The Two Cowboys are Planning to Brew and Keg Our Own Beer on the Road with iKegger, New Zealand

Counter Beer Culture

If there was ever a time to justifiably promote counter-culture, then the time is probably now. 

More and more people are coming to terms with the real current state of living in our westernized world. Folks are waking up to the perils of consumerism, the emptiness of meaningless jobs, and the realization that even the things they thought they have, they don't truly own, and never will

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Having more stuff, doing meaningless work to get it, and not being in control of what you already own, is no longer an acceptable way of living. Especially, if it doesn't make you happy and you have to exert more and more effort every year to keep up with demands. 

Some people blame their problems on someone else or on their circumstances. By transferring responsibility they are sinking even deeper into the abyss of the infirm. "It is someone else's fault". They have to fix this. There should be a law against this!", is a common refrain. The Government is doing it or not doing enough. It is Trump's fault. Trudeau cannot be trusted. Soros paid them off. The Chinese are to blame. Idiots are voting. The system is rigged!

Unfortunately, no amount of calling on the Government, someone else, demon, or deity, to solve our problems or bowing to postmodern moral grandstanding will solve the problem we have. Changing our leaders is unlikely to have the desired outcome. Protests won't work. It is more likely to get people killed or jailed. Life will not get better when the racists desist, men disappear, you change your gender, white privilege is punished, refugees leave, sinners stop sinning, we all become vegan, Brexit is cancelled, Mother Earth "saved", or feminism wins.

Taking Command

Instead, more and more people are looking for alternatives to the current conventional way of living, and they are doing it by changing their thinking. People are downsizing, leaving behind, moving on, checking out and taking back control of their lives for themselves and the people they love around them. 

These folks all have one thing in common. They no longer give away control and responsibility for themselves and for their circumstances - not to an ideology and not to an institution, religion or state. They alone are taking command for their own sake, and for those around them!

We like it. 

There are a growing number of "movements" that is evidence of transitional thinking. Homesteading, tiny houses, minimalism, self-education, growers, makers, Vanlifers and Fulltimers, are only a few ways of how a counter culture is developing. It is a movement in opposition with the conventional way we are told we should live to be happy and successful. People are going against consumerism with living tiny, minimalism and through homesteading. They are leaving meaningless jobs behind and becoming self-educated makers, craftsmen, growers, bakers, brewers, traders and online entrepreneurs. They are throwing off the shackles off locality by adopting nomadic lifestyles and avoiding mortgages, licensing and taxation. They barter and use alternative currencies for trade!

People are realizing that we alone can take responsibility for our life and our destiny. It is the only path to a happy and fulfilled life. We have to solve our own problems first before we decide to put the blame on something external from us. It is done in small steps and by tiny increments. 

We believe that people's value system changes when they decide to take control of, and for themselves, and when they start to make things. Something as simple as frying an egg, folding your clothes or making your bed has the power, over time, to change a life. It changes a person because it restores ownership. With ownership comes responsibility. This simple concepts of ownership and responsibility confirm value or worth. With worth, there is meaning and purpose for yourself and for those with whom you choose to share. 

Making Beer

We are big proponents of making things. Our hashtag states, #makesomething!

We are making our own beer thanks to the innovate beer brewing equipment of WilliamsWarn, and the quality concentrated wort from Black Rock Brewing, both from New Zealand. By making our own beer, we believe we make better tasting, fresh, more healthy, and affordable beer. We drink our beer without the need to front-up for licensing, packaging, distribution, excise and taxation. It is probably one of the most liberating things to do in today's age!

We are encouraging all beer lovers to give it a try.

We are so enthused by this that we checked in with Andrew Hope from iKegger NZ to see if there is an even easier way we can make our beer while we are traveling in our vans in New Zealand. He gave us what we needed from his selection of kegs, taps, lines and sleeves and we are set to start our van beer brewing experience this March when we return to New Zealand.

Observations

Andrew confesses that he has a vast and enormous love for beer. He and an Aussie mate came together and founded iKegger.

iKegger NZ is a kiwi owned and run business that specializes in stainless steel portable Mini Beer Kegs and Growlers which have integrated taps and are powered by CO2 through mini regulators. It's like having your own personal bar with beer on tap, at home, but also the flexibility to take it with you when you are out and about!

iKegger kegs are based on the same ball lock fittings that homebrew keg setups work on so they can easily link into existing kegerators or "keezers" and the fittings will work with your existing kegs too. We think that they not only have a better way to transport and keep beer, but we can also brew in the kegs while we travel. We will do it with the help of Black Rock Brewing ingredients.

Andrew kindly provided us with what we need to get started with our brewing experiment. We ran a few test runs during this southern summer and will be ready to showcase it when we return this March to New Zealand. In the meantime, please meet Andrew and reach out to him if you are in New Zealand. He may have a plan for your next fresh beer.

Hendrik
Beer Cowboy

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Brew Keg

Brew Team

Beer Tanks

Hellfire!! Story for another time...

Getting Slapped in the Face with a Hoppy Rag at Deep Creek Brewing Co in Auckland, NZ

Hoppy Beers

If you say "hoppy beer" to anyone that doesn't know beer, they think of bitter beer.

Bitterness is a typical characteristic of some European style beers. The lighter beers of the Pilsner and Lager styles thrive on a bit of bitterness to quench your thirst. Some readily available mainstream commercial beers which used Pilsners and Lagers as their foundation for their taste profiles perpetuated this play on bitterness. We think it is to the detriment of the beverage's reputation. Beer should be better.

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In the early days of craft brewing, the brewers also managed to get bitterness wrong (some still do). You often end up with tonsil-throttling gill-destroying bitterness in an American or Indian Pale Ale, with a healthy dose of excuses claiming that if you cannot stand the heat (bitterness) in the kitchen (craft brewery's beer), then you better get out (drink some Bud, bud). Bitter is cruft!

No, it is not! Hops have many roles to play in beer. It imparts bitterness. It has a preservation effect to keep beer yeasts happy. Most importantly, Hops is about flavour. Flavour is all about profile and balance.

What people are discovering, with more beer choices on the market, is that bitterness is only one part, although an important, part that hops play in the flavour profile of a style. We believe there is a much bigger part, which most beer drinkers don't really know about, understand or appreciate. It is the ability of Hops to impart unique flavours to beer.

If hops flavouring is where the rubber hits the road for a good beer, it is also where the wheels come off. For all the angelic flavouring qualities the immaculately expensive hops from all the corners of the world bestow on our favourite beverage, they have one unfortunately quality. They are masters at escaping. As soon as you get them into beer, they have this one unfortunate peculiarity. They pull a vanishing act.

It has driven many a brewer to drink trying to solve this simple dilemma. They can pull off a juicy, citrussy cloudy ale with perfection, only to discover their creation became just another flat clear pale ale three weeks later. If you know what they know, and we know, you will drink the beer when it is fresh and ready. Choose your timing wisely. A week later and it is no longer be the master creation it was intended to be because the Hops flavours departed.

What if you can make the perfect beer and still have it perfect for weeks and months later with the same breathtakingly beautiful aromas and flavours, as the day it came cold crashed from the fermenter?

You can now. The world of beer is about to change forever. Steamed distilled Hops Oil makes it possible. It is popping up everywhere - even in New Zealand, and it is making the beer better. We've had our own disasters brewing with it. However, with a little practice, refinement and restraint we have discovered a whole new world of taste in beer - the way it was meant to be.

For more about Hops Oil, have a look at this entry in our Blog about Glacier Hops Ranch and their HopzOil Product.

Observations

On our recent whirlwind tour of New Zealand, we crashed into Scott Taylor of Deep Creek Brewing Co., at the Dunedin Craft Beerfest. We did a double take when he mentioned that they have a beer, a very popular one, that they made with Hops oil.

Now, there is Hops oil and then there is Hops oil. We were skeptical. But, he had our attention when he mentioned that it was steam distilled oil from fresh New Zealand hops. Apparently, they bet the Hops farm, bought a whole bunch of fresh hops from a farmer in the South Island and got a lavender oil distillery in Christchurch to distill them some oil. Next thing is, they are selling out on Hops Oil beer!

We thought that that North American craft brewers were the pioneers. In typical Kiwi fashion, they knocked something up in the barn and before you know it, the Kiwis are not just keeping up with the Jones', they are leading the charge!

Meet Paul, Scott and Jarred.  They’re the original guys behind Deep Creek Brewing Co, the craft beer brewery from Auckland, New Zealand. Deep Creek was born from a long-term friendship and a burning desire to produce flavour fuelled handcrafted beer and bring it to the kiwi masses (and people as far as Norway) to enjoy.

We loved their beer and their innovation. They have a pretty good restaurant and bar in Browns Bay, North Shore, Auckland too. We will be back with more from Deep Creek. In the meantime, enjoy the video and let them know the Two Cowboys sent you!

Hendrik
Hoppy Beer Cowboy

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Napkin for the Juice

Go for Brew and Eats

Flavour Palace

Juicy, Juicy!!

Good Fair!

Outperforming Craft Brewers with New Zealand's Best Concentrated Wort - Black Rock Brewing

Beer Liberation, Rebooted

You can see New Zealand's phenomenal standard of home-brewed beer side-by-side with some of the best craft brews on offer at the Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival. Frankly, it is hard to know the difference. Thanks to Black Rock Brewing's concentrated wort ingredients a lot of people are discovering that they can now brew their own beer.

We had to know more about these homebrewers, and a food festival half-way around the world was as good an excuse as any for the Two Cowboys to make the trip.

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If you've been following our travels, you will know that we are on a mission to free our beer from the mystery of brewing, excessive regulation, and over taxation. In Canada, the Federal Government even sneaked in an automatic annual tax escalation for beer. We are feeling violently prohibited all over again as we get de-ja-vu flashbacks of the 1920's prohibition movement that swept the continent. In some instances in Canada, eighty cents on the dollar of beer goes for compliance, excise, tariffs, distribution and taxation.

We love beer, and we've realized that short of adopting or investing in our own craft brewery (which implies that you become a de facto public servant and tax farmer), the best way for us to have a freshly brewed beer at a reasonable price, is to take charge and do our own brew.

We are no weird scientists and don't have the time to tinker with the complex chemistry of sugars and yeasts. That is why we've been on a mission during the last two years, to find out how we can make the best beer in the simplest possible way.

Before long we, like everyone venturing into the art of brewing, we were lured by equipment manufacturers claiming their device is the next fool-proof solution to revolutionize the making of our own fresh beer. Not so fast. There is more to the story.

The real discovery is that brewing beer is no different than frying a sausage or making a good cup of tea. It takes a little longer, but there is a simple method behind it all. As with your sausage sizzle or a cup of tea, the equipment makes it easier. However, if you start with a bad raw sausage or a no-good flat and old tea, no amount of gear and gadgetry will save you from an undesired result. It is all about the ingredients.

Start With Good Ingredients

Here comes the old value chain conversation. If you want to bake a cake, where do you start in the value chain? Do you start by planting your own wheat? Maybe, you buy grain and start by milling it. Most people start by buying a good quality flour from a reputable supplier and build their prize-winning creation from there with added ingredients and a fool-proof process, combined with some talent. The same goes for any consumable item that requires a substantial amount of value to be added before the end product can be created. The value chain should be your friend or you will take a long time to make it, coupled with all the risks along the way.

Beer is no different. You can grow your own barley, malt it, mill it, sparge, mash, boil and ferment it, or you can start with a quality wort (in the middle of the value chain) that guarantees a reliable outcome. You can work your beer magic from that point onwards by flavouring it, fermenting it, and serving.

Commercial breweries are no longer farmers and maltsters. They too are now entering higher up in the value chain. Instead, for their foundation ingredient, they rely on the maltsters to provide them with base malts. Base malts are blended (like flour) to provide a consistent foundation for every style of brew. The brewer can trust that it meets quality and consistency expectations. Specialty malts are then added for character and flavour with hops (also sourced) and the required type of yeast (also sourced) for fermentation.

The homebrewer can purchase base malts, hops and yeasts like his professional counterpart and he will still have to contend with the small variations of how the malt sugars will behave through the brewing process. The alternative is to leave it to the wort manufacturer and trust that the base wort meets expectations. This is only one more value-added step in the process entrusted to someone else.

There are people like Black Rock Brewing that are manufacturing base worts for brewing at home or commercially. The homebrewer, and increasingly the craft brewers are sourcing wort and adding value to it as a base ingredient through specialty malts, hops, fermentation techniques and maturation.

The beer value chain is fragmenting with the explosion of craft brewing. It opened up an opportunity for wort manufacturing, and we as beer lovers and budding brewers are better off as a result. We can now source the best wort and make our own fresh beer fairly simply with basic equipment like a fermenting bucket and recycled glass bottles.

It the Beer Any Good?

We've seen time and again that when anyone, homebrewer, microbrewer, craft brewer, and even large-scale commercial brewers start with a solid foundation for their beer, like a well-manufactured base ingredient of wort, one cannot tell the difference between a beer fermented in a bucket and one done in a commercial brewery.

Professional brewers and craft brewers don't like us telling you this. If you don't believe us, then you should save some money and make the trip to New Zealand with us. We will show you. Kiwis know how to do it Downunder, and we are lucky to break the news and be able to show you what we've discovered.

Enjoy our feature from the Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival. Thank you for Black Rock that made it possible for us to be there and to brew our own fresh (New Zealand) beer - even in Canada!

Hendrik
Beer Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

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The Range

The Creations

The Crew

Fermentation

Filming

Two Cowboys: New Zealand Beer in a Can Made Perfectly Every Time with WilliamsWarn in Dunedin, New Zealand

Kiwi In A Can

We all know that beer doesn't travel well. Light, movement and temperature fluctuations are some factors contributing to the rapid degradation of the flavour profile of freshly brewed and fermented beer. How can you then send beer halfway around the world and ensure that it is as fresh as it should be the day it is poured?

I think WilliamsWarn in New Zealand has the answer. They send New Zealand's best brews as malt extract in a can all over the world, and leave the last steps of the beer making process - fermentation, pouring and consumption - up to their customers. At the same time, they liberate their brewers from some of the heavy-handed taxations that accompany man's oldest beverage.

It's like the tea and coffee business. The manufacturer does all the work with the best ingredients they have, and all you have to do is add water or pull a shot of espresso. In the case of WilliamsWarn, add water and yeast, give it a little time, chill and pour yourself a clean, crisp, fresh New Zealand beer!

At Speights with WilliamsWarn

Award Winning Home Brewer - Nick Koppers

Chef Jason van Dorst - Experimental Brewer

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We were hosted by Sean Toohey of WilliamsWarn at Speights Brewery. He wanted us to see first-hand, where the deliciousness of WilliamsWarn's beer came from.

The brewery is in one of New Zealand's iconic beer locations - Dunedin. It is rich in history and famous for its "Pride of the South" branding. James Speight, Charles Greenslade and William Dawson handed in their notices at Well Park Brewery in 1876 to establish their own brewery in Dunedin’s Rattray Street. Dawson was the brewer, Greenslade the maltster and Speight the businessman. The rest is history, as they say.

Today, the business is part of the Lion Group of companies. Not only do they still brew the famous Speight’s Gold Medal Ale, but the facility is now also a key producer of malt extract for food producers, craft, micro and home breweries the world over. Almost as much as half the capacity of the facility is dedicated to this niche line of products that are made uniquely and exclusive with New Zealand brewing ingredients. Yes, you heard it right. New Zealand hops, malt and specialty grains are added to the famous water from the spring underneath the Brewery to produce perfect wort extracted in a can of malt, and then they send it to us here in Canada courtesy of WilliamsWarn.

WilliamsWarn's patented BrewKegs unlock this Kiwi goodness for us when we add water and yeast, and a little hops to taste, and send us on a taste journey back home to our Island, and to the people that are proud of their South and their beer.

Observations

The beer business is complicated. Brewing is even more tricky. You can be a lover of beer and hate everything that comes with the industry. It is tricky not only due to the way it is done but because of the players, grandstanding, dress-ups, technologies, regulations, taxations, ingredients, branding, tariffs and more.

Amongst all this complexity of what should be a relatively simple matter - like baking bread - we are sincerely thankful for someone that can obscure it all, and deliver to us a simple, failure proof way, we too can take charge of our beer.

What we've learned now, thanks to our visit to Speights, is that not only does WilliamsWarn liberate us and our beer by making it simple and easy to make our own beer, it also sends us goodness from home, extracted in a can of malt. What an ingenious way to do it!

Thank you for our New Zealand beer - in a can!

Hendrik van Wyk

Beer Cowboy

We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities.

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Old School

Kiwi In A Can

Happiness

The Crew

The Place

The Original

Man with Horse

Beer Cowboys

Two Cowboys: Filling our Beer Growlers with (A Lot of) Fresh Beer at Our Local in Canmore, Alberta

But, Is It Any Good?

We've been on a craft beer crusade over the last two years. It happened for two simple reasons. Firstly, we discovered fresh beer. Secondly, Alberta Province finally stepped into the 21st Century by allowing small commercial craft brewing. Suddenly, we were spoiled for choice, and crucially, we discovered that we too are entitled to an opinion.

While drinking our way through craft brews and visiting breweries in the Canadian West and as far as New Zealand, we've made an undesirable discovery. Not all beer is created equal. Most of what is brewed and labelled as "craft" is merely failing expectations.

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Let's Talk About Fresh Beer. 

It was a revelation to discover (from a very senior and internationally well respected consulting brewer) that beer goes stale a lot quicker than breweries want you to know. Some beer you should drink within a week or fortnight after the brew. Some can still be in good shape with flavour developing up to three weeks, but then you are stretching it. After that, don't bother unless you are really in need of refreshment. Beer is like bread. Best when it is fresh.

There are ways to make beer last longer (staying fresh for longer). Keeping it in a keg, in the dark, sitting quietly at the right temperature or by adding some stabilizing agent, are ways to do it. The problem is that once it is transported or hits bottles or cans, beer is pretty much done for it. It won't live up to expectations if you are a connoisseur.

Beer's freshness is affected by some factors such as temperature, movement, light, oxygen, etc. The official story is that beer that is appropriately handled, bottled or canned has a shelf life of six to nine months. Expiry dates on your favourite brand typically reflect the beer to be good for up to that time. What it means is that you are unlikely to fall violently ill from the beverage. However, it is no guarantee of freshness or taste.

Here is the revelation: A freshly brewed beer, less than four weeks old, at your local tap room, poured from a chilled keg, is in the best condition for enjoyment. Try it for yourself. Buy the can. Pour a pint from the keg. Drink both. Which one tastes better? Voila! (No, it is not the beer-gas that is the difference.)

This is why we are in complete support of local brewing and local beer. Like you baker and your butcher, your local brewer (if he knows what he is doing) is your best source of fresh beer. Even better if they have a taproom because not only is it your oasis for beer, it is also the local happy place that brings people together and cements friendships.

Observations

Canmore Brewing Company is our favourite local brewery and we are proud of having Brian Dunn and his team in our town. The brewery officially opened on 1 December 2016, a full year ago. We were there when it began. We were there when the tap room opened. I think we kicked the door off a day ahead of schedule. We were there when they participated in Canmore Uncorked, there for the Calgary Beer Festival, and we are there almost every week (sometimes several times) when we are in town for a pint and to get our ten growlers filled.

Over the last year, Brian kept tinkering with the recipes and sometimes we were elated with the results as he mustered new flavours and developed his menu. We also shared in the disappointments and loyally helped to drink those away.

The one thing that stands out for us about Canmore Brewing's beer is that it is not a mad-science experiment (Craft Breweries tend to get a little carried away sometimes). Instead, it is our comfort food. The last thing we want is for someone to fiddle with the recipe when we've fallen in love with it. Brian respects us and honours our wishes. There are seasonal brews. Some are quite good.

However, the locals appreciate Canmore Brewing for doing a few brews really, really well and we hope Brian keeps it that way.

Hendrik van Wyk

Beer Cowboy

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Vegetables

Family?

Ice Beer

Snow Beer

Beer Sale

Fresh Beer

Two Cowboys: We are Starting a Beervolition To Take Back Our Beer, Thanks to WilliamsWarn Personal Brewing Solutions in Hastings, New Zealand

Fresher Beer

Everyone for fresh beer, raise your hands! Let's start a "Beervolition" and take back our beer!

If you know anything about beer, you know that the best beer is fresh beer. It doesn't matter what style of beer you like or where in the world you're drinking. It has to be nice, cold and fresh.

Fresh means, within seven days of brewing. Once the beer makes it into a bottle or a can, it is 5 times removed from what the taste should be. That is why you enjoy an on-tap draft beer more than the half dozen stubbies you bought from the local liquor store.

The Two Cowboys are so much in support of the fresh beer movement that we searched and finally found a company that is revolutionizing the hands-on brewing industry. These Kiwis make it easy and more affordable to enjoy your own fresh beer without having to spend 6 hours in the garage every weekend.

After 5000 years of brewing, WilliamsWarn created the technology to allow us, and you to brew the perfect beer. We call it simplified and personalized, affordable, fresh beer brewing perfection. The Kiwis got it right. Again!

See the story in the following video:

WilliamsWarn is a sponsor of ours. We teamed up with them to take back our beer and drink fresh beer. We are showcasing their business, promoting their products and helping them distribute in North America. Most importantly we are helping beer lovers brew and enjoy a fresher beer at home, for your licensed premises, Brewpub, Microbrewery or at your workplace.

At the same time, we are telling the stories of the people making, enjoying and promoting fresh beer, thanks to WilliamsWarn's support of the Two Cowboys & A Camera.

Here is a small collection of stories so far from our WilliamsWarn Fresh Beer journey. See more on our YouTube Channel.

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WilliamsWarn Stories

Beervolition Episode 1: Take Back Your Beer!

Learning from Ian Williams

Alan Sherwood - Personal Brewing

Claddagh Irish Pub - Brewpub

Al's Deli - Deli Brewing

Brewstation - Microbrewery