Southerners in brewery making Hophugger Coasters Pale Ale

Southerners in the brewery making Hophugger Coasters Pale Ale

On the exact same day (4 August 2013) as the New Zealand Amateur Brewer Black IPA competition was judged, the brewery was busy with some guests from the Deep South putting down a new beer. Nath Davis and Nathan McEwan are from Hophugger Brewing Company, a contract brewery based in Timaru. Their previous commercial beers – most notably the Hophugger Pilsner – were brewed at Invercargill Brewing by the marvellous Steve Nally but this time they decided to get hands on and make their first commercial pale ale at the Fork & Brewer.

Nath has been farming and running an organic produce business (appropriately called Treehugger) for many years but recently acquired a full-time “proper” job. Nathan is a pilot and has always flown planes for a living. The two were born just a day apart and have been friends since childhood. Both are homebrewers with Nathan McEwan making the final four of the Wellington In A Pint contest with his Cooked Strait beer (initially made with seaweed smoked over driftwood on a local beach). That beer was brewed commercially by ParrotDog and was released nationwide.

Hophugger Coasters Pale Ale started as a home brew recipe which Nathan and Nath refined over time. Fork & Brewer director Dion Page, a noted brewer himself, helped scale up and refine their recipe and the two Nathans spent a day with our brewer Lester Dunn making a batch of their new beer. It will be launched at the Fork & Brewer around the middle of September – details to come – with some sold here and the rest kegged and distributed around the rest of the country.

Nath says they “had a ball” making the beer with a “good bunch of people”. The brewery “flowed well” and the entire experience was a “hell of a good day and an education too.” Hopefully they will both be able to come up for the launch as the beer is progressing nicely in the tanks.

ENDS

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