"The beer scene really is a far cry from where it was just a few years ago"
Amen!! I remember coming on here and we were all searching for beers such as the ones above, and now every day im going green with envy over the posts of what everyone is drinking!! Awesome stuff NZ beer scene :o)
Permalink Reply by MrC on February 16, 2010 at 7:51pm
Did a side-by-side with my Boysenberry Wheat Beer and a bottle of Invercargill Boysenbeery on Sunday night. Pretty similar overall apart from the obvious Belgian character in the Invercargill. I'd been thinking that mine was too fruity but the fruitinesses were pretty much a match. I'm pretty happy with it.
I'm finding that all the males think it's too fruity and all of the females think it's spot on.
Went to see my old man tonight and when I opened his fridge saw a fresh 4pack of Epic pale ale staring back at me!!! I must be finally converting him to proper beer :o) The beer was tasting great as allways!
Tapped my keg of American Cream Rye Ale last night - Basically my cream ale recipe with the 20% maize subbed for Rye, and no dry hop...
My first thoughts - I wish I dry hopped it, but its a good showcase for what Rye can be like, as there is absolutely nothing for the Rye to hide behind, apart from an ever so subtle american hop flavour, I 'think' I can pick up a little bit of the hop aroma also, but to be honest its completely dominated by the rye, spicy, earthy, a little bit dirty...
Its also crazy comparing the mouthfeel of this beer and my cream ales, this is slick and oily as opposed to dry and creamy - very interesting!
I think this will mellow a bit in the coming weeks and be quite the quaffer, I just hope that 'dirtyness' conditions out...
Permalink Reply by MrC on February 17, 2010 at 7:38pm
Got told today that there's Epic Lager in green bottles lined for Friday and they're well past their Best Before date (03-09). I believe they have been stored at room temp for quite some time. Should I avoid them or do you reckon they'll be OK?
only the very first batch of Epic lager was in green bottles. Lukes comment on them - when we did a vertical of every batch at one WBC at Hallertau - was that they "were skunked before they reached the labeller".
Won't kill you though :)
In the last few days: New Zealand Naturally Brewing Company Deliverance Dortmunder (best craft lager in NZ by a country mile and the best beer in the world on the Tastiness/HowEasyIsTheBreweryNameToRememberWhenDrunk formula) Galbraith's Resurrection (lovely... dry hopped cask version, I'm guessing - courtesy of Colin at The Malthouse) Emerson's JP2009 (a good example of why, no matter how good everyone else is, Richard is the best)
*a break in drinking to have the life smoked out of my testicles - smell of burning and look of horror on girlfriends face is not the best way to spend your morning but we get over these things* Epic Lager (not the freshest but so so solid) Eastie Boy's Amber/Brown Something or Other (meh... a great reminder of how much work I need to do on my brewery if I want to not waste my time in summer) Mikkeller Fra Til (very similar to JP2009... but a fair bit subtler/subdued... probably the best Mikkeller I've tried)