After managing bars and working as a DJ for a while, Dylan Adams decided it was time to find a long-term career that was still enjoyable, and at Auckland-based Sale St, he first encountered a brewery that offered to train him.
One of his friends helped him get a job as a brewery assistant at Deep Creek, and Adams was thrown into the deep end due to the place's staff shortage. Eight years later, Deep Creek has gone under, but Brothers Beer turned out to be Adams’ silver lining.
He was proud to have worked at Deep Creek, which, within a few short years, went from a small brewery mainly providing for its bars to an award-winning juggernaut.
It was also the Champion International Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards and the Champion Beer at the Brewer's Guild of New Zealand awards.
“I had been looking to step up to a head brewing role, and the stars aligned just as I suddenly found myself at a crossroads,” said Adams, brewing manager at Brothers Beer.
“Our slogan is "Good Beer for Good People." We try to offer a bit of everything, from Big Hoppy Hazy and clear IPAs to crisp, clean lagers. Our seasonal releases allow us to get creative, from refreshing kettle sours to Belgian styles to big stouts.”
According to Adams, balance is key to a good beer. It means knowing how to reduce complexity and let complimentary flavour profiles do the heavy lifting.
“Good processes make for clean fermentation, but the rest is a good recipe.”
He found the whole process of brewing quite rewarding, from developing a recipe from scratch, guiding it through fermentation, seeing the designer come up with a great label, and finally holding a new, great-looking, and great-tasting product that did not exist five or six weeks ago.
Like most brewers, Adams is well aware of the amount of carbon dioxide a brewery can produce and is considering investing in equipment that will allow Brothers Beer to reduce usage significantly. There are also plans to take different approaches to yeast management.
Besides reducing carbon footprint, these new processes would also lower costs.
A new dry-hopping technique in lower-alcohol products has already been implemented, increasing the fruit-driven aspects of hop flavours and contributing to the body of the beer.
Adams' big goal is to make people associate Brothers Beer with a world-class beer.
“I want a full trophy cabinet.”
The brewery has just released its first Fresh Hop beer, using Motueka cones, which Adams thinks will be a great beer. It will also release a non-alcoholic lager, Shoey, to complement others in the category, like the Fill Yer Boots, and has developed a flavourful 2.5 percent Mini IPA called Little Brother as a potential lifestyle beer.
