swifty
Double and Imperial usually mean the same thing for a beer, unless both of them are on the label at once! This monstrously strong version of 8-Wired’s iStout was brewed for the 11th anniversary of the stalwart imperial, and it is one BIG beer; slowly meandering out of the can as black and thick as treacle.  The aroma is surprisingly gentle, with toasted malt and coconut, milk chocolate and a thread of sweet spicy smoke.  Any suggestion of gentility is blown away on contact with the palate, as a wave of outrageous richness blasts across the tongue.  Starting with chocolate mud-cake and a dollop of triple chocolate icecream, then a rush of ripe stone fruit crests just before the bitterness takes hold and gradually eclipses the sweetness into the finish.  A towering monument of richness and excess.

Powerhouse Collab Launches Swifty

A new beer is not usually enough to justify a story but when you’re talking powerhouse brand names Nadia Lim and Garage Project, a beer called Swifty might be in a different league. I was wondering only recently when New Zealand might see a celebrity-driven beer that...

Brothers Beer Back In Business

Brothers Beer are back in business and aim to pay off all their creditors by the end of 2024 says new general manager Frans Bos. They’ve had a management restructure, just hired Dylan Adams as head brewer after he lost his job when Deep Creek went into liquidation...

Police Defend Dunedin Festival

Police are happy with behaviour at the Dunedin Craft Beer & Food Festival earlier this month despite the event generating international headlines after two assaults — one inside the venue, one outside. Festival director Jason Schroeder felt the bad publicity...

Free Glass Flagon Scheme Launches Nationwide

Dozens of high-profile breweries around the country, including Garage Project, Parrotdog and Emerson's, are today launching a scheme that provides customers with free, returnable, 1-litre glass flagons for takeaway beer purchased at taprooms and filleries. Backed by...

Hop Federation Hold The Line NZIPA

It was already shaping up to be a pretty good year for New Zealand IPAs — and Hop Federation have nudged it a little closer to a great one with this new limited release, Hold The Line.  Powered by Southern Cross, Taiheke and Nectaron, all of which should be found...

UPDATED: Deep Creek Owes More Than $4m

Deep Creek Brewing went into liquidation last week owing more than $4 million. The first report from liquidator Rodgers Reidy noted that Deep Creek Brewing Operations Ltd owed unsecured creditors around $3.5 million. They also owed ASB $603,845. Money owed to secured...