middle of the road

Known for producing craftier, but still affordable six-packs, McCashin’s Brewery is now taking a similar approach to individual cans in the Legacy series.  Aside from the enticing price tag for this 5.9 per cent IPA, there was something that got my attention immediately: 500ml cans!  It proves there’s no logistical reason why I should be deprived of 60ml when craft beer goes from glass bottle to aluminium can.  But as ever, value alone can’t prop up a bad beer, so does this one have the chops? The nose on this certainly checks all the West Coast boxes, with grapefruit, apricot, rockmelon and gentle pine.  Pithy grapefruit is very dominant on the tongue, with a light but still reasonably chewy malt and a drying bitterness.  It might not have the rockstar razzle of a super-premium craft example, but it’s easily 90 per cent of the way there and at damn near half the price ($5.99) of a 440ml can (plus that 60ml extra) the value here is incredible. 

Drinking In The Middle Lane

When my recent piece ‘A slow walk through paradise’ was published, a mate joked, “Jeepers BH, you’re a bit middle-of-the-road in your beer tastes to be talking to the craft beer community.”...

Ask An Expert — How To Enjoy A Fresh Hop Beer

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The Beer Project — Lakeman Brewing

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Roots Brewing — Small But Mighty

Back in the early 1900s, Whanganui wasn’t just lively as New Zealand’s 5th largest city — it was one of Aotearoa’s great beer strongholds, proudly home to 13 breweries. Thirteen! Then came decades of closures, mergers, and the lure of jobs elsewhere, and one by one...