Beer #21 - W/C 20 July 2015
BREWERY //
Andrew Childs is a big guy and he loves big beers. A few years ago he quit his job as a lawyer in Wellington (taking a 60% pay cut) to start working at a brew pub and learn the craft of making his favourite drink on a larger scale. We're glad he did because since then, he has been brewing some really excellent beers. In his quest to graduate from top home brewer to master brewer, he also worked at Mangrove Jacks whose yeast Behemoth continue to use.
Vital to the success of Behemoth is their mascot, Churly. Thirsty Churly graces each Behemoth bottle label and bar tap. Fortunately he is happy to accept beer in lieu of modelling fees.
TASTING NOTES //
Pilsners are nice. When these pale lagers were first brewed in Bohemia in the 1840's, everyone agreed they were nice. It seems that, over the decades, big breweries have made ever more insipid tasting pilsners in the pursuit of cutting costs. Luckily for us, Behemoth don't give a toss about brewing to a spreadsheet and made a refreshingly different beer with Hopped Up On Pils by dry hopping it like an IPA. The result of this is a beer with the full NZ hop flavour of an IPA but much less bitterness. Andrew describes it as "light and crisp but with robust aroma and flavour". We couldn't say it better ourselves.
BREWERY // Behemoth
BEER // Hopped Up On Pils
STYLE // Pilsner
ORIGIN // New Zealand
ABV // 5%
IBU // 30
GRAIN // Pilsner Malt
HOPS // Motueka, NZ Cascade
YEAST // Mangrove Jack Lager Yeast
TEMPERATURE // Cool - 8-9C
FOOD MATCH // Spicy Indian Curries, Goat Cheese, Burger
GLASS // Pilsner Glass