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

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

#200 continued

So as a reliable blogger who regularly posts all the time, I'm back after a small lay off. Don't panic folks, since my last confession, there has been one other beer club and numerous other imbibings. And yes its well over two months! As I mention the Epic Zythos was no. 200 and a very appropriate way to go into the next century! Good hops with a nice finish. I can't say enough about this beer...yes alot of hops but well balanced. Its great! This was closely followed by Greenman Keller which unfortunately brought us all back down to earth. I have tried this style once before and I wasn't a fan. Now that its from Greenman, its doesn't have much hope. It didn't smell good, a bit like a ginger beer but just weird. Not that pleasant an aftertaste. It was "alright" but gets tiring. Bottom 25% so won't be seeing this again. Dr Hops world Pale Ale (Lot #1). Is this a trial beer? Smells of toffee, Not too bad! an IPA style as we established. Back to Greenman, "Best" Bitter. So much promise! Looks a whole lot better than it is. Turns out to be fizzy water, doesn't come close to the keller. Not even a saliva substitute. Sourish...bad...vile. Will never buy again. Wigram mustang Pale Ale, has coffee notes but turns out to be mediocre. And now for something somewhat familiar! Emerson's brewer's reserve this month was Oreti red, a red, indian pale ale. Its well balanced, standard Emerson's (Good). The people are not convinced (maybe we are spoilt...no wait we are !) It is after all beer no. 6 / 205! it has a rich taste. (And now its gone). And finally EPIC epicurean. A coffee & fig Imperial oatmeal stout at 8%. Tastes of coffee and velvety. Would be good for icecream but can't find the fig. Until next time!

200 different New Zealand beers

Epic Zythos is number 200! And what a beer to go the double tone with. Not too bitter, subtle other stuff (the sour notes). This beer is good, very good. Good hops with a good finish.

More later

Left hanging

A bottle of Beltane maiden appeared for the newbies who had never had the pleasure. Words along the lines of "aroma of domestos", "really hideous" and my favourite..."starts sour and finished evil". And now for the real beer. Golden Eagle Brewery has come up with an "Ah-Reet Summer Blonde". It starts off ok and then just goes away, comes with an ice-cream head. Ok but maybe not again.Golden ticket brewing up next with their Champion Malky Golden Ale. Gassy...fruity, and then P pulls a face that says it all...he's not impressed. Not my favourite either. And now for a challenge, the beer pouring challenge with Golden Bear Pirate Peach Saison. This beer has one of the biggest ice-cream heads ever no matter how hard you try. Its is absolutely delicious! Every sip is good! This is a stand out. If we plan the nights right we go from light to darker more flavoursome beers. Next we have Harrington's Clydesdale Stout. Its an Irish dry stout which not surprisingly poured well with good body. Good chocolate flavour, dry, very drinkable. I had heard good thinks about this and they are all good. Now for Miners Galore from Wanaka Beerworks. A doppel bock with rosehip presumably locally sourced. Its drinkable but not as good as Harington's (not as smooth). And now for beer number 199. Moa McMoa, a belgian strong dark/American IPA and 9%. Big green Hop smell, smells like teen marijawoopy. I reckon it was the nicest thing all night flavourwise. It is sweet hooped, "great" big (and alcoholic) a definite talking point. Its hoppy and sweet with no bad aftertaste. Malty as well a good balance and my pick for the night. Overall a tie between Golden Bear Saison and Moa Mcmoa.

200 next month

Up on the hill

Three Boys "Tres Amigos". Their take on a mexican cervesa. Its clear, dry and pleasant. As I'm not generally a fan of largers, its definitely not offensive. Good with the chilli dip! Up next Eagle vs Dog:Episode 1 Hitch Hikers Guide (which means there will be more). Oh its a pilsner by the way; Hoppy and fruity with lots of flavour. Very drinkable albeit a little too fruity for my liking. The tuatara India Pale Ale is an English style bitter and to be honest a little disappointing and not quite what I was expecting. It was matly-ish, OK but.... probably won't make another appearance. Up next another newby from the Wanaka Beer works new(ish) guy with the Kauri-old Flemish Dark and dark it is. Its infused with flavour of Kauri wood but I'm not sure how that was done. The crowd is 50/50, its chocolatey but becomes hard work and in the end becomes swampy and muddy. Finally the Harrington's Baltic-Ler. Its big and a happy taste (could be hoppy but not sure) it was getting late and at 8.5% actually could be anything. You could taste the alcohol but in a good way. Its tasty and chocolatey and the standout of the night. 193

A visit to the Glass Box

And so once again, a number of men were gathering on the street clutching various shopping bags and greeting each other with a knowing nod. We enter on mass letting ourselves in trying not to laugh and disturb the almost sleeping child. And so the amusement begins. We are graciously ushered to the conservatorium, are shown to our seats and we're off with the Wigram Bavarian Pilsner (hoping to stick with the start with the light addage). Ok so its hoppy-ish. Not bad, but there has to better stuff out there. Onto the Lady, the Wanaka Beerwork's Lady, I'm gunna throw down a lady... ok we exhausted those jokes pretty quickly. Its a cherry wheat beer and is a bit like a Lady's armpit.... no wait, was that meant to be about the beer? Its not very fizzy, the usual "interesting" comment arises, its drinkable and oh wait its says its for the lady's.... long pause.... And on to Kaimai Brewery Pale Ale (with the Southern Cross Hops), trying to hit the American market... "According to the surgeon general, women should not drink while pregnant... they should bring it to us." No you did say that out loud! Ok its got lots of flavour, moderately hoppy, middle palate has a mercurial component. Wait on that doesn't sound so promising now! And now its the Yeastie Boys Digital IPA. This is real good. Very tasty indeed. Go out and try some! Back to Wanaka and the Sir Walter. The audience is split. The mid to late palate is bitter. There are separate tastes, an early shandy lemonade, then it changes. There is cardamon flavour apparently. The group is splintered. So we move on. The Moa 5 hops. You can smell the hops. Its dry, very dry, unusually so. But not bad at all. Its a clever drink, its dry and makes you thirsty! Surprisingly good. Harrington's Hop tremor IPA (7.4%), well its a bit too much, its the burping hops thats the killer. Its malty and hoppy. Its the bogan of IPAs. Finally we get to the Wigram Kortegast sparkling Ale. Its gettin' late. Its a beautiful story, hokitika river... you'll have to go and find out for yourself. Turns out its one of the students great great grandfather. They found his hop plants that had gone wild and the rest of the story is in the bottle! Winners were digital IPA and 5 Hops.

Wigram
Wanaka Beerworks
Kaimai
Yeastie Boys
Moa
Harrington's

From full to not much to ....full again!

Jan 2012
And its the start of another year and just when we thought beer club was full, only half managed to make an appearance. They missed out! Mr Emerson's latest summer ale, North by North. A damn pleasant Czech Pilsner not dissimilar to Tally Ho but no able to directly compare. The next brew, we had to look at closely to make sure it was from NZ. The Monsoon Strong Pilsner. Its an authentic beer (not counterfeit!). Its quite tasty, yes and strong, more than 6%. We guess that the bottle is designed for the UK market in Indian restaurants of all things. ANd we learn that drunkeness is a personal thing as Doug is debunked...again! Another strong one is the Yeastie Boys Red Rackham red ale. This beer has depth. Wow! Its malty, big and there is essence of Rex! The final taster is Harrington's Anvil, a dry hopped pilsner. It's hoppy and good. Until next time.

Emerson's
Monsoon
Yeastie Boys
Harrington's

End of Year BBQ 2011

Its a good thing that we were just getting together for a few beers and snags, so after we all finally made it we thought we'd have a few of our favourites or as we usually do, bring something new. Without any notes (yes I take notes!) the following are in roughly or maybe the correct order. The Tuatara Helles comes back brought by an old friend. Good for a BBQ. I picked up Invercargill Brewery WASP honey pilsner over the Xmas break on the southern pilgrimage. A new one... Tuatara's APA; Aotearoa Pale Ale, with American Hops hard to obtain, they have done a fine job with the local product. New Steve pops in with Emerson's Bookbinder and the last one for H is Macs Gold. A good day for a beer.

December 2011

Ok so its been a while...I've been busy and I might have a rest from these beers ...just enough to write something. We start with the Valkyrie Brynhild golden ale from the Valkyrie Brewing Co. A hell of a lot of stuff about the Valkyrie on the label in a small font and not much about the beer. It actually drinks ok. Nothing bad. Now for the Montieth's Single Source. Very nondescript. Now for the Tuatara Helles. Well bugger me if the Tuatara beers don't have a tuatara on the cap. The beer gets better....after three lagers they are all very similar. And we come to the Flying nun 30 year anniversary Ale from epic. After three reasonable lagers, this is a revelation. The Stoke Bomber Smokey Ale (5.7%)... Interesting ...someone thought they could get layers of biscuits and flowers although this maybe simply bollocks on the label. Its getting dark now and up comes the Wigram dakota dark, its bittery chocolate. smells of vomit or honey? not sure of that one...no wait its bee vomit. Actually its a good dark beer. And we finish off with the 8 Wired Black Dwarf. Mixed feelings from the team but I like it. A dark beer with coffee.

valkyriebeer
Tuatara
EPIC
Wigram
8 Wired

8 in the big house

November 2011
With a full quota and then some we are off again. First up its the Wigram ginger Jerry, a ginger infused Wit Bier. Its good, apparently appropriate for after mowing the grass.... the girl gets a 9, nice melons. Straight from ChCh its the Cassel's and sons Pilsner, can taste the bitterness. Not bad but an average one. Nice bottle. A Moa has popped up, they seem to have a lot of hype surrounding them but we haven't tended to try a lot of them. This time its the original, its a lager, its good, fine and would probably work after cutting the grass. Up next its the Renaissance MPA Imperial IPA. As expected its big and hoppy not much else said really, it is what it is. Two lables make it a bonus (infiltrating the US of A)We've had plenty of beer snacks over the meetings but Mike is planning on whale on a stick being the next big thing! With the brains trust assembled we always try to answer the hard questions in life. This time, Why can we spell neutrino when we can't even prove they exist? And now for another new one, the Wigram Morning Glory golden ale, following up on the success of moa breakfast beer. Its good! well balanced and Good! Best beer of the night. This was followed up with the Brewmoon amberley Ale, alright but a tough call after the morning glory. And now another of the growing list from Stoke, the stoke bomber KPA (Kiwi Pale Ale). Doesn't come across as a pale ale. Its pleasant, a red/amber Ale and a whole lot of bollocks on the label. To finish, the renaissance Elemental Porter. Its a Porter, chocolatey! Its good. After a big night there are 3 standouts, the ginger jerry, morning glory and the MPA. (167 down)

October tastings

So I know the idea of a blog is to post regularly. As you may have worked out, I haven't managed to do it. But since our last discussion, we have knocked back about 15 new beers. To start with we continued on with the Boudary Road Brewery "Chosen One". Written up as rather ho-hum we could only agree. Based on first impressions, it couldn't have been made by speights (a compliment to speights). The Chosen One will not be chosen again. Should be called "Chosen Once". With a little more investigation, Brewery Road is not craft beer...it Independent Liquor. Moving on, the Reefton Phoenix Golden Ale from the Racecourse Brewery, Brewed by Wigram. Well we ticked that off the list (not memorable)! Up next the Townsend Sutton Hoo (which is some historically significant place in Suffolk!), Its a Hoppy, Amber coloured Ale, Well balanced...did I say hoppy? And now, Mac's Sassy Red. I do have a soft spot for Mac's. This is reliable fizz, mostly harmless and a good cleanser for the meaty ones we usually jump into. Its Good! The latest brewer'a reserve from Emerson's is the Brownville Brown Ale. Its Chocolatey but can't taste the fruit or the melon. A good drop for a brown ale.

Now its time for more history with Wigram's spruce beer. It has more mouth than nose and a big mouth at that. Smells like ginger beer. With one of us missing out on the Rex Attitude last time we we had a spare bottle, now termed the durian of beers! Thanks Stu for the email and I'm looking forward to the xeRRex. We finished that off with the Tuatara Porter, unfortunately weak and disappointing.

Wigram
Townshend Brewery
Emersons
Tuatara

This is not a problem!

This "represents" 150!... and most are off getting filled

Sausage Rolls

And the next beer is #150! Thats right 150 different beers in NZ and still charging along. No need to look outside Dunnas to buy them yet. A new one on the market, its the Boundary Rd Brewery Bouncing Czech Pilsner Lager. Not bad at all but can't quite see the explosions of citrus that is "expected". Closely followed by the Flying Fortress Pale Ale. A better brew, nice flavour and hoppy. Ok so we're still waiting...where are the sausage rolls?! Just for the record Kangaroo's heads DO move when they hop! Up next the Townsend JCIPA... not sure what the JC stands for....First taste is mouldy...dank....but drinkable. Then its the Emerson's JP 2011...is good..is strong at 9%. Then we're into the box og Tuatara Pale Ale. Can't remember whether we have had this but these guys do well. Hang on ...all is not as it seems, the box is filled with yeastie boys Rex attitude....No comment but drinkin it. Smells worse than it is. Could be refined a little I reckon, not quite our choice. Charging on to 200!

boundary road brewery
Townshend Brewery
 Emersons
Tuatara