We currently are in the calm before the storm. Summer in Waikanae is busy, really busy. The population swells with a chunk of Wellington’s population migrating up the coast to holiday. This will be the first summer high season that North End has traded through and we are going to need beer, lots of beer. Right now our stocks of Amber are gone, ESB is almost gone while there is Hoppy Wheat for everyone, so it’s a good thing there is more beer coming. A fortnight ago we, and by ‘we’ I mean Martin Townshend, brewed the first batch of our Pacific Blonde at Townshend’s Brewery in Upper Moutere. We also have a second batch of Amber booked to be brewed at Panhead in Upper Hutt.

Pacific Blonde is my very non traditional interpretation of the German Kolsch style, something that will raise the eye brows of many who know me. I have been heard to say less than charitable things about Kolsch beers in the past. However the style is perfectly suited to a sunny seaside community and works in the context of a busy brewpub, and just quietly I have come to enjoy them.
Pacific Blond takes the crisp German style and injects a good dose of aromatic NZ hop character from Pacific Jade and Pacifica hops. The amount of work trial brewing Pacific Blonde is second only to the amount of effort I put into formulating Hoppy Wheat. Achieving the balance of making a beer with wide appeal that is also complex and interesting has been extremely satisfying.
Hoppy Wheat is currently our biggest selling beer although I suspect Pacific Blonde may steal that crown from its head. It should be ready for release in less than a fortnights time, bring on the summer!