Clayton Hops
Mountain IPA you say? It’s a rather romantic way of describing a beer that falls somewhere between the two in-vogue extremes (geographically speaking, that is) of West Coast IPA and East Coast IPA. The former, righteously bitter and brightly clear, the latter as furry and fuzzy and full of fruit juice flavours. Somewhere in between, again geographically speaking, is Colorado where Oskar Blues produced Dale’s Pale Ale (sweet and piney 6.5 per cent pale ale) and Odell created Mountain Standard, juicy fruity with some haze and a hit of late bitterness and thus a regional genre was a born. A handful of Kiwi breweries have played with the “style” including Deep Creek and Ground Up. Given the loose boundaries of Mountain IPA, it’s hard to say a brewery has nailed it as such, but Laughing Bones Treeline IPA (6.3 per cent) gives you exactly what it says it will: a beer that’s juicy, fruity, a little hazy but with an underlying bitter kick. Utilising a load of the tropical-meets-pine Sequoia hop blend, it truly is east meets west and a good waypoint for anyone who finds West Coast IPA too bitter or Hazy IPA too sweet.

Clayton Hops Harvest Report

Clayton Hops, one of New Zealand’s leading hop growers, has just dropped their 2025 hop harvest report. Following on the heels of NZ Hops Ltd’s report the other week, this one again highlights a significant reduction in hop production in line with global trends....

Hop Flakes — Kiwi Invention Set To Revolutionise Hops

Hop flakes — a revolutionary breakthrough in hops processing — is being driven out of hop farm in Nelson using technology from the medicinal marijuana industry in the US. There’s been a wealth of hop innovations over recent years, from oils to cryo-hops, to...

Parrotdog Hatch New APA to Replace Falcon (R.I.P.)

Parrotdog made a real splash this week the launch of Raptor, an American Pale Ale that replaces their popular and award-winning Falcon APA. As a long-time lover of Falcon, I was curious as to why you'd swap out one APA for another (with an admittedly different flavour...

Altitude Brewing Scenic Route NZIPA

While fresh hop season is far from over, this week has provided something of a breather from the onslaught of new releases.  The perfect time to relax with a good, old fashioned NZIPA from Altitude Brewing (Queenstown), brewed with perfectly normal processed...

A Cabinet Of Curiosities

I first arrived in New Zealand in 2010 when the craft beer scene was gaining momentum but still a far cry from where we are today.  At the time, I loved the adventurous thrill of discovering new and small breweries like 8 Wired, Parrotdog, and Wanaka Beerworks...

Superdelic Defies Global Hop Downturn

Superdelic — the most recent commercial hop variety released by NZ Hops Ltd — is proving a winner, defying the global downturn in hop demand with the 2025 harvest completely sold out. Superdelic was released in 2023 and in its third full season there was three times...