Op internet, meer bepaald deze website, kwam ik bovenstaande afbeelding tegen. Dit biermerk kende ik nog van mijn reis in NZ. Het bier is episch! Too hoppy? Maybe...
Luke Nicholas of Epic Brewing Company over in New Zealand. How can I describe Luke? He is very confident and oozes self-belief and passion. He has an intuitive understanding of the world of craft beer and has literally worked from the bottom up. He told me of how he used to volunteer his weekends at a local Auckland brewpub chain so he could learn how a commercial brewery worked (Luke was a passionate home brewer prior to this) until he was employed and gradually worked his way up in the brewing world. Commitment seeps from his every pore and the intensity with which he talks about beer and brewing is awesome. He is engaging, intelligent and the type of person that us Thornbridgers love to hang out with.
NZ brewed Epic Pale Ale, which was absolutely beautiful. Reminiscent of some American Pale Ale’s I have tries. Quite light on the bitterness, yet retaining a lot of citrus and resin pine character. Nice carbonation and fantastic cold. No longer will I be reaching for an ice cold New Zealand lager after mowing the lawns when I’m back in New Zealand. From now on, it’s definitely going to be an Epic! Just when I thought that Luke’s Pale Ale was all that, then he brought out his Epic Mayhem. At 6.2%, this poured a nice dark orange/amber colour. The nose was amazing. Lots of sweet tropical fruits with a hint of pineapple and a floral and citrus background. I’ve always thought that Jaipur was extremely drinkable at 5.9%. Mayhem is of the same ilk. ...” This was a ridiculously drinkable and extremely tasty drop. All I can say is well done! (https://beerevolution.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/epic-halcyon-at-thornbridge/)
SO WHY ‘EPIC’?
Epic Flavour
It reflected the way I like to brew beer. I like to have big aromas, flavours and taste in the beers.
Epic Challenge
To start a new beer brand in this day and age, in a mature market, dominated by multinationals with huge resources, and the public perception that beer is a low value commodity, is a big challenge.
Epic Journey
Everyone that lives in New Zealand, or travelled here for a holiday, they at some point in their or their ancestors lives had to make an Epic Journey. Whether it be by canoe or commercial airliner they traveled a great distance to the end of the world to be in this beautiful country of New Zealand (www.epicbeer.com/about/).
Hun promotie gaat vooral via online- i.p.v. traditionele weg (www.geekzone.co.nz/epicbeer/5831).
Ze brouwen verschillende bieren:
ARMAGEDDON I.P.A
The answer to everything.
In the beginning, there was nothing. Then an impish brewer piled a ludicrous amount of hops into a batch of beer. This zymurgical big bang is Epic Armageddon, an apocalyptic assault on your preconceptions and taste buds. It may be too huge for this fragile planet so enjoy this beer like it was the last one on Earth.
Malt: English pale ale, Caramalt;
Hops: US Cascade, US Centenniel, US Columbus, US Simcoe;
Flavours & Aromas: Hops! hops! hops! Citrus Grapefruit.
(www.epicbeer.com/beer/)
BARREL AGED I.P.A
The answer to everything.
In the beginning, there was Armageddon. Then an impish brewer put the beer in new oak barrels to age it for 8 weeks. This was to reproduce the original IPA of the 18th century. It may be too huge for this fragile planet so enjoy this beer like it was the last one on Earth.
This is Armageddon that has been aged in new American Oak barrels for 3 months, then the beer is blended back with fresh Armageddon in a ratio of one part fresh Armageddon IPA to two parts Barrel Aged (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-barrelaged).
SESSION IPA
4.7% abv IPA
After years of craft beers getting higher and higher in alcohol content, the new trend is for lower alcohol beers, but still with the high levels of hopping. These beers are now being called Session IPA’s. (IMP has more hops than Armageddon IPA)
Why call it IMP? When Armageddon was released in 2009 the label made reference to an “impish brewer”. The term was coined by beer writer Neil Miller (who helped write the label). It was used in context of “small and mischievous”. When making a beer below 5% abv, we had trouble thinking of an Epic name. “IMP” captures the “small” (low alcohol) and the “mischievous” (high level of hops) (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-IMP)
It just tastes bigger.
You can only drink so many beers in a lifetime, so you better make each one count. That’s where we can help. Because at Epic we’re obsessed with creating big hop-fuelled beers. This takes a shed-load of skill. It also takes a shed-load of hops. In fact there are 23 crammed into this bottle. Many brewers would call that ‘insane’. We call it flavour (www.epicbeer.com/beer/#epic-paleale).
LAGER
It just tastes bigger.
Imagine a world without flavour. It’d be almost as bad as a world without beer. Well you’re in luck. This lager is literally bursting with hop-fuelled taste. It’s been created by people inspired and obsessed with keeping the flame alive. Enjoy our handiwork!
Malt: German Pilsner, Czech Pilsner
Hops: US Santiam, US Liberty
Flavours & Aromas: Citrus, Lime peel
(www.epicbeer.com/beer/#epic-lager)
NEED…MORE…HOPS…
Hops have taken over the world. Permeated the senses of the minions. Hop Zombies now roam the streets. Lupulin ichor oozing from ravaged legions. Gorging, gouging, masticating. Salivating over insane hop flavours and aromas. The time is nigh. No more festering away in hopless oblivion. Join the HopZombie Revolution (www.epicbeer.com/beer/#epic-hopzombie).
COFFEE & FIG IMPERIAL OATMEAL STOUT
The Epicurean.
The Epicurean series is a celebration of the flavours and aromas that can be found within the diverse range of ingredients that brewers and chefs alike use in their creations. This beer is a culmination of hours of cerebration, experimentation, ocgitation and libation. And a sprinkling of dehydrated finesse (www.epicbeer.com/beer/#epic-coffeeandfig).
THORNBRIDGE STOUT
Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark
A pair of Kiwis brewing renowned ales on opposite sides of the planet put their heads together to produce New Zealand’s first international collaborative brew. In February 2010, Luke Nicholas from Epic Brewing Company (NZ) and Kelly Ryan from Thornbridge Brewery (Eng) created a silky, decadent yet hoppy stout. Their synergistic brew, Epic Thornbridge Stout, is a drinkable testament to the power of collaboration. Kelly has helped draw out Epic’s dark side which may just usher in a new epoch for brewing in this country (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-stout).
LARGER
BECAUSE IT IS.
Tigers. Balls of Twine. Waimea Bay waves. Pyramids. Ohakune Carrots. Some things are meant to be big. Flavours. Aromas. Beer. The list is large but we think it should be bigger. There is a time and place for subtlety, for a delicate touch. This is not one of them. Turning the amplifier up to eleven? Yeah, that’s it.
Best in Class – BrewNZ 2006
This isn’t your ordinary beer du jour. It is so packed with hop-fuelled flavour and aroma that it will invigorate even the hardest hop-head. Brewed as our special festival beer, only available for a limited time, Mayhem will alter your beer reality forever. Enjoy this road to hoppyness with caution.
Malt: English pale ale, Munich, Crystal
Hops: US Cascade, NZ Riwaka
Flavours & Aromas: Summer fruits, Apricot, Nectarine, Peach, Melon
(www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-mayhem)
MOSAIC
One Trick Pony
So much beer with so little flavour.
No more green bottles, just green hops. No virgins needed to tame this. May contain traces of Alicorn.
“One Trick Pony” was a comment made by Phil Cook, Beer Writer of the Year 2012 in a blog post about the fact Epic only brews hoppy beers.
It has now become a series of single hopped beers. The recipe stays the same, with just the hop varieties are changed. Hence you are able to taste Zythos and Mosaic side by side and focus specifically on the hop varieties, like wine.
Mosaic is a brand new hop variety, released from the 2012 US Hop Harvest (we had to go on a waiting list to be able to get an allocated at harvest time) (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-mosaic).
One Trick Pony
Zythos is a Greek version of an Egyptian word for beer. It is also a new hop blend, comprised of the US Hop growing regions’ most unique hop varieties and perfect for American-style IPA’s. This blend was released to help with the hop shortage of other desirable IPA hops (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-zythos).
LUPULINGUS
Hop Resin Directly On Your Tongue
9.0% abv Imperial IPA – 101 IBU (International Bitterness Units)
An intergalactic tangerine colour. The hop intensity is so great you continue to get the flavours developing in your mouth long after you have swallowed. It is full-on ripe summer stonefruit – like baked caramalized peaches, drizzled with apricot syrup – the hop resin character is fresh and piney but leaves an oily and gum numbing finish as your tongue is pounded by the chronic bitterness that feels like it will last forever (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-lup).
Tamarillo & Pohutukawa Smoke Porter
A collaboration, a Festive brew and the world’s first tree tomato beer. A sorta-Porter fermented with New Zealand grown Tamarillos, which were smoked using wood chips from the sacred Pohutukawa tree (also know as the NZ Christmas tree) (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-portamarillo).
2014 VINTAGE ALE
9% abv Stout
Tasting Notes: Imperium has a rich aroma of melted dark Whittaker’s chocolate drizzled on burnt Vogel’s toast. The flavour is cocoa, salted caramel, plums, and burnt fruit cake. A silky and voluptuous mouth feel, and a long, tarry, and belly warming finish (www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-imperium1).
NZ Craft Beer TV presents
The essence of NZ craft beer is here. We travelled. We filmed. We took the passion and musings of Kiwi craft brewers. We put them in this bottle. Enjoy.
Special thanks to: NZ Hops, Cryer Malt, Gladfield Malt
(www.epicbeer.com/seasonal-beers/#epic-mashup).
RETURN OF THE EPIC HOP ZOMBIE
Hop Zombie was arguably New Zealand’s most successful craft beer release of 2011. With its invasion, Epic continued to push the hop envelope.
Ravaging hordes of craft beer drinkers scoured the shelves of every bottle they could find, hunting them down via word of mouth and social media in what one could only compare to preparation for a coming apocalypse.
Unfortunately, the supply of top secret special hops for this highly aromatic beer were exhausted – not only at the brewery but on the whole planet!!
No one had any. Not only had the hops run out, but the next year’s crop had also been fully pre-sold. No Hop Zombie until 2013!!! Noooo!!!
The guys at Epic Brewing Company just couldn’t accept this. They spent months scouring the earth, trying to find these highly desirable and aromatic hops. A small amount of the elusive hop, grown in Washington state in the USA, was found hiding in a sleepy corner of the UK. They were quickly air freighted (don’t tell the bean-counters) to NZ to brew another batch of palate infecting Hop Zombie.
Yes, the rumors are true, Hop Zombie is back! (www.epicbeer.com/return-of-the-epic-hop-zombie/)
After the highly successful co-branded release of Epic Carolina* and Culley’s Carolina Reaper hot sauce this summer, Luke Nicholas of Epic Brewing Company and Chris Cullen from Culley’s have again come up with something new. They call it “Hot Zombie” Hot Sauce.
Luke has an obsession for both hops and chilli, and asked Chris if he could make a hot sauce using hops. This seemed like a reasonable request. After a fair bit of Googling it seems no one has done this before. Many have used their beer in hot sauce, but not hops, and not to the level that they have been used in this hot sauce.
There was much discussion, tastings and trial recipes before the final flavours, level of heat and intensity of hops were agreed on. Habanero chillies were used due to the floral/fruity character they have, which match well with the fruity/citrusy notes of the Hop Zombie** hops.
The aroma is noticeably hoppy, with the flavour starting out with a big hoppy hit which develops into the fruity Habanero chilli, finishing with a slow building heat, that is hot, but not unpleasant or unbearable. It isn’t the hottest hot sauce out there, but it is the hoppiest.
Hop Zombie the beer, which was also used in the making of the hot sauce, is Epic Brewing Company’s most successful beer to date. It is also possibly the poster child, and single most desirable craft beer currently made in New Zealand. Each year it sells out due to a limited supply of the highly aromatic hops it uses, which are contracted 5 years in advance from the USA (www.epicbeer.com/hot-zombie-hopped-hot-sauce-2/).
