Bach Brewing Freebird Hazy IPA
Craig Cooper and the team at Steam Brewing have delivered a beauty of an East Coast IPA with Freebird (6.5 per cent ABV).  It pours thick, juicy and bright which speaks volumes for what’s ahead. When it comes to aroma, you can’t avoid the big grassy pine notes plus some sweet apricot and peach underneath adding to amazing experience. Drinking is the best part; the beer delivers strong bitterness throughout which is unusual these days as brewers try to make their beer more palatable to a wider audience.  Citra, Riwaka and Amarillo have been beautifully blended together and produced what I think I the best example of a East Coast Hazy IPA I’ve tasted in a longtime.   True beer lovers will enjoy this one so get onto it before they’re all gone!

Fresh Alibi — Meet The New Brewer

Jody Thomas has a beer CV that could fill this website from back to front but her new job as the one and only brewer at Alibi on Waiheke Island is almost like starting over. Thomas has worked in breweries up and down New Zealand as well as in Sydney, Geelong and...

Shining Peak Expand Into Christchurch

New Plymouth's Shining Peak have opened a branch office in Christchurch — setting up a bar and restaurant in the refurbished Sumner Post Office. Shining Peak have been looking for a new venue for some time and briefly looked at opening a venue in Queenstown, but they...

Mr Good Bar — Twofold & St Leonards

The good news is that, despite the occasional bad news, there are great new brew bars are still bubbling up all over the place. In central Auckland, for instance, I came upon two in a single afternoon – a sunny Sunday afternoon on the edge of summer, hope in the air....

Two Experimental Hops In Advanced Trials

Two of NZ Hops Ltd’s experimental hops are in advanced trials this season and they couldn't have asked for a better start. Both NZH-106 and NZH-109 have been selected for advanced growing trials so we’ll see more of those hops in our beers later this year. Andrew...

Zero Cider Helps Peckham’s Go From Strength to Strength

One of the best new drinks to enter the market this year is a) not a beer and b) contains zero alcohol. Step up Peckham’s Apple Zero. This 0% cider is made from proper cider apples with a wild ferment and the result of those two “ingredients” it’s unlike anything else...

The Beer Project — Sunshine Brewing

I visit Sunshine on a hot Thursday afternoon in January. The bar is starting to hum with locals enjoying beers on the deck. There was a time when Wellington was the biggest market for Gisborne Gold but that has definitely swung back home. In addition to the...