrived in Wellington I purchased a six-pack of Monteith's Original Ale, hoping to find some distant cousin of Saranac's: the label made claims to the pale ale family, that it's taste was dominated by hops. After cracking one open, I called him up.
"What the hell is up with this Monteith's crap?" I asked, not realizing it was one of his favorite beers. "It calls itself a pale ale? It tastes like Coors."
Silence emanated from the receiver. I had come all this way, over years and careers and oceans, only to deeply wound my friend's taste in beer. I think I could hear Joanna gasp in the background. Short of insulting his wife, I'm not sure what I could have said to hurt him more.
Fortunately Christian is thick-skinned and not one to take my attempts at humor to heart. He also knows it'll take more than a few beers to pay him back for introducing me to Old Speckled Hen, Kilkenny, Saranac and AC/DC. We shared some of my new favorites this weekend, after a glass of the Laphroaig single malt he brought me upon our arrival. I hope he enjoyed them as much as I have.
And yes, we bought them all at Moore Wilson.
looking forward to trying these haha
Aw, man! Harshing on the Monteith's! Monteith's Gold rules!
Where did you guys get the yummy beer we had at your house-the one from the brewery that Brandie and I tried at the Food Show? Was that Moore Wilson? When you get a chance, remind me of the name. That was delish!
Sounds like you guys had an awesome weekend!
I'm pretty sure that was Wigram's Dunkel, which Brandie was able to buy at Moore Wilson. They also have a great Hefeweizen for very reasonable price (almost half the cost of the Dunkel), goes good with lemons from our tree!
Further investigation has revealed Epic to have won the following awards: Best Beer in New Zealand - Supreme Champion winner at the New Zealand International Beer Awards and top beer of the RealBeer.co.nz Top Ten New Zealand Beers 2006.
Source: http://www.epicbeer.com/
Has The Man From Milk-Can Corners lost his edge? Stay tuned to find out!
Oh SNAP!!
Schooled indeed. Whilst I have vague awareness of Epic (I can see the label in my head but it may have been from a photo and not actual tasting) I had never heard of Wigram's. My ego allows me to be schooled in anything that opens my eyes to new beers, so thanks for the schooling! I should endeavour to spend more time in NZ sampling NZ beers...sounds like the start of a good New Year resolution. Anyway, please do continue to educate me further!
Brandie discovered this weekend why you may not have tried Epic's IPA before - it's $20 for a six-pack, at Moore Wilson no less!