Beer thread

Crucial

Moa, 5 Hop Winter Ale. Nice slightly caramelly flavour balanced out by decent hop level. Worth a try with a lamb stew and could hold up to something a little spicy.

Allstar

Epic are putting out something called Thornbridge Stout in the new few weeks. Will be interesting to give that a try I reckon.

Allstar

The Liquorland down the road and around the corner were clearing out their supply of Russian beer today.... 
 
So I got myself a bottle of Baltika #8 (wheat beer). I must say, I have been very impressed by their brews so far. They are very good with their flavours. I thought the Russians only made Vodka, but I have tried a couple of the other Baltika beers and been quite impressed. 
 
Also got a bottle of the 3 Boys Oyster Stout (limited edition or something). Also was quite a nice drop. Very good flavour, but not overwhelming or heavy like some dark beers can be. Worth a look if you come across it.

Allstar

Baltika #9 (akv Baltika N9 Extra) is also very nice. Very flavoursome, and quite strong. 1x 500ml bottle @ 8% has the desired effect without going out too hard as well <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Crucial

WhoooHoooo! 
 
Epic Armageddon IPA Aged in Oak Barrels! 
 
At $12 a bottle it ain't cheap but man what a taste! Extra Hoppy (as Armageddon always is) but very smooth as well with complex flavours.

Allstar

anyone know if there's any Thornbridge still around? 
 
I'm in the States for a bit. Busy trying all the proper American beers (i.e not Bud, Miller etc). There's some nice micro breweries about that make nice beers. 
 
If anyone is in Toronto, check out the Steam Whistle Brewery, nice beers and a good tour. It's in downtown by the CN Tower and Rogers Center

taniwharugby

Matsons Pilsner, from Canterbury (also has a lager, a dark ale and a draught I think) 
 
a nice crisp clean taste to it, as you expect from these micro-brewery types, on special 6 bottles for $10.95 at New World.

Tim

Sierra Nevada is doing an NZ hops special: 
 
[url]http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/harvest_southern.html[/url]

Allstar

interesting Tim. Sierra Nevada wasn't too bad. Wasn't exactly wow, but certainly was a decent drop.

Crucial

Beervana in two weeks.. 
 
[URL]http://brewersguild.org.nz/beervana2010[/URL]

Allstar

good point, any Ferners going?

Crucial

I'll probably slip over on the Friday arvo as I am working across the road

Crucial

Reminder to those in Welly that Beervana is starting today. At the moment it looks like i can slink on over at 12 to sample a few.

Allstar

good stuff. I'm going tomorrow afternoon, should be good.

Crucial

Just back from first sesh. 
 
Had to have break or I was going to get hammered. 
 
Recommendations to try - Three Boys Pineapple lumps (Festival Brew) - Chocolately Pineappley (obviously) yumminess 
- Dogfish Punkin - Like US Pumpkin Pie - Cinnamon and sweetness 
- Dogfish - Tamirillo something - didn't work for me 
- Emersons Festive Brew (Billy T Wit) Wheat Beer with Kumara. Pikopiko and Kawakawa - yum. 
- Twisted Hop IPA - I'm a hophead and this was up there with anything EPIC do (well maybe not quite Armageddon but bloody good anyway) 
- Sierra Nevada Sothern hemisphere Harvest (at the Regional Wines and Spirits stand) - At first taste I thought this would be an awesome beer to come back to from fishing on a hot summers day. 
- Mata - can't remeber what is was called but it is their festive brew and was at the Brewers Guild stand and tasted like a Hangi. Had Kumara and smokiness in the Brew 
 
Sadly I struck one that i just tipped out. Peak Brewery (which I see around in Supermarkets) IPA. It was like something I would have made in a plastic tub from a cheap kit. It had hardly any hoppiness and was insipid. DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON. 
 
Anyway this sesh runs until 4pm so I might sneak back for a couple more.

Crucial

OK . I've been back for more...

Wired Hangi- this is one to savour. It took me a long time to drink the 100ml but there was no wy I was going to throw it out. Smokey and rich.
Sprig and Fern - happened to be paasing by, nothing overly interesting but I noticed they had a Gold for one of their brews. It was the Honey Ale and I walked out with a rigger of the stuff for tonight. Top Marks.
Mussel Inn- Feijoa Gueze - Not a drinking beer, but a fantastic food match. I guess that if you are at Mussel Boys and order Mussels this is the ideal match. 
*3 Boys Queen Elizabeth 2010 - I asked how they would describe this and they muttered something about a Scotch Ale and Porter combo- I could drink a large bottle of this witha meaty stew.
I also picked up on really good mentions for the Tautara APA. Thi will be in bottles in the shops soon for the hopheads

Allstar

went along yesterday, wish i'd read your post before I went along, but missed it for some reason. 
 
Had a great time. As they say, so many beers, so little time. I went to the beer and food matching session with Martin Bosley. While i'm unlikely to cook any of what they had, it was interesting to see how different beers can be had with all sorts of different food. 
 
Most of the brewers were willing to have a yarn about all sorts of stuff. The Bennett's guy was very much a salesman. Luke (aka Mr Epic) was also good value. 
 
The Epic Barrell aged IPA was one that I really enjoyed. Also the Emerson's Festive Brew as a nice drop. Mikes had a Whiskey Porter, which was something like 10%, also a very nice drop. 
 
It was well worth the visit IMO

taniwharugby

Had Spruce Beer on Saturday (along with Mata Artesan which I've had before) which despite being a fairly dark beer (likely due to the rimu and manuka-spiced kegs) is not as strong as I expected, still not too bad, has a rather interesting finish, that is down to the manuka and rimu, wasnt cheap either ($12.50 oer 500ml in a restaurant) 
 
Is a good change to go to a restaurant that sells such a good range of beer (Pizza Barn @ Waipu) that is not just your usual lot, as they are not affiliated to either brewers, so they have Mata, Kronenberg, Monteith (plus a couple of others) on tap, plus a decent range of other bottled beers (not to mention the good range of single malts) all to go with thier good food! 
 
[IMG]http://www.beerstore.co.nz/products/1000/1314_lg.jpg[/IMG]

Crucial

[quote name='taniwharugby']Had Spruce Beer on Saturday (along with Mata Artesan which I've had before) which despite being a fairly dark beer (likely due to the rimu and manuka-spiced kegs) is not as strong as I expected, still not too bad, has a rather interesting finish, that is down to the manuka and rimu, wasnt cheap either ($12.50 oer 500ml in a restaurant) 
 
Is a good change to go to a restaurant that sells such a good range of beer (Pizza Barn @ Waipu) that is not just your usual lot, as they are not affiliated to either brewers, so they have Mata, Kronenberg, Monteith (plus a couple of others) on tap, plus a decent range of other bottled beers (not to mention the good range of single malts) all to go with thier good food! 
 
[IMG]http://www.beerstore.co.nz/products/1000/1314_lg.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] 
 
I will have to give them some competition over the hill this summer. My mate at Mangawhai has built a pizza oven in the area on their property that we camp on. It gets fired up most days for pizzas, fish, bread, roasts etc. I will have to keep the beer selection going.

Allstar

had a bottle of the Ranfurly Frontier Lager tonight. Can't say I thought to much of it to be honest. Same pish in a different bottle. Tasted just like all the other bland $12/doz NZ 'lagers'. So still no movement on the Rankfurly brand in my opinion.

The Silver Fern

Beer thread