Beer
By Neil Miller | 11 Aug, 2008
While many of the brewers in the big commercial plants are quite happy to do the same thing over and over again (a bit like maths students), most craft brewers have very short attention spans and are always looking for something new to interest them (just like sociology students). More
By Neil Miller | 4 Aug, 2008
Most people would be blissfully unaware that my favourite beer day of the year has just passed. For the vast majority, their choice would be St Patrick’s Day – an annual opportunity to invent some specious Irish ancestry, drink green Guinness and skip lectures in order to spend most of the day queuing at the bar. More
By Neil Miller | 28 Jul, 2008
Most people are basically familiar with the rudimentary concepts of wine matching. At a primal level, we generally know that white wine goes with fish, red wine goes with game. This may even be true – I have no idea. More
By Neil Miller | 14 Jul, 2008
A surprising number of people have absolutely no idea how beers get a dark colour. Depressingly, the majority seem to think that artificial colour is simply added at some specified point in the brewing process and – hey presto – instant dark beer. Tragically, that is precisely how a couple of breweries do it. More
By Neil Miller | 7 Jul, 2008
While many students live by the creed that the best beer in the world is the one right in front of them (preferably that someone else paid for), there are some beers which are simply stupider than Paul Holmes in a burka. More
By Neil Miller | 26 May, 2008
These days, twenty dollars won’t even buy you a t-shirt to wear to the graduation ceremony. However, it was the price of admission to the 2008 Wellington Food Show and most people there seemed to be getting plenty of value for their money. More
By Neil Miller | 19 May, 2008
Kiwis do not drink a lot of lager. While we may claim to have had “a few quiet ales” the night before, the chances are that most, if not all, of those “ales” were really lagers. Even Speight’s Gold Medal Ale and Tui East India Pale Ale are lagers. More
By Neil Miller | 12 May, 2008
Finding a beer which is environmentally friendly, certified organic, vegan, GE-free and kosher is not quite as hard as it may sound. The entire Founder’s range of beer from Nelson fit the bill perfectly. More
By Neil Miller | 5 May, 2008
There is a clear and present danger that, in very near future, beer prices are going to rise higher than the waistline of Stephen Fleming’s pants on that terrible advert for heat pumps. More
By Neil Miller | 28 Apr, 2008
Fifty years of industrial brewing and saturation advertising has conditioned drinkers to expect their beers to be monotonously consistent. The differences between batches of mainstream beers are microscopic. As a result, Lion Red, for better or worse (usually worse), will always taste the same. More
By Neil Miller | 7 Apr, 2008
It is absolutely possible to talk about Tui beer without mentioning the marketing – yeah right. More
By Neil Miller | 24 Mar, 2008
Let’s be very clear - I did not spend all of Saint Patrick’s Day in the pub. I actually spent much of Saint Patrick’s Day in three pubs. That revelation is probably a surprise to absolutely nobody but I have to say that Saint Patrick’s Day is not my favorite drinking day of the year, it’s not even close.
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By Neil Miller | 17 Mar, 2008
Just as MacGyver could build an intercontinental ballistic missile using only a cardboard tube, baking soda and his trusty Swiss Army Knife, some people can invent drinking games using only their surroundings. There is no need for an expensive board, a ludicrous hat or even a pair of dice. All that is really required is beer and an agreed set of rules. More
By Neil Miller | 10 Mar, 2008
Beer can have a wonderful effect on conversation. In moderation, it can turn a bogan into a philosopher-king or an emo into someone actually worth talking to. In excess, it can prompt unwise remarks such as “everyone wants to hear me sing”, “that police car would look good in my lounge” or “I bet I can open that locked toilet.” More
By Neil Miller | 3 Mar, 2008
Beer is a noble and ancient beverage but that does not mean all pints are created equal.
For every heart-renderingly hoppy glass of Epic Pale Ale there is a tequila-infused, sour lemon abomination like Desperados lager. More
By Neil Miller | 25 Feb, 2008
“Beer” and “university” go together as naturally as “essay” and “leaving it to the last minute.”
Every issue, this column will provide a guide to the wonderful world of beers from around Wellington and around the world. As this unfailingly humble beer column enters its second year, there is a quiet determination around our opulent offices to address complaints raised by the lonely voices of dissent in 2007.
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By Neil Miller | 15 Oct, 2007
Labour hard man Trevor Mallard revealed exclusively in the first beer column of the year that his favorite tipple was Monteith’s Radler because “it’s fresh and light with a bit of spice”. Since that bombshell, Salient has printed thousands of words about beer. A few of them are even worth printing again in the Disorientation issue. More
By Neil Miller | 8 Oct, 2007
It is traditional at this stage of the Salient life cycle for columnists to look back over the year and try to make some pithy observations about the global trends and developments in whatever topic they were supposed to be writing about for all that time.
On somber reflection, that seemed like an awful lot of work, so I simply banged out the first ever Salient Beer Awards. After reviewing this year’s columns and unprecedented levels of correspondence (nearly six letters to the editor, still some 1100 fewer than the enigmatic Potato Zoo alone), here are the winners. More
By Neil Miller | 1 Oct, 2007
Appropriately enough, it was a pair of fictional Australian philosophy professors – both called Bruce – who memorably described American beer as being very similar to making love in a canoe. This label has dogged the reputation of American beer for many years, often with good reason.
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By Neil Miller | 24 Sep, 2007
The lovely city of Wellington recently hosted what is possibly the world’s most important awards ceremony. It had more artistic merit than the MTV Awards because Britney Spears did not attend, far less “perform”, and while there was all the pomp and ceremony of the Oscars, this event was thankfully a full 11 hours shorter. For many in attendance, the evening’s urbane Master of Ceremonies reminded them of a young Ryan Seacrest - if Ryan Seacrest had any talent. More
