A new all-American hopped West Coast IPA from Taupo’s Lakeman, with Amarillo, Citra and Zythos in the mix.  There’s lime and grapefruit up first on the nose, with a distinct Zythos’y tangerine note rising further back.  Remarkably focused grapefruit on the palate, with some pine and very faint passionfruit mixed in with the light and fresh malt base.  All good stuff, but the most striking thing about this 6.9 per cent IPA is the bitterness.  It kicks in right from the front of the palate, like chomping straight down on a grapefruit (skin and all), and it stays meshed with the citrus flavour right through to the finish.  Impactful, arresting and laser focused on its style.  One of the top IPAs I’ve tasted this year.

Garage Project Harvest Home

by | June 9, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Just when you think you’re out, fresh hop season pulls you back in… Garage Project Harvest Home, an encore of the harvest, comes from their awards powerhouse, Wild Workshop.  Brewed with raw (unmalted) wheat and pilsner malt, and flavoured with coriander seed and yen...
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Southpaw New Brighton Lager

by | June 9, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

With the fresh hop race finally dying down, it’s time to pair things all the way back and take a beat with a local lager.  A simple, no nonsense pairing of 100% NZ pilsner malt and Liberty hops (an old school, laid back varietal with distinct Hallertau character),...
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The Hoptimist — Brew Union

by | May 27, 2026 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Palmerston North has long been a junction town — one of New Zealand’s biggest ‘service’ centres since the Main Trunk railway was punched through the Manawatū in 1886. It even pulled in my Grandad from County Kilkenny, Ireland, who landed in nearby Ashurst and assumed...
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Nectaron — A Familiar Song Played Differently

by | May 25, 2026 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Nectaron hops are capturing the imagination of American brewers, particularly after the most recent harvest where it was the standout in sensory testing. NZ Hops Ltd, in their post-harvest report noted that Nectaron stood out this season alongside Superdelic and...
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Two Bays Widens NZ Gluten-Free Market

by | May 25, 2026 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Just about anywhere you go to eat these days understands a large chunk of the population is gluten-free. You see GF beside dishes listed on menu and on packaged food in the supermarket. But until now, with a couple of long-standing exceptions, you didn’t see...
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Brewer Becomes Co-Owner at Searchlight

by | May 25, 2026 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Ash Hutchinson, head brewer from Searchlight in Queenstown, is now a co-owner of the business — and one of his first big jobs will be showcasing Searchlight to the wider world at Beervana this year. Ash has worked at some of the best breweries in the country:...
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150 years of Speight’s

by | May 25, 2026 | Features | 0 Comments

Speight's Brewery in Dunedin — New Zealand's oldest brewery — is celebrating its 150th birthday. It's quite the yarn, because it's a brewery that has risen, fallen, partly revived, fallen, risen and risen further. In celebrating the landmark birthday, owner Lion noted...
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Altitude’s Trophy-Winning Attitude

by | May 15, 2026 | News | 0 Comments

Queenstown's Altitude Brewing are celebrating (another) stunning awards performance at the Australian International Beer Awards, held in Melbourne last night. They increased their haul from last year’s AIBAs — taking home three trophies and a swag of medals (20 in...
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Bach Brewing Sticky Buds III

by | May 12, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

I’m far from ready to declare a favourite from this year's fresh hop season, but I surely have some contenders, and the third edition of Bach Brewing Sticky Buds (by way of Steam Brewing) is most definitely on the list.  Fresh Nectaron is the pick here, supporting a...
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8 Wired Fresh Hopwired

by | May 12, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

It’s here… the full force of the fresh hop storm is upon us, and I find myself again in the (not so arduous) position of having vastly too many releases to choose from. So for this week’s feature, I’ll pick one that I’ve been most looking forward to reuniting with. ...
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Hallertau Fresh Hop Belgian Ale

by | May 12, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

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...
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Thief Brewing Brood Mother

by | May 12, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

One of the first Canterbury fresh hops on the scene this year, Brood Mother Hazy IPA is brewed just over the hill at Thief in Banks Peninsula. While most freshies tend to stick to one or two hop varietals (for logistics as much as anything else), Brood Mother casts a...
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Sprig + Fern Harvest Pilsner

by | April 13, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Sprig + Fern’s ultra-classic Harvest Pilsner is always amongst the very first heralds of the impending hopocalypse, and frequently remains one of the best till the end of fresh hop seasons. This season’s release (it’s 16th outing!) presents a gentle citrus and cut...
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Haagen Lager

by | April 13, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

As consumers, we all have two lines that constrain our habits.  Above, there’s the price ceiling, when the cost of beer gets above a certain point we’ll turn away.  That price ceiling has been talked about to death over the last five years (at least). ...
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Boneface X Brave Cold IPA

by | April 13, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Cracks are already appearing in the fresh hop dam… but before we’re completely awash in those impending releases — one more conventional IPA. The third in Boneface Brewing’s rolling series of collabs (this time from Hasting’s Brave Brewing) and quite possibly the best...
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Sawmill Barrel-aged Imperial Porter

by | April 13, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

As a tribute to the official end of summer (or perhaps a final nail in the coffin, for those of us in Canterbury), I’ll turn to a more fireside coded drop, crafted by Matakana’s Sawmill brewery. In terms of its principle construction, this is a fairly simply patterned...
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Boneface Knuckle Duster West Coast Pilsner

by | April 13, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

The ‘West Coast Pilsner’ style continues to wander through the craft beer labyrinth somewhat without a bearing, and drifts further from its (admittedly flawed from the beginning) descriptor in the process.  It’s as much as I can do to classify them as ‘good ones’ vs...
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My Life In Five Beers — Matt Warner

by | April 1, 2026 | Features | 0 Comments

While still at university in 2008 and after a hot Friday of Wellington hillside landscaping, I vividly remember propping up at the end of The Malthouse bar with my flatmate and being smacked in the face with a pint of Emerson’s Pilsner. It was brash, full of...
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Drinking In The Middle Lane

by | April 1, 2026 | Features | 0 Comments

When my recent piece ‘A slow walk through paradise’ was published, a mate joked, “Jeepers BH, you’re a bit middle-of-the-road in your beer tastes to be talking to the craft beer community.”...
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Ask An Expert — How To Enjoy A Fresh Hop Beer

by | March 20, 2026 | Features | 0 Comments

Brewing has been part of my life for 25 years now and even in this small amount of time, the innovations and experimentation that have all come about in the name of beer never cease to amaze me. It also means it's almost 20 years since I first got the chance to get...
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