rare beer challenge

Winner of the ‘Wheat & Other Grain’ category at the 2021 Brewers Guild Awards.  Joe and Sarah Emans, the husband and wife team behind Three Sisters brewery, envisioned a beer in homage to the iconic World War 2 poster featuring Rosie The Riveter.  Pouring a strikingly auburn red, they’ve gotten that part right straight off the bat with this 8.4 per cent beauty.  Flavours of toffee malt, stewed stone fruit and that unmistakable rye spice are right there.  The full bodied palate begins with tart dried fruit, but quickly settles into a smooth, almost buttered pastry note.  As the firm bitterness takes hold of the finish the spice emerges in full, with nutmeg and allspice, leaving that signature warming sensation unique to rye heavy beers.  Big, bold and sumptuously satisfying.

First-Timers Win 2025 Rare Beer Challenge

New Plymouth’s Shining Peak Brewery were crowned — or capped, as it were — the winners of the fifth annual Rare Beer Challenge on March 7. Hosted by Wellington’s Fortune Favours Brewery, this year there was not only a sister bar in Auckland serving the beers on the...

Moa Superdelic IPA

As much as it was exciting to see the recent Superdelic hop step onto the stage of commercial New Zealand varieties, it’s one I’ve been struggling to really love when put in the lead of an IPA. That red berry confectionary note has always come on a bit strong. Perhaps...

Sunshine Brewing Wants Sale or Merger

New Zealand’s oldest craft brewery, Sunshine Brewing in Gisborne, looking for new owners or — more intriguingly — seeking expressions of interest for a merger with an existing brand. The move comes as the trio of existing owners, who have been at the helm for the past...

Green, fruity, dank … Tom Shellhammer On hops

For a hop scientist, a months-long summer holiday coinciding with the annual hop harvest in New Zealand is a dream sabbatical. Tom Shellhammer is a Professor of Fermentation Science at Oregon State University where he leads the brewing science education and research...

Hop Federation Concrete Jungle

Fresh off the line this week Hop Federation Concrete Jungle is this bright version of the (also rather good) Inflation hazy IPA that dropped a little earlier in the year.  Sporting an identical 6% ABV and hop bill of Idaho 7, Rakau, and Nectaron, the difference here...

Instagratification: Dusty’s Best of the Summer releases 2025

Photographer, beer-lover and Instagram influencer Dusty, picks his highlights from the latest releases heading into summer. Sprig + Fern Ridgy Didge Crikey! What a lil ripper! Sprig + Fern’s latest sud tube Ridgey Didge is an all-Aussie hopped 4.4% hazy pale ale...