Brave

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.

Brave Brewing — The Eye Of The Tiger

by | August 5, 2025 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Just days before Brave Brewing won the Champion Brewery crown at the New Zealand Beer Awards, founder-brewer Matt Smith was wondering aloud about “imposter syndrome”. Talking to the Third Pint Theory podcast, Matt said that despite more than a decade of professional...
Read More

Brave Brewing Triumph At NZ Beer Awards

by | August 3, 2025 | News | 0 Comments

Brave Brewing and their cult IPA, Tigermilk, roared the loudest at last night's New Zealand Beer Awards in Christchurch. Brave Brewing, from Hastings, won a swag of trophies — with the most important being the title of overall Champion New Zealand Brewery. Moments...
Read More

Guinness 0.0 Set for Wider Distribution in NZ

by | August 1, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

Guinness 0.0 — the hard-to-get non-alcoholic version of Guinness — will become more widely available in New Zealand from later this year. Lion is the official brewing and distribution partner of Guinness in New Zealand but has not been able to get its hands on a...
Read More

Mean As Win for Mean Doses in West Coast IPA Challenge

by | July 31, 2025 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Tiny Wellington brewery Mean Doses captured the 18th annual Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge with their "no gimmicks" entry, The Scale of Mean. Mean Doses took out the coveted Golden Gumboots (gold spray paint, barely dried, as per tradition) last week — a big first...
Read More

Ales On The Camino Trail

by | July 29, 2025 | Cover Story, Travel | 0 Comments

I’ve been a beer guy forever. I love the taste, the industry and the social connection of sharing a beer.  In the middle of Covid lockdown in Amsterdam in July 2020, I realised I didn’t love alcohol.  Well, that’s not the whole story — I didn’t like what I...
Read More

Kegstar Picks Up Distressed Konvoy Kegs

by | July 25, 2025 | News | 0 Comments

Concerns about a shortage of kegs in New Zealand have been averted after Kegstar concluded negotiations to purchase their financially-stricken rival Konvoy Kegs. The two companies controlled the keg rental market in New Zealand and Australia until Konvoy went into...
Read More

Brothers Beer Limey B*Stard West Coast Pilsner

by | July 24, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Much as I may still suspiciously view the West Coast Pilsner style as the former (and I thought far more indicatively named) IPL style re-entering the market with a fake moustache and glasses, it does seem to be sticking around, and more importantly, producing good...
Read More

Winter Beer Selection — 20 Beers For The Colder Months

by | July 24, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

Looking for a beer to keep you warm during the winter months? We've got you covered with our Winter Beer Selection Emerson's Deaf By Chocolate 9% / $17.99 500ml bottle Richard Emerson loves it when his ears burn. It either means he’s being talked about, or he’s...
Read More

Brewing Up Fun — Double Vision Brewing

by | July 23, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

It all started when four friends, Mario, Warren, Evarn and Harry, decided to brew some beer together for fun. It soon got serious, leading to them building a brew bar in Miramar, just down the road from Weta, in 2018. Cash-poor, they did a lot of the work themselves....
Read More

Instagratification: Dusty’s Best of the Winter releases 2025

by | July 23, 2025 | Opinion | 0 Comments

Photographer, beer-lover and Instagram influencer Dusty, picks his highlights from the latest releases from this winter. 8 Wired Betelgeuse Red IPA Cold snaps require comforting brews and 8 Wired brewing fill that brief here with their 6% Betelgeuse Red IPA, it's...
Read More

Peter Lines — ‘Rest Easy Mate’

by | July 23, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

Peter Lines (July 29, 1957 — June 28, 2025) grew up surrounded by hops and spent more than 50 years working the land — which is exactly what he was doing when he died in a freak accident on June 28. Peter died when he was struck by a tree when trying to clear flood...
Read More

UPDATED: How Many Breweries In NZ?

by | July 11, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

What follows is an updated version of the list of how many brewing brands (Updated July 11, 2025; re-edited July 15 based on reader feedback). I started out in 2022 asking the question: How often have you seen the “fact” that New Zealand has around 220 breweries? It’s...
Read More

Mr Good Bar — Two Thumb

by | July 9, 2025 | Travel | 0 Comments

Sniff in the right direction and Christchurch might smell a little more hopped up than it used to be. There’s more beer here than before, so much, in fact, that the Canterbury conurbation has been making cheeky claims to be the new crafty capital of Aotearoa New...
Read More

Liberty Longshot Fresh Hop Imperial Pilsner

by | July 4, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

You thought it was safe.  You thought the fresh hop season was over, and so did I to be honest… but we were wrong, with a late harvest fresh hop double collab between Liberty and Boneface landing well after the fresh hop season should have been over. The gist of...
Read More

Duncan’s “Weird” Win At Smith’s NZ IPA Challenge

by | June 27, 2025 | News | 0 Comments

Duncan’s Brewing broke a big(ger) brewery stranglehold and surprised themselves with a "weird" winning feeling at the Smith’s NZ IPA Challenge in Queenstown on June 21. After Good George and Parrotdog had each won back-to-back titles in an event that sees 31 breweries...
Read More

Epic Super Zero

by | June 27, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

I’ve been dragging the chain, I’ll admit it, but this officially the year that non-alc beers have finally gotten through to me.  None more so than Epic Super Zero. How to describe this one… I almost want to call it the Double IPA of zero percenters, but that would be...
Read More

Garage Project Beast With Two Backs

by | June 20, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Whisky & Bourbon Barrel, Espresso & Banana Imperial Stout 13.0%abv Earlier this week I had the pleasure of judging the annual NZ Stout Challenge in Christchurch (jointly at The Moon Under Water and Punky Brewster).  As always, the stouts on offer are big and...
Read More

This Ain’t No Hellhole — The Beer Project

by | June 19, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

Down a long driveway in the middle of nowhere I find a rustic shed fronted by some barrels. Inside is the northern-most brewery in the country, Kainui Brew Co, not too far from Kerikeri, I'm greeted somewhat apologetically by brewer Paul Keating. “It’s not too...
Read More

Behemoth Fun Sized IPA

by | June 13, 2025 | Recommended | 0 Comments

While non-alcohol beers might be the talk of the town at the moment, simply light beers (the original sensible beer) are still around too, and still making strides towards better quality. While Auckland's Behemoth Brewing are usually more about the big, they can also...
Read More

Galbraith’s Celebrates 30 Years Of Real Ale

by | June 9, 2025 | Features | 0 Comments

“Where's the time gone? It's been a bit of a time tunnel this place — I just got absorbed into it.” Keith Galbraith is reminiscing on 30 years as the owner of Auckland’s iconic Galbraith’s Alehouse. “You know, I said to my wife when we started this, ‘look, give us 10...
Read More