The Grifter Brewing Co Cold War

There's a war going on in the beer world. It's one of attrition between two fundamentally different attitudes. At the extreme of the Old World thinking is the immovable pillar of the Reinheitsgebot - the German purity law decreeing thou shalt only brew using water, barley and hops. At the opposite extreme is the 'anything goes' policy of the New World, where the blending of styles and use of new ingredients is not only welcomed but encouraged. And somewhere amidst all of this is an invisible line where the tradition inevitably meets the innovation. Playing in and around this line is where you'll find the Grifter Brewing Company and the inspiration for their latest beer: Cold War. It takes the German brewing attitude to a classic, yeast and wheat malt driven Hefeweizen and blends it with a healthy dose of New Zealand hops - Waimea, Kohatu, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin - to create a hybrid style, the Hopfenweizen. With some of the clover aroma and crispness you'd want from a Hefe and a citrus hop punch, Cold War is a beer that borrows from the best of both worlds. Just goes to show that when you put all your differences into beer, we can all get along just fine. NO

Published February 7, 2014 2014-02-07 00:00:00