thief
I’ve been slightly obsessed with idea of Cold IPA for a while now. The idea of a lighter bodied, dry beer with the full hoppiness of an IPA sounds like something I should love, but I’ve struggled a little bit with a few I’ve tried. They’ve all been OK-good but not amazing-good. Simplistically I see Cold IPA as the other side of a line from an India Pale (Japanese?) Lager. The “cold” references the fermentation temperature in that they can be brewed with an ale yeast at lower temperatures to minimise esters, or alternatively a lager yeast at a higher temperature for slightly more vigorous fermentation that reduces the trademark sulphur notes of lager. Either way it’s about creating a blank enough canvas for the hops to shine. And when I had Good George’s Cold IPA this week, it clicked for me: it was dank, tropical and citrussy with low esters and good bitterness pushing towards astringent relative to the light body. It was slightly low on carbonation but too much CO2 would have pushed the perceived bitterness too high. The question is whether these beers have a home with consumers. For lager drinkers it could be way too hoppy, for IPA lovers it might be too light-bodied. But I loved this one.

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...

Fermented Culture — The Third Place

Earlier this year a battle was fought in the leafy hills to the north of Wellington. A liquor license was being sought for what was once Dick Mead Motors and the Onslow Service Station. The resident’s association successfully applied for an extension to the decision...