Sprig and Fern trifecta fresh hop hazy

Fresh Hop Watch 2022 is finally underway, and I just found my first packaged release.  This hazy pale (5.5 per cent ABV) features a combo of fresh hops — Pacifica, Taiheke and Motueka — from growers Kentishman Hops and Mac Hops.  Profoundly pithy citrus and crushed green herbs in the aroma, with a leafy herbaceous note creeping in on the palate.  The ultra-low bitterness really exposes all the quirky green notes that define a fresh hop.  May have fared better without the hazy treatment IMO, but still a nice warmup to tasting the season.

Badass Beverages Out But Not Down

by | September 13, 2024 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Start-up brand Badass Beverages is shutting up the shop with the brand for sale. On face value it’s a sad day because Badass did some cool things — and they were good people too. But, as co-founder Dave Pearce told me, he’s not “sad” it’s over, and he makes some...
Read More

I Am Hope Rejects Funding Over “Not For Pussies” Beer

by | September 6, 2024 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

Mental health charity I Am Hope has refused to take money from a boxing fund-raiser because a beer with the tagline “not for pussies” is being co-promoted alongside the event. Swordfish Mojo is a low-carb lager created by Matt Watson, the star of the ITM Fishing Show...
Read More

Duncan’s Drop The Lactose For Vegan Beer

by | September 4, 2024 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

New Zealand’s self-professed biggest user of lactose (milk sugar) in the brewing process is set to find new customers after creating a lactose-free, vegan-friendly smoothie sour. The use of lactose in dessert beers, ice cream sours, smoothie sours and milkshake IPAs...
Read More

The Beer Project — Karamu Barrelworks

by | August 28, 2024 | Cover Story | 0 Comments

It's a magical drive into Karamu Barrelworks on Daryl Bryant's rural Waikato lifestyle block. The morning light softly filters through the trees he and his wife Lynette planted when they first moved onto the property. Vision, a bit of hard graft, followed by time has...
Read More

Sprig & Fern The G.O.A.T Doppelbock

by | August 27, 2024 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Over the next wee bit I’ll be exploring the trophy winners from the recent New Zealand Beer Awards, starting with The G.O.A.T Doppelbock (7.9%) from Nelson brewing legends Sprig + Fern.  As the name implies, this is a beer with a long history of awards, including a...
Read More

Fermented Culture – A Moment of Communion

by | August 27, 2024 | Opinion | 0 Comments

This column was pitched to me as a vehicle for me to reprise “The Grumpy Brewer” a character I played during lockdown that comedically allowed my frustrations with the world of beer and my general eccentricities out into the world. However I didn’t want to wallow in...
Read More