Beer writer reviews all the free beer he’s been sent.
Beer writer Jules van Costello checks his facts in his latest edition of "Brewed"
Wellington author Jules van Costello has had his work cut out for him over the last few months, compiling the second edition of his book Brewed. The immediately-out-of-date first edition is already a few years old, so it was only a matter of time before Jules' next historical work was released.
There’s no denying van Costello’s ambitious foray into the beer writing world is commendable. It’s also no surprise that as a wine dealer and restauranteur by trade, Jules' second edition includes a controversial Michelin star rating system for all NZ’s breweries. In his words, three stars on his rating system represents a brewery that is "world class" and "consistently produces exceptional beer in a variety of styles and is recognised as producing beers at an international level". The mammoth task of reviewing and rating every single brewery in New Zealand against every brewery in the world got TMTB’s attention - surely this would be an impossible undertaking. Fans of the fresh publication have been looking forward to hear about the author's discoveries in the beer world, attending numerous international beer awards and prestigious industry events in Europe, the Americas and Asia. We got in touch with the author to find out the truth of the matter.
When contacted by TMTB to get the scoop on this research, van Costello said it was "actually going to be really expensive to do all that travelling and research on world class breweries so in the end I just reviewed the beers that New Zealand breweries sent me for free”. When asked if he had any help with this project, he responded that "I drew on the resources of Microsoft Excel to create the list" and that he "spent weeks populating the rows and columns with the drinking information".
TMTB contacted some of the breweries who failed to make the cut on Brewed's rating system. It turned out all the breweries contacted had in fact sent Mr. van Costello free beer for rating, but freight issues had caused them to be lost in transit. One brewer commented that she "wasn't too bothered", but that Mainfreight can "get fucked, in general".
Editors note: TMTB can reveal that next years edition of Brewed will also rate all the international breweries that have sent the author free beer. We look forward to the PledgeMe campaign.
