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.

Epic Electric Pony Cryo Mosaic IPA

by | October 21, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

The One Trick Pony rides again, and this time it’s fully electric.  Epic Electric Pony is this first of its kind IPA (the first out of my fridge anyway) brewed with fresh cryo hops from Yakima Chief.     I’ve been critical of some ‘cryo only’ beers in the past,...
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Brothers Beer Mighty Quinn Quadruple IPA

by | October 21, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

How strong is too strong? Opinions differ, but for my part I believe that if you want to go nuts, then you should go nuts.  Usually this means brewing a double, or even triple IPA, but not to Auckland’s Brothers Beer, who have well and truly gone nuts with their 13.5%...
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Panhead Six Splitter WCIPA

by | October 21, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Even without the proximity to the Malthouse WCIPA Challenge, it feels like we’ve been feasting (or sipping, at least) on vastly more West Coast style IPA than usual these last few months.  Even I haven’t had the opportunity to try them all (yet), but as I’ve been...
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Renaissance Black The RIPA

by | October 21, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Black IPAs are few and far between these days, almost to the point that one could credibly call it something of a ‘retired’ style, but I’m always glad to see the odd one now and then to give some contrast in the IPA space. Black The RIPA from Renaissance is doubly...
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Lakeman Rogue HoG

by | October 21, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Taupo’s Lakeman has been revving their IPA engine again with another slot in the recently announced New World Beer & Cider Awards Top 25 (and not their only one either), for this West Coast style IPA. Classically styled, with assertive pine and pithy grapefruit up...
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Bach Brewing All Day Go

by | October 21, 2026 | Recommended | 0 Comments

Bach Brewing All Day Go, a vitamin fortified non-alcoholic pale ale, is the latest addition to their burgeoning (and wildly successful) non-alc range.  Seeing any beer that has been in any way ‘fortified’ with something chemical rather than culinary, always raises the...
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