Craft is Art: WEEK 32---Denmark-Kiwi---chit chat with Soren Erickson---8WIRED

8WIRED的酿酒师/创办人SOREN ERIKSEN是丹麦人。

不过，他第一次玩自酿是在澳洲，送他简单自酿工具的是当时的女朋友，现在的太太。

他成名的地方是纽西兰，理由很简单，因为是太太的故乡。

要是很老土的简介，大概可以把8WIRED说成是一个爱情酿的酒故事。

本地去年开始有不少8WIRED啤酒可选择，比如，还不是很习惯喝IPA的新朋友可以试试SEMI CONDUCTOR（半导体）较浅IPA。喜欢加强版本的可以试试SUPER CONDUCTOR。如果喜欢有点海洋咸味的STOUT可以试I-STOUT或BIG SMOKE。要挑战味蕾+酒精度的可以试MIGHTY。。。

If there's a cliche angle to tell the story of 8Wired---say from the HOLLYWOOD angle---then we could probably say it's a love story..:)

The fact that why Soren Ericksen made his name in New Zealand instead of Denmark where there‘s no shortage of big names brewers is sort of well documented( for those who are in the known)

This week's column is a short chit chat with Soren.

QUOTES:-

#why New Zealand?
"I moved to NZ 8 years ago. My wife is from NZ so I followed her down here, same old story really."

#what makes you think 8wired could work?
"The response was good right from the beginning but more importantly I liked what we were brewing. We never really had a plan set out to grow big but it always felt like it could work."

#comments from various people(ratebeer/advocate..)affects you?
"It doesn't affect my personal mood or mental state, no. But I do take the feedback on board and try and improve things that people don't like. If I agree with them at least, if it is just a matter of personal preference, there is not much we can do about that."

#winning( or not) international awards--affects you?
"It makes me happy to win awards of course but it doesn't affect the way we are brewing or which beers we are making."

#brew at own pace or do more to meet increasing demand?
"We have always been relatively limited by capacity and flexibility, but we are in the process of building a new brewery. Once this is fully up and running in early 2015 we will have a lot of room to grow. We don't have any specific sales targets, nor do we have a cap on how big we want to be. But I don't have much desire to become so big that I loose touch with the daily production of brewing."

#what to expect in the next 12-18month'?
"There will be a lot of new beers when the new brewery is operational. On top of that we have the biggest program of barrel aged sour beers in the southern hemisphere (250 barrels currently). These are slowly starting to mature so there will be a lot of these released in the next couple of years. "

#in South east asia--only Singapore is ok to homebrew--Bangkok & KL is illegal to do that--how to help spread the craft culture?

"Good question, i don't know. Homebrewing is always one of the best ways to start a good beer culture, but if that is not legal, then I don't know..."

#words for newbie
"Keep an open mind and try as many different beers as you can find:)

NOT included in the newspaper column

#any ritual when brewing?
"Not really. The only think I would mention is that I hate to store open bags of hops, so every recipe I write is in multiples of 5 kg."

#on being invited to CBC(Copenhagen beer celebration)

"We've been invited to CBC all three years but have only managed to make it to one of them. We will be back next year though. It is of course a great honour to be invited to join such a great line up of world class breweries."

"Great experience of course. Not just trying many different beers but also networking with breweries from all over the world."

#Best 3 places to drink beer?

Portland (Oregon), Russian River (Santa Rosa, California), Warkworth (New Zealand, home of our new brewery).