baylands waifly 8

Baylands Waifly, now in its eighth iteration, is one of the recurring fresh hop releases on my “can’t miss” list.  It’s routinely one of the very best every season, and this year’s is no exception.  Fresh Nelson Sauvin leads the charge on the nose, with gloriously fresh passionfruit sorbet alongside Waifly’s signature gummy bear lollies.  Ripe and fresh on the tongue with sharp citrus rind and a streak of cooling menthol before the firm bitterness grips the finish. Another exceptional vintage for a beer that Baylands can confidentiality regard as a New Zealand fresh hop classic.

Liberty Longshot Fresh Hop Imperial Pilsner

You thought it was safe.  You thought the fresh hop season was over, and so did I to be honest… but we were wrong, with a late harvest fresh hop double collab between Liberty and Boneface landing well after the fresh hop season should have been over. The gist of...

Epic Super Zero

I’ve been dragging the chain, I’ll admit it, but this officially the year that non-alc beers have finally gotten through to me.  None more so than Epic Super Zero. How to describe this one… I almost want to call it the Double IPA of zero percenters, but that would be...

Garage Project Beast With Two Backs

Whisky & Bourbon Barrel, Espresso & Banana Imperial Stout 13.0%abv Earlier this week I had the pleasure of judging the annual NZ Stout Challenge in Christchurch (jointly at The Moon Under Water and Punky Brewster).  As always, the stouts on offer are big and...

Behemoth Fun Sized IPA

While non-alcohol beers might be the talk of the town at the moment, simply light beers (the original sensible beer) are still around too, and still making strides towards better quality. While Auckland's Behemoth Brewing are usually more about the big, they can also...

Three Sisters Ernie’s Bitter No 6

With beer judging and fresh hop season going on, it’s been a busy couple of months for beer.  Time for something a bit more ordinary then…   That said, this self-stated ordinary bitter from Taranaki’s Three Sisters Brewery is anything but ordinary —...

Eddyline Midnight Harvest Black IPA

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the chiller, the fresh hop season has one last (or is it?) salvo to fire.  Eddyline Midnight Harvest Black IPA goes in a near unprecedented direction with a fresh hopped dark beer, albeit still an IPA, but a pretty...