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.

Garage Project Harvest Home

Just when you think you’re out, fresh hop season pulls you back in… Garage Project Harvest Home, an encore of the harvest, comes from their awards powerhouse, Wild Workshop.  Brewed with raw (unmalted) wheat and pilsner malt, and flavoured with coriander seed and yen...

Southpaw New Brighton Lager

With the fresh hop race finally dying down, it’s time to pair things all the way back and take a beat with a local lager.  A simple, no nonsense pairing of 100% NZ pilsner malt and Liberty hops (an old school, laid back varietal with distinct Hallertau character),...

The Hoptimist — Brew Union

Palmerston North has long been a junction town — one of New Zealand’s biggest ‘service’ centres since the Main Trunk railway was punched through the Manawatū in 1886. It even pulled in my Grandad from County Kilkenny, Ireland, who landed in nearby Ashurst and assumed...

Nectaron — A Familiar Song Played Differently

Nectaron hops are capturing the imagination of American brewers, particularly after the most recent harvest where it was the standout in sensory testing. NZ Hops Ltd, in their post-harvest report noted that Nectaron stood out this season alongside Superdelic and...

Two Bays Widens NZ Gluten-Free Market

Just about anywhere you go to eat these days understands a large chunk of the population is gluten-free. You see GF beside dishes listed on menu and on packaged food in the supermarket. But until now, with a couple of long-standing exceptions, you didn’t see...

Brewer Becomes Co-Owner at Searchlight

Ash Hutchinson, head brewer from Searchlight in Queenstown, is now a co-owner of the business — and one of his first big jobs will be showcasing Searchlight to the wider world at Beervana this year. Ash has worked at some of the best breweries in the country:...