New Plymouth’s Shining Peak Brewery were crowned — or capped, as it were — the winners of the fifth annual Rare Beer Challenge on March 7.
Hosted by Wellington’s Fortune Favours Brewery, this year there was not only a sister bar in Auckland serving the beers on the night, but also one in the South Island, with Smoke Ashburton also getting involved.
This year’s competition also marked 25 years of the Rare Disorders organisation, and Fortune Favours decked out its bar in silver to celebrate its work over the last two-and-a-half decades.
And it was Shining Peak that shone brightest on the night; it was the first time they’d been invited to take part in the event, and they took out the title with “Medium Rare” an 11 percent Imperial Stout infused with rosemary, thyme, peppercorns and porcini mushrooms.
Alongside being a smooth, full-flavoured stout with strong rosemary, subtle peppery spice and almost gravy-like savoury notes, Shining Peak’s entry took it to the next level by drawing its inspiration from rare disorders’ cause. Brewer Emma Elmslie used adjunct ingredients all associated with traditional medicinal properties — though she did make it clear they were not making any claim that it was a medicinal beverage.
They beat out possibly the strongest (figuratively) field of beers yet. Fork & Brewer came in second with their Crustacean Congress Jambalaya stout; the beer was inspired by another beer competition in which Fork & Brewer won the right to name a marine isopod and was judged alongside a pie made to match by Wellington bakers Salut. Meanwhile, two-time winners Heyday Beer Co rounded out the top three with their eisbock-inspired jasmine green tea kolsch, Cryo-Reserve.
But there were also some other incredible brews — including two purple low-alcohol beers that were as much fun to look at as they were to drink. Altitude’s Transmission Fluid sea buckthorn & black carrot sour was super smashable at under 3 percent, and Choice Bros’ Violet Sky butterfly pea herbal tea sour was super flavourful despite coming in at just 2 percent.
Three Sisters took out the people’s choice award for its ice cream smoothie sour Drink Kinda, made with vegan cauliflower ice cream. While it wasn’t the prettiest beer, it tasted like everything you could want in an ice cream smoothie sour.
