Sunshine Land of the Rising Saison
Gisborne meets Japan in the Land of the Rising Saison a delectable 7 per cent saison from Sunshine Brewery: spices and citrus and subtle herb notes meld seamlessly creating a light tart refreshing funky brew, great stuff.
Epic Lupulingus
Who doesn’t like an Epic rebrew? Lupulingus is a big boy 9 per cent double IPA with Mosiac, Citra and Columbus in the hop department, big sweet malty backbone meets hop forward goodness, lots of pine berry citrus with a herby floral background. Great example from the OGs of IPA in NZ.
Sunshine Land of the Rising Saison
Gisborne meets Japan in the Land of the Rising Saison a delectable 7 per cent saison from Sunshine Brewery: spices and citrus and subtle herb notes meld seamlessly creating a light tart refreshing funky brew, great stuff.
North End Bines That Bind Us
Binds That Bind US is a 6 per cent saison featuring Riwaka hops from North End Brewing. Yeasty champagne notes dance with grapefruit and orange on the nose, follows suit on the palate with subtle spicing, the mouthfeel is crisp, tart, has a tingly carbonation and dryish finish, great example.
Sprig & Fern Harvest Pilsner
I’m not the biggest pilsner fan but Sprig & Fern smashed that notion with their 5 per cent Harvest Pilsner, with fresh hopped Mouteka and Riwaka. Big danky passionfruit and citrus (grapefruit) notes on the nose follows through on the palate, with additional lime, grape and melon hits, flavour-filled fruity mouth punch with a drying finish.
Deep Creek Sentinel
Deep Creek are back at it with their distinctive Haiku series. This is Sentinel, a Mosiac, Citra, and idaho7 hopped 6.5 per cent hazy IPA. What a combo – lots of orange, mango, passionfruit, some guava on a spritzy carbonation, summer in a can.
Bootleg Scarface Smoked Porter
Running from beer normalcy are Bootleg Brewery and their 5 per cent Scarface Smoked Porter, their collab with Meraki Honey, has lots going on in subtle ways, Light floral notes meet cola with a warm smokiness as it warms with a honey sweetened mouthfeel and drying finish. Beauty.
8 Wired Gorky Park
8 Wired are the pinnacle of barrel ageing in the southern hemisphere. Gorky Park is a 12.6 per cent American oak-aged imperial stout. Quite the mouthful figuratively and sensory-wise; pours midnight black with big sweet caramel bourbon on the nose, palate is engulfed in rich sweet sticky caramel bourbon and warm boozy notes, definitely one to sip and savour.
