BREWERY // Canyon opened their doors in Winter 2018 as a brewpub and restaurant in an incredible and unique location. Perched in the canyon of Arthur’s Point near Queenstown, the beer garden overlooks the fast flowing Shotover river with views of occasional jetboats and adrenaline junkies swinging from the canyon bridge. It was started by the people behind local family-owned tourism company Real Journeys. After the tourism year from hell of 2020 they decided to sell up and local hospitality expert James Nicholson couldn’t pass up the opportunity. With his business partners he took over around the start of this year and quickly set about growing the operation. Canyon has always been a favourite for locals and visitors but Covid has meant they’re also working on getting their beers around the country by canning more beers and ramping up the output of seasonals. It truly is a microbrewery with a small 7,000L brewhouse and just a handful of fermentation vessels which means head brewer Kit Clinton-Baker can brew small batches often to hone recipes and also trial new one-off beers.
BEER // Just when we thought the Fresh Hop season was over, we got a call from Canyon. Hops are ready to harvest at different times in different places and, as the hops in this beer were grown pretty far South, they ripened later than other crops. Blue Door is a very cool local cocktail bar whose mixologist Ross gave Canyon's brewer Kit a shout to ask it he'd like to make a beer with the hops that grow in the garden of the bar. Ross expected there might be enough for a mini test brew so was absolutely delighted to realise there were kilos and kilos of delicious Taiheke hops - the NZ version of Cascade. In previous years, Ross had used some of the hops to infuse with rum which became the base for a seasonal daiquiri. The team set about the task of recreating the flavours of a tropical citrus daiquiri without any adjuncts. Fortunately, brewers have an arsenal of modern hop varieties which provide all kinds of flavour and aroma possibilities - that fresh Taiheke brings big citrus and pineapple notes to the beer. Kit also added Motueka (lemon & lime), Galaxy (peachy) and Sabro (coconutty) to the brew to result in a hugely aromatic fruitbowl cocktail of a beer. Those flavours sit atop a round pillowy malt body with minimal bitterness.
BREWERY // Canyon
BEER // Pineapple Daquiri
STYLE // NEIPA
ORIGIN // Queenstown
ABV // 6%
TEMPERATURE // Cool - 7 - 10C
FOOD MATCH // Fish Tacos. Fried Chicken. Jalapeño Poppers
VESSEL // Shaker