Bookbinder Bitter Session Ale


Brewer: Emerson's  (website)

Type of beer: English Bitter
ABV: 3.7 %    IBU: N/A

Consumed at Milford Sound, New Zealand on November 15th, 2017.

Brewer’s Blurb:
A wonderfully drinkable interpretation of a classic English ale. Bookbinder is a blend of four malts combined with two classic Nelson grown European hops (Fuggles and Riwaka). The beer pours an attractive reddish brown, with a cream coloured head. Bookbinder has a sweet, perfumey, malt and hop aroma with a soft, malty, fruit and vinous palate that is both full flavoured and refreshing with a long, gently drying finish.

Michael’s Notes:
A nice sharp beer that became one of my favorites to drink in New Zealand. I will miss you, Bookbinder!

 

Additional Notes:

I first tasted Bookbinder beer at the ritzy campsite in Milford Sound, not knowing at the time it would have a special story attached to it. The beer is from Emerson’s, one of my favorite breweries in New Zealand, as you can tell from the four-pack I bought:

Later in our adventure we ended up in a town called Oamaru, which is famous for being The Steampunk Capital of New Zealand. In reality, the city has embraced it’s Edwardian/Victorian roots, and the old town is bursting with Victorian-themed shops. We were in a pinch to find a decent place to stay for the night, but thankfully one was available via AirBnb called “The Bookbinder’s Retreat”, and looked very cute and inviting. When we arrived we met a very friendly man who was unsurprisingly dressed in clothes from the 19th century. Turns out he was actually a bookbinder and had a little shop in town.

Dominique with The Bookbinder and his cat.

He was a very interesting man and I could have chatted with him all night. One of the topics we discussed was beer, and of course he was also a brewer who made his own beer (see Good Lord in another post).

I told him of how I’ve been logging all the wonderful varieties of beer on my trip, and even showed him a couple of beer photos from my mobile device. One of the photos was coincidentally the Bookbinder beer I had in Milford Sound, of which he stopped to tell me that he knew Mr. Emerson, and suggested that I take a closer look at the label. I zoomed in, and sure enough, it was our bookbinder!

So we didn’t stay at a Bookbinder’s retreat, we stayed at The Bookbinder’s Retreat, how cool is that!?