Trying all New Zealand Craft Beer: A Beer Club

I decided that it would be a good plan to try as many beers made in NZ as possible (ignoring the stock standard fare until later). And so the challenge begins. Myself and 6 "colleagues" who have the same interests will gather once a month at a beer club and sample New Zealand Craft Beer! The initial brief is...Lets start with ale...s! I'm starting with the southern most brewery, Invercargill Brewery and their Pale Ale "Stanley Green" The rest will be revealed after the "tasting"

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Time to dry out


This session was after a loooong week of "networking" so I was pretty fit but ready to rest. We started with Matson's Quake Lager. Meh! Apparently it could be a good session beer but a bit low on taste. After sampling a few of teh new EPIC brews at beervana it was time to get them "officially" tasted. So the first batch NZIPA was the one. It was strongly hopped, not surprising being from EPIC but maybe not as big as some of their others. Still good nonetheless. Next we grab Spike's red rye Ale with some scepticism. What is this. Who is this guy? And is it just a gimmick? It had flavour, it was indeed red but alas it was not balanced. So the first time Emersons had their APA I missed it. Luckily they have reintroduced it. It was smoky and hoppy and gets the tick. Now Monteiths is expanding their "craft beer" range so we have the Barrel Aged Porter at 6.5%. There is coffee. It is not too bad, smooth, fruity which is no doubt from the oak-pinot barrels. The final beer for the evening has a bit of a reputation from Ben Middlemiss, Nota Bene which smelt amazing. It was sour with some sweetness. At 8.7% you can't taste the alcohol. I thought it was worth the time to savour and enjoy but the crowd was restless and divided. Not for the faint hearted.

Matsons
EPIC
Spikes
Emersons
Ben Middlemiss
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