Christmas Child

Hampstead Howl

Hope is so hard

That even the great bard

Delightful in word

Only occasionally heard

The breeze within the trees

Softly cooing comfort

Like doves in Cotswold copses

Or Birdsong Alley near

The dank, organic wood scent

Upon rustling breeze

Sweeping leaves and cares

Easing the way, peaceful

Sitting aloft, softly

Dreaming, like branches

Swaying, in accepting motion

Embrace the weather's mood

As she welcomes her brood saying

Come home, stay a while

While you can, invited

Like Orwell dwelling nearby

Escaping to the transcendent

Call of a world of green

Foliage and earth, grounded

Not a psychedelic high

This time, out there

Where we become one

Elements embracing

On a playful perch

Nested perfectly above

Secure, comforting

 High, open, delightful

Breezy branches blown

Plane trees reaching for the sky

And the stag oak's tumbled crown

Lying down, broken, rotting

Death in life's cycle

As I surrender my fear

Breathing in the wind

Flying, falling, failing

Held by some miracle

To find joy again

In the natural world

Conveyed against dismay

Like the Heath's bench plaques

Tuesday's child speaks to Wednesday's woe

For a shared Sabbath, blithe and gay

Good news bringing a bonny countenance

All week long, always urging

That we might love one another

Because of common humanity

And a shared earth, yet corrupted

In death will arise every tomorrow

For in defeat hope still dreams

Insomnia: Part 3

Halfway between hopelessness and dawn

Too tired to yawn, sleep is nowhere close

While nearby the contented dream, confident

Appearances deceptive take flight to fantasy

I’ve seen enough of this night to last a lifetime

Late on the city streets we saw him

A final gig before returning to Ireland

Banjo and guitar, two kids and a wife

Sometimes we get what we came desiring

His story different, happy I hope

Before the light of dawn I am wearisome

Inside the tight hems of my blanketed mind 

Forlornly longing for a never-waking slumber

Simple rest, not a sweet-dreaming caress

Or lamentations for love unknown

Insomnia: Part 2

Something died inside

During those long years

Of humanitarian exile

Taking their toll, heavy

Now for pulse checking

A reckoning

Silently, breathing in

Then out, a vital exhaling

And quiet exclaiming

I’m alive, alive

Still, alive

These heartbeats deceive

Motions mimic me, mon ami

Not fully here in the present

This death a solitary thing

Yet the remains linger

The thud-thudding of rotors

Remind me of Goma’s flight paths

The clattering above and in my head

Insomnia has returned with me

Conflict’s clamour clings

Displaced others have come to London

Fleeing war in search of a better life

In our post-humanitarian imaginings

Lies a future dreaming, screaming

Hoping for a different reality

In the bustle of births and busyness

All this striving to survive, maybe thrive

It’s the fight that dominates after the flight

Not the happy breathing and contented sighing

But memories of homes that once we loved

London’s tenements cower by the Thames

Inshallahs mixed with desperate amens

Making amends for the parts left behind

No missiles scud along the clouds anymore

Just a streaky light in a lamenting sky

Hopeful yesterdays die like autumn turning

Everything tastes out of place now, remember 

The skinny goat we shared with kin and kith-folk

In the dirt, better than a greasy feast alone

What good is a homeless heart?

Insomnia: Part 1

Your disinterest deflates me

As upon insomniac tower I gaze

Unsleeping, the view too wide

And my lofty lunatic perch

All I have left to stand on

How do you un-feel and bind

Making blind the inner eyes

That survey the soul’s dismay

At a world of wonder and woe

This heart can no longer embrace

Coldly indifferent and calm

The sober realities of morning

Dawn on exhaustion again

Too many times we tried

Too many times we failed

A feeble faith perseveres

With apparent participation

We all have our best foot forward

Darkest thoughts mostly masked

Ready to bravely face the day

Maybe this one will be better

But history’s chart tracks our arc

Profit, poverty, progress, pain

And suffering’s sentimentality

Whispers: It is all in vain

Thought for the Day

Trail Sign

The Falcon Soaring

The falcon soaring
Shadow cast quick
With graceful speed
Lifts, navigates, slips
Across dry, cracked earth
Bisecting my route to you
Evermore searching

There is no companionship
Solitary upon the wing
Big sky and alpine wind
Chill, thrill, driving low
To a sherduck’s paradise
In the lonely valley
Its soul’s lover lost

Fly north my friend
Your song of exile
On this lamenting fulmar
Rising, turning, gone
‘Ka ora, ka ora’
The prophet’s death
Meets us all

Lion 'Craft-Washes' Brewer

"Today a Japanese lion escaped from a Wellington industrial estate and threw a local brewer into the Hutt River. The man is said to be unhurt but this dalliance with a commercial beast may result in drowning despite assurances given through bared fangs."

Yes, this just in from our intrepid beer correspondent in Wellington. Lion Group owned by the Japanese brewing giant Kirin has purchased Upper Hutt brewery Panhead Custom Ales for an undisclosed sum. The owner and founder Mike Neilson cited his desire to profit from the deal by selling to the big industrial brewer rather than letting one of his craft beer competitors be bought instead. This will enable him to focus on brewing and not be caught up in other aspects of the business like logistics, accountancy and engineering. Allegedly all roles at the brewery will stay the same under the guidance and leadership of the new general manager. How long authentic production techniques and high quality will be retained under new ownership remains to be seen. Kirin also bought Mac's a few years back and now it is no longer a beer produced in its home town of Nelson but at beer factories in Auckland and Christchurch. When  this type of 'craft-washing' happens things change. Invariably quality goes down, commodification goes up and craft beer turns sour and becomes 'Kraft Beer' (copyright the author). This phenomenon will leave a bad taste in the mouths of the faithful who once cheered Panhead's fantastic APA as a welcome alternative to the poor piss promulgated by Lion's other brands. Now this lion has another cub in its pride. Panhead is now Pantail. Without independence we can only hope that this kraft brewery remains a good beer producer. I understand Neilson's decision however bad it seems. This is called selling out and craft beer enthusiasts will mourn the loss of one of New Zealand's best independent breweries.

'Craft Beer' the sign at the supermarket in Kapiti read (above) and on the shelf inside stood a can of Heineken. Says it all. The good news is that Panhead will be available on the shelf next to it thus sparing you the indignity and nasty flavour of that Dutch lager whose owner incidentally controls another lion of NZ beer, Dominion Breweries who will be looking to add to their pride too. Other craft brewers will be rubbing their hands will greed-fueled glee. Please don't let it be Garage Project prayed the faithful.

Postscript: And their prayers were answered. Garage Project was courted by Lion but decided it wasn't the way they wanted to go.  

Kraft Beer

Tuatara was the big winner in the recent New World Beer & Cider Awards. This was commercially sponsored by ‘New World’ the supermarket rather than any ‘Old World’ opposite from the UK or Europe. Anyway, the brewery based in Paraparaumu won four top awards including Best in Class for its Bohemian Pilsner. It is one of breweries leading the charge in the ‘craft beer revolution’ in New Zealand, a phenomenon which is globally becoming even more competitive and witnessing exciting times. Tuatara Brewery was started in the hills behind Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington. They were a craft beer producer when ‘craft beer’ meant a micro-brewery producing high quality beer on a smaller scale without using adjuncts (like refined sugar rather than 100% malt) and shortcuts employed by big commercial operations who historically made resoundingly poor tasting bad beer. These big industrial brewers are still going strong and dominate over 90% of the beer market here and abroad. A full discussion of the term ‘craft beer’ will have to wait for another blog entry but for my purposes let me just say that anything owned and/or operated by the three dominant corporations in NZ (in simple terms Lion Nathan/Kirin, Dominion Breweries/Heineken or the laughably named Independent Liquor which it is clearly not because it belongs to the Japanese beverage giant Asahi) I do not consider to be ‘craft’ and their place in this essay is simply as bad beer dragons which the necessitated good beer knights to fight them. Yes, they may now own some brands with beer made historically by craft breweries and the production process may not have changed dramatically. However, if the industrial brewers had been committed to good producing beer from the beginning then there would be no need for a revolution. So, no DB, Lion or Asahi for me.

Tuatara makes a good case study for this topic. The founder Karl Vasta started the brewery because he was sick of bad beer and wanted to make and promote something good. Sure, there are issues of taste and prejudice (you could say discernment) involved but he was doing this before it became fashionable, profitable or started “trending” in social media. He did it for the love of good beer and I’m very grateful. Thanks Karl. Nowadays Tuatara is a big brewery found on a light industrial estate less than a mile from my parents’ home and yet it still retains an ethic of quality brewing despite its commercialisation and success. Size and volume is not the issue as long as the approach and quality are correct. I think that what people are referring to when they talk about craft beer it is really the same thing that motivated Vasta, which usually involves smaller scale brewing of high quality beer using artisanal or traditional techniques in contrast to massive, corporate producers who have often sacrificed craftsmanship for profit and who care most about the financial bottom line and the best return on investment even if it means selling low quality, mass-produced crap. They evidently have little interest in good beer but have been driven to attempt to make craft-style beer to retain dominance in the market.

I’m not saying all non-craft beer is poor. Monteith’s 'Original' is perfectly acceptable, affordable and tasty. But, it is not craft beer and it is an exception rather than the rule. It is what we might call a Kraft beer – a decent beer made by an industrial brewing corporation, in this case Lion who bought the brewery in 1969 and kept brewing in Greymouth but only under duress. Mac’s is the same kind of beer - a previously small independent beer brand made by the McCashin family until a few years ago. However, they have been corporatized by DB since being bought out and although some of their beer is fine, production is no longer in Nelson but at big industrialized factories and the whole approach is far from its artisanal roots and it shows in the final product. Tuatara may have received added investment and grown dramatically in size but their commitment to “free the world from the tyranny of bad beer” remains unchanged (Dominion Post, 11 April 2016). Even by its own admission it had a place in the established market before the craft phenomenon started but you could equally say it is the natural grandparent of craft beer in New Zealand.

Key words in this debate are ‘craftsmanship’, ‘quality’ and ‘love’. This strikes at the heart of the issue around what qualifies as craft beer. Craft brewers seem to care about beer more than profit but the corporate breweries put it the other way round. And it shows. They say the proof is in the pudding and this is true of beer. Craft beer by the definition I outlined above is consistently better than non-craft beer. It is as simple as pouring a beer and tasting it. I have been amazed by the tell-tale signs that belie whether the brewery is ‘craft’ or not. Not knowing where Black Dog was from or who the owners were I tried their ‘Kiwi Unleashed’ APA (6%) and although it had decent hopping for the style and was drinkable, something was not right about it. I even wrote in my tasting journal: ‘Find out who owns Black Dog – doesn’t taste like craft beer’. Like Boundary Road (Asahi) and Mac’s (Lion) craft-style beers, the result tasted like a big commercial producer had tried to make a beer with the attributes of a craft beer and failed. Sure enough, Black Dog is owned by DB.

After decades of pumping out decidedly ordinary if not piss poor beer, the big NZ breweries are trying to compete with craft beer. The reason is clear – their market share is at risk as people gravitate towards better beer and so they are afraid. And rightly so because they cannot compete with the craft competition, try as they might. This is about money for the big producers, not good beer. As big businesses they are being compelled to respond to this challenge but don’t for a moment think there has been a change of heart in terms of approach. They stand to lose a lot so have set up satellite breweries like Black Dog, bought formerly craft breweries and created new craft-style products.

Should beer lovers be concerned? I guess not. The difference in taste is marked and the quality of non-craft beer offerings is noticeably lower than beer crafted with love. It’s a bit like McDonalds. A Big Mac is a burger but so processed and the contents so cheap and nasty that it is a burger in name only. Certainly there is no care or craftsmanship. It’s akin to the difference between instant coffee and fresh coffee – not really the same drink. It is a derivative and not the same thing at all. Will the big boys continue to succeed in the beer market? Yes, absolutely, and for the same reasons as McDonalds – because the average punter is interested in price before quality and a non-critical consumer highly susceptible to today’s dominant media barrage. They are simply not discerning and the majority will go along with what is deemed popular regardless of taste, quality, ethics or the environment. They are happy to screw the planet, their fellow man and even themselves in striving to profit and appear successful. This is their right. Good luck to them and the big brewers. However, I will keep passionately promoting good beer and craft breweries everywhere.

There is also the Starbucks effect. It’s the real thing if you like (in the sense that it’s actually coffee not instant coffee) but manipulated to appeal to the tastes of people who are accustomed to and allegedly enjoy commercial kiwi beers like Speight’s. Everything is dialled down and flattened out so as provide a transition to a craft beer which doesn’t offend the taste they have developed, usually over many years, for bad beer. Nor does it offend the tastes of craft beer drinkers except that it’s a bit boring. Sprig & Fern is a great example of this. There beer is actually consistently tasty and well made and their branded pubs are sprouting up everywhere. In my opinion Sprig & Fern beer is in a different league to the industrial producers and I include it in my definition of craft beer. However, it seems to be compromised by the desire to franchise the brand and make money from the craft market more than focussing on brewing really good beer. The head brewer was a long time employee of Lion and clearly has the industry savvy to create the Starbucks of craft beer in New Zealand.

In his book ‘Brewed’ Jules van Cruysen provides a comprehensive guide to all of New Zealand’s breweries and brewers. He introduces the question ‘What is craft beer?’ but sadly doesn’t resolve it satisfactorily. While he distinguishes craft from the big three ‘industrial’ breweries he then goes on to conflate them and by the end you would think craft beer was a meaningless term. Yes, it is a tricky thing but cataloguing all the breweries alphabetically and so DB, Lion and their other brands are sitting right alongside actual craft breweries serves to confuse the issue further. No craft beer lover is going to be happy to see DB listed a few pages from Garage Project. ‘Tui’ is categorically not a craft beer. ‘Aro Noir’ is. It is as simple as that and so to call the book ‘A Guide to the Craft Beer of New Zealand’ is not strictly true. It does provide excellent coverage of all the craft breweries as of March 2105 but also all the breweries owned by the big commercial brewing conglomerates. This makes it simply a guide to Kiwi beer. Its focus on the wonderful craft beer to be found in this country although very welcome doesn’t make it a book about craft beer. Van Cruysen should have dropped ‘craft’ from the title or dropped DB, Lion and Independent from the contents. There is a meaningful and important division between craft and non-craft beer and it is worth grappling with the way we define it and use it in beer conversations.

Modernity

Seems you can replace 'DRINK COFFEE' in this with many aspects of the approach to life these days, especially in business. Tread lightly and walk humbly if you can bear it friends.

Craft Beard

Enjoying 'Black Stallion' Milk Stout (5%) by Horse Box Brewery

It is not snobbish to snub anything bad, whether that is a beer, burger or other bullshit product. It simply reflects good taste. More excellence and less mediocrity!

Red Kiwi, All Black

Spray-painted black on white concrete - Nelson, May 2016

High Beam Walks & Creative Climbing

Hello Death, Now for Light - McCahon, Hotere & Caselberg

Post-Quake Imagining - Christchurch, NZ

Volcanic Akaroa

Mountain Perspectives - Mt Cook National Park