test lab

A late arrival in my tasting rundown of this year’s Brewers Guild Awards trophy winners, in this case champion Dark Lager.  Late maybe, but this one arrived in style, contained within a leviathan one litre can.  Just cracking it open was strangely daunting. Aromas of malt biscuits and bush honey, with toasted whole grain bread in the background along with a fruity and faintly herbal hoppiness.  The palate leans drier than the rich nose would suggest, with clean but robust malt character up front and a cleansing hop bitterness further in.  Big and chewy at first, but gradually drying into the long finish to end with a touch of flinty minerality and just a thread of smoke.  An immensely satisfying dark lager that compacts many layers of flavour into its extremely mild 4.8 per cent ABV like only dark beer can.

Test Lab Pale Alien IPA

Test Lab Brewery (Christchurch) have been on the rise this year, and given that they’re a brewery I could walk to, I’ve been gravely remiss in taking this long to feature one of their beers.  And as my first check-in with their range, it was always going to be...

Four Square’s Behemoth ‘Brollab’

Four Square is celebrating 100 years of trading by showcasing four products this summer under the banner “Brollab” — and one of them is beer. Alongside a special Birthday Cookie from Cookie Time, the return of the Orange Rush Fruju and a Four Square-branded Wattie’s...

Beer Legend John Harrington Dies

One of the true legends of the New Zealand beer scene, John Harrington, has died. Harrington started Harrington’s in 1991, and the Christchurch brewery grew to be one of the biggest independent breweries in the country in the early part of the 21st century. Originally...

More Magic From Garage Project

A heavy reliance on chance, luck and magic is not usually a desirable feature in a beer, where precision can be the difference between a world-class drop or a drain pour. But when it comes to the spontaneously-fermented kind, at least some of that is required to make...

The Beer Project — McLeod’s

18 January, 2024: Jason Bathgate, head brewer at McLeod's Brewery in Waipu, Northland, has pre-warned me there may be chaos. He's back at work after a bout of Covid and there is a long list of jobs for him and his crew to catch up on. Thomas, his assistant brewer, is...

Three Boys Double Down On Champion Status

Amongst the myriad trophies awarded at the annual Brewers Guild Awards, the most elusive prize is also the one you have to give back, albeit with your brewery’s name forever inscribed on this coveted piece of metal (fashioned as a miniature fermenter).  With...