When it comes to fresh hops, it’s a bold move for a brewer to step outside the IPA and Pilsner paddocks, but Hallertau Fresh Hop Belgian Ale is unique (and bold) for even more reasons. A fleetingly rare example of a North Island hopped beer, using hand picked cones from their Riverhead brewery located just Northwest of Auckland. As the name suggests, it’s also styled as a Belgian ale, and a strong one too at 8.5%abv (the closest touchpoint would be a Tripel).
With all of those fragrant Belgian yeast derived fruity esters competing on the nose, and the subtle but weighty malt on the palate, it’s a little harder to tease out the fresh hop character than a typical IPA, but it is in there. Amongst the banana and strawberry, a delicate herbal and floral fragility winds its way around the other flavours, evoking fresh hay bales and gorse flower. Judged as a fresh hop alone, this could be seen as lacking impact, but taken as the sum of all its parts, that subtle green element, however slight, nudges this up into one of the freshest and most vital examples of a Tripel I’ve ever tasted outside of Belgium itself.