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 it is that owners Mike Neilson and Joe Wood (of Boneface and Liberty respectively) discovered a selection of Riwaka hops in Motueka that had been overlooked during the harvest. A bit of a Shrek the sheep scenario, but I’ll bet this one smelled a lot better.
With aroma in mind, Liberty Longshot, an imperial pilsner, gets off to a bang with a hit of overripe citrus, pungent gooseberry and a deep dank late harvest diesel, evoking, in no small way, the aroma of the dubiously tax-free liquid you’d catch your rural neighbour pouring into his ute. Not to be left out, the palate carries just as much heft, with more superb citrus, dank herbals and an absolute density of flavour that makes that 7% abv drink more like a 10. Topping it all off is a supremely aromatic bitter finish that keeps those heavy hop flavours flying straight.
