Emerson's Brewery is one of New Zealand's iconic craft breweries.
It's not a huge step to describe Richard Emerson as the grandfather of the industry as he had the vision to brew seriously good beer when the general population just wanted to drink Speights.
One of his great influences was Jean-Pierre (JP) Dufour, a Belgian-born professor of beer who died suddenly while at a brewing and distilling conference in Nigeria in 2008. A well-loved member of the craft brewing community, JP was well known for applying the latest analytical techniques to understand flavour and aroma.
As a tribute to his good friend, Richard and his team have produced the JP series of Belgian style beers released on JP's birthday, June 2, every year. Each of these beers is incredibly rare but is made to cellar well so if you can lay your hands on you must!
The release that I have chosen to look at is the JP 2013 - Belgian Stout, 8 per cent alc/vol. The brewer's notes tell me they used three different yeast strains, so coupled with my prejudice about high alcohol beers, the conservative part of me was bracing for a sour funkestation of bitumen, molasses and nail polish remover. What I tasted, though, was subtle, smooth and strangely approachable; a complex chocolaty coffee number with hints of fresh fruit.
