Only two sleeps until Beervana and the launch of what I’ve been excitedly calling ‘my beer’. It is in fact a collaboration between Panhead Custom Ales and NZ Life & Leisure magazine, one of twenty-five entries in Beervana’s hotly contested Media Brew competition. I’ve been itching to take part – “pick me, pick me!” – since the event started some three years’ ago. This year, I was not only one of the chosen but I was able to pick my brewer. I entered the event with my son Jimmy (my homebrew partner) and I opted for MIke Neilson at Panhead because his Upper Hutt brewery is a driveable distance and because Jimmy and I really like his beer. I’ve written Mike up in the next issue of NZ Life & Leisure (Sept/Oct) in an article about my – I mean our – beer.
Jimmy at Panhead
The ground rules of the competition are reasonably open to creative interpretation. The theme changes each year – this year’s it’s Spring – and the brew must include an “intrinsic New Zealand ingredient”. Last year’s winning beer contained red, white and green jet planes; this year I’ve heard rumours of karengo, sea water and horopito. Our own brew is now kegged up and ready to go, so – having managed to keep it a secret so far – I’m ready to spill the beans.
The process began several weeks ago with a brainstorming session that culminated in the idea of Spring lamb. Mike immediately got carried away with the idea of making molecular spheres that, when dropped into the beer, would release the essence of slow roasted lamb. Well, that was never going to happen – it was far too outlandish and hideously complicated – so we abandoned the idea of making a beer that would taste like lamb and decided instead to make a beer that a lamb might drink.
Mike tests the essential ingredient
We figured a lamb would like malted porridge, so wheat and barley went into the mash. We added a mix of hops to the boil – the sort that would give the beer a pastoral grassy flavour. We dropped in a selection of tasty herbs that a lamb would leap the fence for, and then we finished it off with something essential to its well-being: a healthy dose of mother’s milk. Yes, ewe’s milk – sourced from Kingsmeade farm in the Wairarapa.
I don’t think anyone has brewed a beer with ewe’s milk before, but when you think about it it’s not that far removed from milk stout. Mike says the milk won’t be detected in the beer but the lactose will give it a residual sweetness. As I write this, I haven’t tasted the end result but Mike is confident enough to have made 1200 litres, most of which has been bottled under the rather clever (if I say so myself) name of Lamb Chopper.
The Label
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