Boneface
I was lucky enough to join the judging panel for the 2019 edition of The Malthouse WCIPA challenge so I know first-hand how revered a win is at one of New Zealand’s most prestigious beer events.  Epic and Parrotdog have dominated top spot for many years so I was excited to see a new name being etched into the Golden Gumboots for 2021. Based in Petone, Baylands Brewery took top honours this year with their smashing entry The Hops Awaken.  Like many, Aiden Styles started his fledgling brewery in a garage under the house and flourished from there.  Wellington craft beer ambassador Sunil Balu joined the team a few years ago and this relationship has seen the brewery go from strength to strength. The Hops Awaken is everything you’d ask for in a West Coast IPA.  The competition guide is narrow and specific: brew the best West Coast IPA possible, stay true to style and make the hops shine! Baylands loaded this beer with US hops plus the addition of the New Zealand experimental hop NZH102.  Upon opening, the room soon with all those lovely citrus, pine needle, grassy aromas that you expect.  The flavours follow along beautifully. The beer is super-dank with a lovely resinous oil that adds both complexity and a velvet smoothness.  Tons of bitterness that lingers on your tongue long after your last mouthful. At 6 per cent, The Hops Awaken isn’t the biggest West Coast IPA I have ever sampled, however every piece of this beer has been pulled together perfectly.  There’s a strong malt backbone that holds the beer up throughout the drinking experience which has aided the Baylands team to find that magic sweet spot, some might say the perfect balance?! I’m so pleased to see a new brewery break through this year.  Competitions like these drive our brewers to be better which ensures the bar is pushed higher and the beer gets even better! Surprisingly this beer is still available online at Baylands store so support independent beer and grab yourself a slab today: https://baylands.beer/collections/cans/products/the-hops-awaken-440ml

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...