Hopping Hare and the fine art of correct serving temperature.

I was first turned onto Badger Ales while living in London - available at most of the supermarkets and many pubs their extensive and reliable range quickly becoming a go to brand for great beer. Brewed in Dorset since the late 1700's Badger championed a back to basics approach that has since become popular with craft brewers worldwide. Combining the traditional Malt, Hops, Yeast and Water into delicious beer seems to come naturally to them and their approach earned the attention of Hugh "River cottage" Fearnley-Whittingstall who joined forces for a special brew.

Badger are probably most well known for Tanglefoot or Fursty Ferret, both good examples of English Ales, but this cool autumn evening it was Hopping Hare that caught my eye. Up at Speakers Corner in Browns Bay there is a good range of beers, including a couple of Fullers range on tap. The pub is decent, and probably only one of a few around New Zealand that capture the English pub feel properly (possibly because it's run by ex-pats!).

Anyway, having warmed up on a London Porter it seemed that the new Badger bottles were getting some attention and ever inquisitive I decided to check out the offering for myself.

The verdict? Pretty good, if slightly misleading. For a beer calling itself highly hopped I thought it was more balanced and malty, but perhaps I've had too many IPA's lately? This isn't to say it's an unpleasant beer, quite the opposite: there are some very nice notes of fruit and bitterness, even if they're more subtle in the mix but there is also a lovely bread aroma in there. The flavour is very nice, rewarding and full with a rather enjoyable effervescent hops fruitiness at the finish. Despite being an English pub, in typical New Zealand fashion the beer was served just a touch above freezing, and it was fellow beer-enjoyer Matt that noted it would be better at room temperature.

As luck would have it I was in a room, so it was only a matter of time before I was able to enjoy even more of those delicious rich malty flavours in the manner which their maker intended.

Yes, I know that Lager needs to be cold. But Ale isn't Lager, it's about letting the subtle flavours come out rather than refining them to a crisp perfection. When too cold Hopping Hare fell slightly short of expectations, but came to life when allowed to warm.

There's a lesson here, for optimum enjoyment (and that's what it's all about, right?) it's best to serve appropriately. You wouldn't have Fish and Chips cold? Yes, we've all heard (or experienced) Ale's poorly cellered: flat, warm, bad. But the right temperature can bring a beer to life!

STOP! Porter time.

Stout is a beer with quite an interesting history. Before the early 1700's the huge majority of Beers were dark, largely because the art or lightly roasting malt hadn't yet been developed. Stout's are made with dark malt, obviously, and traditional stouts were simply the stronger Dark Ales. Stouts today are thicker and creamier than Porters but both tend to be 4-5% in strength, and with lasting head. I'll look at some of the most popular Stouts and one of the best Porters.

Without a doubt the most recognisable Stout in the world is Guinness Extra Stout or Draught from the tap - interestingly Guinness was originally called Guinness Extra Superior Porter which should tell us something about the intertwined nature of these beers.

At it's best Guinness is rich, creamy, slightly chocolate and coffee with roasted malt and only the merest hint of bitterness. I say "at it's best" because a lot of the magic about a Guinness depends on the pour and the condition of the Beer. Too often Guinness is less than amazing because of bad carbonation lines - either not clean, or not mixed correctly. Although developed in London, large amounts of Stout were shipped to Ireland where it quickly became the tipple of choice, and it wasn't long before the Irish started brewing it themselves and what a great job they've done ever since!

There really isn't anything quite like nestling down in front of a roaring fire at the local pub on a cold winters night and enjoying a Guinness!

Guinness is classified as Irish Dry Stout, as are the other mainstays of Stout: Murphys and Beamish. Aside from dry Stout there are a few other varieties of this delicious wholesome beer. Imperial Stout would probably be the next most popular, so names because of it's origins in Russia. Imperial Stout tends to be stronger, ranging up to 11%abv and was designed to help Russians stay warm in the long cold winter months. There are also Milk Stout and Oatmeal Stout the former being sweeter (Lactose sugar is non fermentable to brewers yeast) and the latter being creamier. Porter can have all of the flavour characteristics as Stout but without so much of the variety, and as I said, less thickness.

Stout and Porter are also popular with micro brewers and craft brewers, and many beer makers include a Stout/Porter in their range. I'm going to skip straight to a microbrewery just outside of Naiper: Hawkes Bay Independent Brewery.

Black Duck Porter lives up to all of the promise of a great Porter. It's rich, has perfect creaminess and lovely mouth feel, being thick but not quite as heavy as a proper Stout. Flavour wise Black Duck is outstanding, with all the goodies in there in well balanced measure, from hints of dark chocolate through to a lovely coffee bitterness, HBIB have done very well with this. If I was to fault this beer, particularly in comparison to Guinness it would be that it's head didn't last all the way down. Normally I don't make a huge deal about head retention but this beer was absolutely outstanding so I thought I needed to find some fault.

With winter on the way I'm going to look forward to more Stouts and Porters... and getting the fireplace cranking!

Where Beer?

To my mind there are few situations that can't benefit from a cool refreshing brew, but the true home of beer is the Pub.

Lets just clarify what I mean by Pub.

Of the many types of drinking establishments, only the Pub and Tavern are real domains of beer.

I know you can get beer at a bar, and certainly many types of bars are beer bars - a dive bar is hardly the place to order a Martini, and a sports bar probably serves jugs. But a bar varies in nature - you have theme bars, vodka bars, ice bar's, wine bars. Bars often play music and don't usually serve food. Bars are night-time places and some bars don't pour beer into a glass which is a definitely faux pas... and faux pas isn't a beer word at all!

And nightclubs are something else entirely - clubs are places for dancing and frivolity and merriment for sure. Clubs are cocktails, bottled beer and maybe some wine. Clubs are about the entertainment and nightclubs, as the name implies are nighttime places too.

This isn't a criticism of either and I can confess to many a good time (and sometimes a decent brew) in both, but when considering the perfect environment to drink a beer you can't go past a Pub.

A "proper" Pub or Public House as it's shortened from, is to my mind a place where people go to drink, eat, talk and possibly listen to a little live music. Pubs serve food and are open during the day, they allow kids and outside of big cities pubs usually allow dogs. If they do have music it's secondary to conversation as the entertainment, unless the music is live (and most probably local).

A Pub may have several areas or rooms, and might even incorporate a bar. A pub has a Publican. Pubs have their origin in Roman times as Taverns - hence the similarities (though to my understanding a Tavern is likely part of a hotel, whereas a Pub is more standalone, even if some Pubs do have accommodation).

Most importantly, a Pub has Beer on tap, and if it's a good Pub it will have a good selection and if there's one thing this beer drinker loves, its a good selection!

If you want to go for a chat, for a feel of community, for relaxing and for a feed, it's a Pub you want. If you want to enjoy the best of what makes having a beer good, it's got to be a Pub.