BREWERY // Dean Moses started homebrewing 10 years ago with some old school friends. He soon found himself thinking about brewing all the time so he left his job in public service to get a job at Baylands Brewery. When he was ready to start his own brewery, it took quite a while to find the perfect site. When Karl at Te Aro suggested he take over his old location on central Wellington's Tory Street, Dean took it. He promptly pieced together his brewkit and released his very first Mean Doses beer - a fresh hop NZ Pilsner - in March 2019 to great acclaim. Dean's small kit means his beers have extremely limited availability around the country and the best place to find them are in his taproom. It's a very small affair - Dean's partner Kerry works with him on the business side of things and he has mates who are good with copy and Photoshop that give a hand with the marketing. Mr. Insano collaborated on this beer. Nobody knows the true identity of Insano but he is a stalwart of the Wellington brewing scene who had been looking for a brewery to collaborate with to create a great traditional Hefeweizen for a while.
BEER // Wheat beers are extremely unpopular in New Zealand and we really aren't sure why because we love them. We'd been lamenting this at Beer Jerk Towers when Dean dropped us an email to say he was planning to brew one. Obviously, we immediately pre-ordered the whole batch for you Jerks. Banana Boss is a pretty traditional German style wheat beer with adjuncts. It does have a lot of clove and banana aromas that come from the traditional yeast - the esters (isoamyl acetate) smell like banana and a spicy phenolic compound (4-vinyl guaiacol) that smells like clove. I enjoy imagining the first Bavarians to try bananas in the 17th Century exclaiming "gosh, it tastes like Weißbier!". Ideally pouring into a tall weissbier glass, you should aim for a large head which makes for lots of aroma and be sure to put in the yeast from the bottom of the bottle. Banana Boss was brewed with 60% wheat and has the medium body, soft carbonation and cloudiness. The original hazy beer from one of New Zealand's newest breweries.
BREWERY // Mean Doses
BEER // Banana Boss
STYLE // Hefeweizen
ORIGIN // Wellington
ABV // 5.7%
TEMPERATURE // Cool - 9-12C
FOOD MATCH // Kalbfleischbällchen mit Spargelragout. Smoked Cheddar. Hot and Spicy Spare Ribs
VESSEL // Weissbier Glass