A poor turnout

Through one excuse or another only half of the brains trust continued with the quest. He who usually loses the list, lost the list again and failed to realise that we had already tried the EPIC first batch. It was bloody good again though. And for those of you who don't know what the numbers are, they are the new hop variety they used. The MOA breakfast smells like marshmallow with a hint of penicillin or medicine. IS it actually breakfast dissolved in a bottle? It does tend to change with each taste. Hmmm.... This a weird sh#t@rse beer that just doesn't seem to evaporate if you leave it lying around. The mid to after palate is just bad. Sorry, that's a no. A quick taste of the Twisted Hop Back. Oooh! Its Tutti fruity with hops (and not in a bad way). There's just not enough of it. Finally a decent contribution. About time JR. Next is the Mussel Inn Dark Horse... its a dark beer with coffee notes. (thats all I got). We finish off with the EPIC hop zombie a double IPA. It has a big nose, What is that smell? Wet merino? I have to trust the kiwis on this one. No its fetid jockstrap with chlorine. Can you tell its getting later in the night? It was very good! Mmmm. Wow, I'm up to date (but only until next Tuesday! See ya then

Now I'm just confused

OK so this session was actually happened before the previous post, but as I am really slack and posting four months worth of beerclub in one sitting it shouldn't really matter. Boundary rd Einstein (German for 1 beer!), this Munich lager was inoffensive. Beer should be simple ... but not too simple! The resident: Spike's IPA (note this is the one that was good and hence I was confused but the previous post). Ooohs and Aaahs. Grapefruit, hops and hops, which is a good start. Surprisingly good! The next beer caused such a stir, I forgot to write down the name.... thank goodness for the system and the photos! The 8-wired Saison. Smells like yogurt. Turns out its yogurt flavoured beer. It was good. I like these farm house beers! Now for the IPA Hodson from Ben Middlemiss at 8.8%. "Jesus Christ" was the initial call, pungent with an air of coconut ice. Its Big. Is the over-riding flavour alcohol? This is a pungent beer. Finally the 8-wired iStout. This smells of used coffee. there were brandy overtones. Its different from usual stout but worth a look.

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

Where have you been all this time?

I've been bad. Very bad I know. I am sitting here with notes from 4 sessions that have been haunting me to update them. Don't panic, I have not stopped sampling the brews. I managed to get to Beervana where I completely nerded out, autographs from my favourite, award winning brewers! Beerclub: so it was snowing as we arived, but luckily we had plenty of beer to keep us warm would we need to hunker down for a few nights. First was Harrington's Weiss Bier Hefeweizen (unfiltered). I'd buy it again! citrusy. Very little head but makes you burp. We'd rather drink this than Hoegarden! It claims to be "naturally brewed", therefore what is unnaturally brewed? Now for the boundary rd Red Barron Amber Ale. Not bad, a good session beer. Hoppy and malty. This was followed by the 18th amendment APA at 6%. AS an APA... there was too much other stuff going on and not enough hops. Not many comments on this one. Townsend No. 9 Stout, A Rich Dark sessionable stout. Nothing wrong with it, malty, burnt, pleasant! And the final tipple was Emerson's JP 2012, the Belgian strong ale. You could taste toffee, it was dry. The best beer all night. Extremely pallatable, very good!

Harringtons
Boundary rd
Townsend
Emerson's