Bach Brewing Peach Pucker

From my Canterbury perspective this summer was a bit of a have, in fact we just recorded the coldest February day since 1945. So I’ll look to experience the season vicariously where I can, and what better way than glorious stone fruit from the warmer regions?  Brewed with peach and white tea, this Berliner (5.4 per cent) from Bach is just the ticket.  The nose is bursting with ripe peach puree, jasmine and citrus blossom on a pillow of creamy fruit yoghurt.  It’s so ripe and lush I forgot I even had a sour beer until I went in for the taste, where the vibrant lactobacillus lash will remind you in a hurry.  That sour zing takes the palate in more of a lemon citrus direction, with the tea lending a gently tannic structure.  Striking an excellent balance between refreshment and substantial flavour, this is a perfect drop to send off the season in style.

Instagratification: Dusty’s Favourites

Photographer, beer-lover and Instagram influencer Dusty, picks his highlights from the latest releases. Urbanaut La Grande Urbanaut brewing slay the summer game here with their 4.8% La Grande lager with lime. Classic Saaz & trad Czech malt set up one crushable...

The Generation Game — Mount Brewing At 30

For Briar Harley, born into the brewery life, there’s plenty of excitement in sharing the news that come June a third generation will born into the Mount Brewing family. Briar and husband Niall, who own Mount Brewing in partnership with her parents Glenn and Virginia...

Boneface Knuckle Duster West Coast Pilsner

The ‘West Coast Pilsner’ style continues to wander through the craft beer labyrinth somewhat without a bearing, and drift further from its (admittedly flawed from the beginning) descriptor in the process.  It’s as much as I can do to classify them as ‘good ones’ vs...

Bach Skinnay Ultra Low Carb Hazy Pale Ale

While low carb beers are bigger than they’ve ever been, it’s still uncommon to see the styles range too far from the lager safe-zone.  You’ll find a few zero% hazy IPA’s, but an actual low-carb-full-strength example is rarer.   Never idle for long,...

Eruption Brewing — Lyttelton’s Local Legend

To understand Eruption Brewing’s place in Lyttelton, it helps to zoom out — first a couple of centuries, then a few million years. The town sits inside the remnants of the Banks Peninsula volcano, long extinct but still shaping the landscape and, fittingly, inspiring...

Epic Stout

While not to say that Epic is a total stranger to dark beer (they’ve made some extremely good ones over the years) it would be fair to say that it wasn’t exactly the style they’re known for.  So it was a surprise to see this one show up (and slickly presented too, I...