Ruapehu Brewing are another new face on the New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 30 list this year, and not only that, these Ohakune brewers have walked straight in and taken a place in one of the most hotly contested brackets, Hazy IPA.
The NZ/US hop combo works beautifully in Unlimited Vis, with pithy grapefruit and minty, cooling pine over pungent passionfruit in the aroma. It’s a great nose, but the palate is nothing short of a hazy masterclass. Big, ripe and juicy like all hazies, but crucially clean and fresh in a way that few others achieve. All backed up by a stunning bitterness that rolls into the finish and leaves the palate demanding another sip.
A real West Coast IPA-lover’s hazy, and consequently amongst the very best I’ve tasted in some time. The sooner Ruapehu Brewing finds its way through the New World distribution and into my fridge the better.