Bach Brewing Sticky Buds

This wee new release from Urbanaut is a true lite beer at only 2.5% ABV; well past the dubiously broad ‘session’ bracket.  As such, it has the incredibly hard task of bringing the absolute minimum amount of malt to bear without the flavour falling into an insipid fizzy abyss.  So can this one pull it off? The aroma absolutely does, bringing sweet orange citrus, peach and white grape with an impact you’d expect in something at least twice the strength.  But the nose is the easy part, it’s the palate where the balancing act so often topples for these lite beers, but Juno, I’m pleased to say, lands it confidently.  Rather than presenting any huge upfront fruit, the flavour starts off mild and stays mild, which allows those hop driven aspects to sustain through to the finish, avoiding the trap of collapsing the mid-palate by trying to balance too many hops on top of it. This is a lite beer that really nails it, and it’s also not the first really good low ABV hazy I’ve encountered this year.  As much as I’m not a fan of the hazy application in big double IPAs, I think hazy really has something going for it on the other end of the spectrum.

Bach Brewing Sticky Buds III

I’m far from ready to declare a favourite from this year's fresh hop season, but I surely have some contenders, and the third edition of Bach Brewing Sticky Buds (by way of Steam Brewing) is most definitely on the list.  Fresh Nectaron is the pick here, supporting a...

8 Wired Fresh Hopwired

It’s here… the full force of the fresh hop storm is upon us, and I find myself again in the (not so arduous) position of having vastly too many releases to choose from. So for this week’s feature, I’ll pick one that I’ve been most looking forward to reuniting with. ...

Hallertau Fresh Hop Belgian Ale

When it comes to fresh hops, it’s a bold move for a brewer to step outside the IPA and Pilsner paddocks, but Hallertau Fresh Hop Belgian Ale is unique (and bold) for even more reasons. A fleetingly rare example of a North Island hopped beer, using hand picked cones...

Thief Brewing Brood Mother

One of the first Canterbury fresh hops on the scene this year, Brood Mother Hazy IPA is brewed just over the hill at Thief in Banks Peninsula. While most freshies tend to stick to one or two hop varietals (for logistics as much as anything else), Brood Mother casts a...

Sprig + Fern Harvest Pilsner

Sprig + Fern’s ultra-classic Harvest Pilsner is always amongst the very first heralds of the impending hopocalypse, and frequently remains one of the best till the end of fresh hop seasons. This season’s release (it’s 16th outing!) presents a gentle citrus and cut...

Haagen Lager

As consumers, we all have two lines that constrain our habits.  Above, there’s the price ceiling, when the cost of beer gets above a certain point we’ll turn away.  That price ceiling has been talked about to death over the last five years (at least). ...