The New Pad

The new year starts at a new place, with a decent spread of beers. Crafty Beggars Pale & interesting turns out to be pale & uninteresting, flat, OK but the big boys can't do small batch. Mike's TPA (Taranaki Pale Ale). Makes the crafty beggars pale into insignificance, it has Umph! Its Noice! Mike's again, an elderflower pilsner. Its got champagne bubbles. Get a bit of elderflower a long time after and its faint. Nice but not sure why one would bother. Now for another local brew. Emersons Clean sweep. Its pleasant fruity with subtle hops. The previous beers had sallied the palate, but this just gets better. Mike's third showing for the night, OMPA (One More Pale Ale), This one is sweeter, has flavour but unfortunately gets the "meh". Tuatara's Double Trouble, a big claim of 167 IBU. Its wasn't pretty, very big, oily...hop oil and bitter. To finish, Renaissance Scotch Ale. This is dark, very much an dAle with plenty of malt. Another good finish.

Current count is 242. If we get a quorum at the next meeting, that's 250 different NZ beers and not that close to finishing either!

Silly Season

So the usual festivities of the beer club silly season were had. A range of old favourites and a decent sacrifice of meat.

Coming up to Silly Season

And there is yet another "crafter" appears. Hancock + Co, Grand Pale Ale.Where did it come from. Nothing on the bottle. Not bad, ok would kick it out of bed. Its bitter, getting furry as the glass continues. No don't like it. And another...crafty beggars (one of the big boys), wheat as. The spin on the bottle is pure shite. It is indeed a wheat beer, its now flat and tastes watery. A report of two halves (see below). Emerson's Rolling Moon wheat beer on draught. It has a golden colour and is good. Unusual finding a wheat beer on tap. This is what a wheat beer should be like. Another "quiet" one tonight and the last beer is Croucher's Patriot American Black Ale. Its good, dark and malty.

Losing It

So FINALLY I am posting again. By no means is it becoming tiresome trying all this beer, its just ... well... writing about it doesn't seem to be the same as tasting it. Nonetheless, the list must continue. Under the "rules" we are trying "all" craft beers from this great land. 2 Stoke from the stoke brewery, is indeed a Lite beer. All a bit Hmmmm, not very fruity, it is beerish. It is actually drinkable. But why 2%, Whilst beer has fantastic flavours, without the extra effects, it is very little at least to me. If you so desire a v. low alcohol beer, then this has a great name. Monteith's Apricot wheat beer. Not the first to come out of NZ. True to its name, its apricotty, tastes like an apricot muesli bar. Not too bad. Monteith's third pint bottle entry into the market was the IPA. Sorry but its bland. after half of it, its ok but not great. Compared with the others on the market though, it will struggle. Oh and they should try and get the details spot on with their units. Nothing gets past us scientists... 500 ML indeed. Raindogs Brewing co's Apothecary Amber Ale. This one has flavour, better than the IPA, a pleasant drop. If you haven't noticed, as the nite gets later, the beers get darker and hoppier. Emerson's Bird Dog Pale Ale, bottle release. Very good; "I love this beer" was heard; nice, palatable, good and hoppy. Finishing off the night with Epic's Message in a bottle. Tastes of coffee, very nice, well balanced. Good beer to finish with. The best beer of the nite