Boneface

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. 

Boneface Brewing Deadlift Double IPA

I’ve said it before, but if you want to precision test a brewery then ask for a double IPA. Everything has to work harder; the ferment, the grain selection, the hops and (in particular) the conditioning.  As the ABV speedo climbs above seven, only the most precisely...

Thief Brewing Frog Wallop IPA

Thief Brewing continues to prove that there’s IPA in them thar hills of Banks Peninsula, adding this West Coast style to the range.  West Coast by way of New Zealand anyway, being driven by Nelson Sauvin, Rakau and NZ grown Chinook.   The...

Double Vision x Baan Bangkok Thunder Struck Triple IPA

The method by which I pick a beer to feature here every week is extremely loose, but usually there’s an equation that balances between ‘interesting’ ‘relevant’ and ‘good’.  Sometimes, one of those spokes dominates to such an extent that the others cease to...

Behemoth Chur-Toberfest 2025

Every year more of our local craft brewers don the lederhosen and kick out a kiwi version of a Munich Festbier.  Historically, the results have been mixed… NZ malt and even more so our hops just don’t mesh well with the peerlessly smooth, crisp and understated...

New Zealand’s Most Awarded Beers

It was Stay Gold that started this … the Brave Brewing XPA that won a trophy in the International Pale Ale class at this year’s New Zealand Beer Awards. I was looking back through the records and realised it was the fifth gold medal that beer had won, and I started to...

Slow Walk Through Paradise — Visiting Every Brewery in NZ

There’s something about beer that’s always been part of my story. From the early days of sneaking sips of Lion Brown at my dad’s feet and walking around the house with my ‘beer mou’, to the $2 jugs of Joseph Kuhtze Lager at the Southern Cross Tavern during University...