Mean doses

Hopwired is a special beer for me, and an important one for New Zealand craft brewing, being one of the early pioneers of the modern full-strength NZ-hopped IPA.  This special edition swaps the Nelson Sauvin hops for a co-developed variety called Pacific Sunrise, recently rediscovered and commercially planted by Hop Revolution.  Bold, pithy, orange citrus comes first on the nose, with apricot and boysenberry along with rich toffee and biscuity malt.  More orange and berries on the palate, with tart marmalade and an almost fruitcake quality as the chewy malt backbone kicks in.  Compared with the original Hopwired the difference here is remarkable, with the sharp passionfruit lift of the Nelson Sauvin entirely gone, the flavour takes on a much deeper, more brooding character, somewhat closer to an English style IPA.  A deliciously divergent take on an NZIPA super-classic that shows just what a difference hop selection can make. 

Mean As Win for Mean Doses in West Coast IPA Challenge

Tiny Wellington brewery Mean Doses captured the 18th annual Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge with their "no gimmicks" entry, The Scale of Mean. Mean Doses took out the coveted Golden Gumboots (gold spray paint, barely dried, as per tradition) last week — a big first...

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I’ve been a beer guy forever. I love the taste, the industry and the social connection of sharing a beer.  In the middle of Covid lockdown in Amsterdam in July 2020, I realised I didn’t love alcohol.  Well, that’s not the whole story — I didn’t like what I...

Kegstar Picks Up Distressed Konvoy Kegs

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Brothers Beer Limey B*Stard West Coast Pilsner

Much as I may still suspiciously view the West Coast Pilsner style as the former (and I thought far more indicatively named) IPL style re-entering the market with a fake moustache and glasses, it does seem to be sticking around, and more importantly, producing good...

Winter Beer Selection — 20 Beers For The Colder Months

Looking for a beer to keep you warm during the winter months? We've got you covered with our Winter Beer Selection Emerson's Deaf By Chocolate 9% / $17.99 500ml bottle Richard Emerson loves it when his ears burn. It either means he’s being talked about, or he’s...

Brewing Up Fun — Double Vision Brewing

It all started when four friends, Mario, Warren, Evarn and Harry, decided to brew some beer together for fun. It soon got serious, leading to them building a brew bar in Miramar, just down the road from Weta, in 2018. Cash-poor, they did a lot of the work themselves....