Emerson's tribute brew `best yet'

I'm sure that had he lived to sample Emerson's Brewery's latest tribute to him Professor Jean-Pierre Dufour would have been absolutely rapt.

The Belgium-born professor who headed the food science faculty at Otago University for more than 20 years until his untimely death in 2007 had a remarkable knowledge of yeast and fermentation and was hugely supportive of New Zealand's craft brewers. He was also an excellent beer judge.

Such was the respect for Prof Dufour – or JP as he was known by most within the industry – he was recognised with a lifetime achievers' award at BrewNZ 2006. Just a few months later he died of a heart attack while working in Ghana developing large-scale brewing techniques for Africa's (mainly home-produced) sorghum beers.

JP was a frequent visitor to Dunedin's Emerson's Brewery, where he spent many hours with Richard Emerson sampling trial brews and offering advice. On hearing the news of JP's death Richard announced his intention to brew a special commemorative beer each year in memory of his friend and mentor.

Designed to showcase the diversity of Belgian brewing, each vintage of JP Belgian Ale is Emerson's interpretation of a different Belgian style. The inaugural release, in 2007, was a strong golden ale made in the style of a Belgian tripel and fermented with the yeast strain from the famous Chimay Trappist brewery.

A year later the second JP emerged as a brown ale flavoured, in the Belgian tradition, with sour cherries. For 2009 Emerson's revisited the monastic theme, but with a twist. Weighing in at 8 per cent, the beer was a robust dark ale, stylistically somewhere between an abbey-style dubbel and a Belgian stout. Once again fermented with the Chimay yeast, the recipe also included the aromatic spice, star anise.

Sampled fresh soon after its release to me the beer seemed somewhat brash and inelegant, the strong mintiness of the star anise overshadowing the dark malt flavours and the bubble gum and clove signature of the Chimay yeast. I had the opportunity to taste the beer again last week and 12 months on the beer has mellowed, the spiciness has softened to reveal a more rounded malty complexity. It's a delightful beer with another few years of cellar potential.

This year's release has just hit the shelves and it's a beauty. Unlike its three predecessors, Emerson's JP Belgian Ale 2010 has a distinctly hoppy accent. It is also a much more international brew: made with a simple grist of Canterbury pale malt and German cara-amber malt it was gifted with multiple additions of American (Simcoe and Amarillo) and New Zealand (Super Alpha, Pacifica and Pacific Jade) hops, both in the kettle boil and during fermentation.

The beer's Belgian credentials come from the Duvel yeast which was selected because, unlike most Belgian strains, it offers only a light spiciness and allows the cocktail of hop aromas and flavours to shine through.

At 8 per cent, the beer oozes citrus and tropical fruit hop notes over a lightly sweet malt background; the yeast only really making its mark in the finish where it provides a delicate "Duvelesque" tartness to complement a gentle dryness from the hops. It's a delightful brew which many tasters at last week's launch deemed, "The best JP yet!"

Emerson's JP Belgian Ale 2010 retails for around $9 for a 500ml bottle and for every bottle sold the brewery donates 50 cents towards a brewing scholarship at Otago University. JP would have been pretty happy about that too!

Cheers!

By Geoff Griggs
The Marlborough Express