Yeastie Boys are back in New Zealand, getting their beer brewed under contract with bStudio in Napier and distributing through Morningcider. They relaunched officially on August 1 and I was out of the gates double quick to grab some Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA. This beer has special place in New Zealand brewing history, being a first of a kind and developing a cult following (with a small percentage of people dead against it, of course). I’ve always loved this beer and my biggest question was whether the beer would be as I remembered it. It’s been so long, all I had was a ‘sense” of how it tasted. My first reaction was that this appeared sweeter than previous iterations (no bad thing). Second the bergamot really soars and is clearly-defined. Third, the tannic element is still there but not in a way that makes your gums go furry. And the hops are expressively fruity. All in all it was a terrific three-dimensional sensory experience in which all the flavours — malt, hops, tea — come together in an interwoven triangle of taste. In short it was delicious.

yeastie boys gunnamatta early grey ipa