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

Gettin fruity and smokin

Heading into the depths of winter we start with a fruit beer. The Mata Feijoa. Not bad, pleasant, lagery...can't really taste the feijoa but what would I know...comes in at the end. Not liked by all. Try it in summer. Up next. Monteith's "Radler bier"...I tried to stay true to the cause but the mission is to try them all, so I had one. General consensus: too fizzy, stupid name. Not really good in winter. Then its the Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude made with 100% whiskey malt. Ok its malty! Smoky! Just very phenolic... a bit like a depth charge. It has 1 redeeming feature... its 7%. Helps you get thru the coal tar. 3/4 down ....its not bad now. Just need to remind everyone of the Beltane Maiden. Its the Bogan chick beer! Moving on, Emerson's 1812, bottled, familiar and good! (technically we aint had the bottled one). To finish its the Emerson's Brewer's reserve Dubbel. A few have not recovered from the rex....Over the past month I've had enough of this to say its dam good.... doesn't take many to put you on your back. And the one with two mother's in law is now on probation. Until next time...


Mata
Yeastie Boys
Emersons

Dropping like flies

The numbers are down. Recruiting is not good. But the show must go on!  Yeastie boys Hud a wa! Its a hoppy amber ale that continues to be good. A bit gassy....or maybe we're getting to used to draft and the hand pump! Brewmoon Hophead IPA. Uh Oh...its organic! quite good/tasty! Just in case you weren't sure; stinky feet = hexanoic acid = parmesan cheese. Up next the Tall Poppy India Red Ale from the 8 wired crew. very drinkable...maybe a bit burnt. And of course anything is better if its louder! To finish of the "dessert" beer. The Renaissance Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. Looks like a mouthful just writing it. A bit like the James Hardy...pleasant...interesting...chocolatey. And thats another round done.... 143 by my counting...how many more to go? Heaps I hope!

yeastie boys
brewmoon 
8 wired
renaissance brewing

Goin' out to the plains

The truck comes around to pick us all up...good on ya mate... and we're off over the hill. Stupidly we fail to bring extras for travellers. We get there and we're into it. We start with Greenman Lager .... wait for it .... Its quite drinkable. As a greenman its credible, easily the best GM ... STOP its gone flat! Need we say more! Next the Sauvin Pilsner from the twisted hop. At this point we note that none of the beers we have have questions. This beer... not bad! A beer to sit around and talk bull sh!t to. Pity the brewpub is stuck in the redzone. Then there was the Mashup. Its a collaborative thing with lots of NZ breweries. Its even got their own internet tv. Anyway back to the beer... well its a very hoppy golden looking ale. Pretty damn good. But you expect that from the boys from epic. Next up the Brewmoon Broomfield brown ale. Malty...but turns out to be a dilute stout. And the brains trust has come up with teh ingenious idea of a beer & sausage saturday, trying to get the invites to the Tui girls. Finally we get to the Arrow brewery Wee heavy. Its sweet and malty...not too bad. Maybe that why I drank so much "heavy" in Edinburgh. Somehow we need to get these brewers to Dunedin. Might skip on the fermented mare's milk.

greenmanbrewery
the twisted hop
nzcraftbeer.tv
Brewmoon
arrowbrewing