After 7 weeks of travel in New Zealand, we are in Beer Mecca. Well, at least the best New Zealand has to offer. Which in my humble opinion is pretty good at Emerson's. I know I've mentioned them several times before, but Dunedin is where the brewery is. Our last trip to New Zealand, we had the fortune to meet the brewer and his father (Richard and George respectively) and to do some tasting with them. Unfortunately, George passed away a few years ago, but Richard has continued the business. Judging by the new, larger facility, things have been going well.

At this point I feel a little compelled to get up on my soapbox and give my take on New Zealand beer. We have been trying to taste as many as we can while here and it's been a fun, although sometimes challenging, endeavor. Many New Zealand beers are what Portlanders would consider 'yellow fizzy beer'. That is, they are extremely light on both color and flavor, over carbonated, and served far too cold to even taste what flavor there is. We even found that many of the smaller microbreweries attempted to brew this same way. There were a few exceptions, but not many. We also found out, and this is reprehensible in my mind, that almost all of them are brewing lagers and calling them ales. This includes Speights, which prides itself on its 'Gold Medal Ale' and 'Distinction Ale', neither of which is! Emerson's produces 8 beers and a seasonal. Each of these is distinctly different and very true to the style. None of them tastes like the other. The American Pale Ale, a seasonal, is extremely hoppy and leaves a nice dry feel in your throat. This has been wildly successful and we're hoping he decides to add this to his regular lineup. The most impressive thing I came away with today was that Richard is still as passionate about his brewing today as when we met him 6 years ago. He was explaining to us how they had made the Old 95, a traditional English style Pale Ale at 7% alcohol, and now they are trying to recreate it with a lower alcohol content. Seems beer is taxed on a sliding scale according to alcohol content and 7% makes the beer very expensive. We've been drinking it and it's worth the extra $$$. He is always experimenting with new ingredients and seems like a perfectionist when it comes to his beers. You have to admire this in a brewer. Most of them here seem to be more interested in making every beer exactly the same. Light or dark color makes no difference as long as they are below 4% alcohol, very carbonated, and can be drank near the freezing point.

We left the brewery with over $100 worth of beer and some schwag (souvenirs) and very large smiles on our faces. Hopefully we will have enough to last us until we leave here, but I kind of doubt it:)

Until next time, HOPPY TRAILS!!!!!!

Eric & Val