(Green) Bullets to Wellington

So I got an email the other day from Evin O'Riordain from The Kernel Brewery, fast becoming (rightly) recognised as one of the finest craft brewers in the British Isles, telling me he'd had a visit from "a fellow in the NZ beer scene" who was looking for beers single hopped using only New Zealand hops.

He then went on to tell me that, as he had "not a single bottle" of the Nelson Sauvin single hopped ale that the Kernel was famed for (it's not one that I've had the pleasure of tasting either). Evin went on to tell me that, "as I couldn't let him leave empty handed" he gave him a bottle of my single hopped Green Bullet IPA.

Blimey.

He went on to tell me that the beer will be tasted at the Beervana NZ event organised by the NZ brewers guild:http://brewersguild.org.nz/beervana2010. Not so much coals to Newcastle as Bullets to Wellington.

It is fair to say that by this time I was bricking it. I mean, the Green Bullet was only my fifth all grain brew and here was Evin sending it half the way round the world. There I was thinking about the steps one would take to avoid drinking my beer (and sending it to New Zealand is an absolute masterstroke) when I received a second email from Evin reviewing the second bottle I'd sent him. I was pleased to read "Not hugely aromatic, but beautifully clean and had a great bitterness, Lovely Beer" I don't think they'll be flying me over to New Zealand as a brewing consultant just yet but it was a much appreciated comment from a lovely bloke who really does know his beer.