rare beer challenge

After tasting a few disappointing examples of IPAs utilising Yakima Chief’s all-in-one cryo-hop blend, I was beginning to build up a bit of speculation towards it.  But, if anyone can make an IPA work then it’s Epic, so I’ll go in hopeful once again.  Golden peach and guava lead the nose, with sweet orange citrus and some surprising strawberry fondant further back.  There’s grapefruit juice and strong orange rind on the palate, with more heavily ripe peach emerging before an absolutely belting bitterness slaps across the finish.  While I still think the Cryo-Pop blend lacks a bit of lift and zing, a big (6.9%), bright and bitter IPA like this is definitely where it does its best work.

First-Timers Win 2025 Rare Beer Challenge

by | March 14, 2025 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

New Plymouth’s Shining Peak Brewery were crowned — or capped, as it were — the winners of the fifth annual Rare Beer Challenge on March 7. Hosted by Wellington’s Fortune Favours Brewery, this year there was not only a sister bar in Auckland serving the beers on the...
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Moa Superdelic IPA

by | March 10, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

As much as it was exciting to see the recent Superdelic hop step onto the stage of commercial New Zealand varieties, it’s one I’ve been struggling to really love when put in the lead of an IPA. That red berry confectionary note has always come on a bit strong. Perhaps...
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Sunshine Brewing Wants Sale or Merger

by | March 10, 2025 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

New Zealand’s oldest craft brewery, Sunshine Brewing in Gisborne, looking for new owners or — more intriguingly — seeking expressions of interest for a merger with an existing brand. The move comes as the trio of existing owners, who have been at the helm for the past...
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Green, fruity, dank … Tom Shellhammer On hops

by | March 4, 2025 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

For a hop scientist, a months-long summer holiday coinciding with the annual hop harvest in New Zealand is a dream sabbatical. Tom Shellhammer is a Professor of Fermentation Science at Oregon State University where he leads the brewing science education and research...
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Hop Federation Concrete Jungle

by | March 3, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Fresh off the line this week Hop Federation Concrete Jungle is this bright version of the (also rather good) Inflation hazy IPA that dropped a little earlier in the year.  Sporting an identical 6% ABV and hop bill of Idaho 7, Rakau, and Nectaron, the difference here...
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Instagratification: Dusty’s Best of the Summer releases 2025

by | March 3, 2025 | Opinion | 0 Comments

Photographer, beer-lover and Instagram influencer Dusty, picks his highlights from the latest releases heading into summer. Sprig + Fern Ridgy Didge Crikey! What a lil ripper! Sprig + Fern’s latest sud tube Ridgey Didge is an all-Aussie hopped 4.4% hazy pale ale...
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