A Punchy Kiwi
A “Saison” is a type of beer generally brewed in the cold months to be drunk in summer. Such was formerly the case in Belgium. We thus have here a marriage between a traditional approach and Pacific aromas. Indeed, the hops used are Nelson Sauvin – developed and released in New Zealand in 2000 – and a hint of Motueka; the malts are Pilsner, Aromatic, CaraMunich, Wheat and Crystal. The yeast is the so-called French Saison, which provides, as 8 Wired puts it, “a plethora of funky, earthy, very Belgian flavours.”
The 8 Wired Brewing Co is located in Marlborough, North Island —not far from Malteurop New Zealand’s Marton Malting Plant— and was founded in 2009 by Søren Eriksen, “a nomadic Danish brewer.” This phantom microbrewery brews at colleague breweries that have surplus capacity, in Blenheim and Auckland.