With the flood of new beers on the shelves of our local retailers it’s easy to go past something that stands out from the rest.  Luckily for me I stumbled across this beauty of beer from the team at Abandoned Brewing.  I must admit I have limited knowledge about the brewery and the beers they produce, but after sampling their hazy pale ale you can now count me as a fan! After doing a little investigating I discovered that Abandoned Brewery is located in an old disused factory in Lower Hutt.  The remnants of an old brewery were left but the team pretty much started again from scratch.  Their branding really effective…put simply, it looks like they’ve got a plain white can and used crayons to create the text.  You won’t find any psychedelic, multi-layered brand campaign on these cans, they simply describe the style of beer you should expect, which is really effective! The beer itself is bloody good! Pour the can and you get this light honey coloured liquid with the gentlest haze.  Nectarine, peach and passionfruit aromas galore and mouthfeel that is best described as light and powdery! At 5 per cent ABV the beer really holds up its complexity, very easy drinking and totally smash-able. If you’re looking for a summer fridge filler then you shouldn’t go past this beer… it’s now top of my list!

Wigram Mustang Pale Ale

Christchurch’s Wigram Brewery recently hosted an event to pay tribute to the late Paul Cooper, one of the founding fathers of New Zealand craft brewing.  It was a quiet afternoon, but the amount of living history (and a few living fossils) in that bar could have...

Two Thumb SMASH IPA Series #1

From Christchurch City’s Two Thumb Brewing Company, S.M.A.S.H (single malt and single hop) is the first release in a new series of IPAs featuring a single malt paired with a similarly singular hop. Version one (5.5%) is an all-Canterbury duo, combining Gladfield...

Farewell To A Brewing Legend — Paul ‘Coops’ Cooper

Before the internet, before Google, YouTube and AI, and before craft beer became a global movement, there was Richard "Paul" Cooper — or as everyone in the brewing world knew him, “Coops”. A scientist, engineer, brewer, and all-round innovator, Coops was among the...

Brothers Beer Mad Science #2 IPA

Mt Eden’s Brothers Beer invites us to taste the future with Mad Science #2 — a new trial hopped IPA. Amongst the first generation of commercially-released beers to use the latest clutch of trial hops (NZH-111, NZH-112 and NZH-115 variously) from the NZ Hops Ltd's...

Competition Watchdog Blocks Kegstar’s Acquisition of Konvoy

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has blocked MicroStar’s proposed acquisition of keg lending rival Konvoy. MicroStar, which operates as Kegstar in Australia and New Zealand, and Konvoy are the only suppliers of keg leasing services in this...

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...