What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[Mike Neilson]

Mata Artisian at a $1 its like im back at college!! Not bad has aged well!! 120 to go!! How long you reacon that could take?

[Bambule]

Drinks: Bambule Bruin, Bambule APA

Tastes: Fried sunflower seeds with salt and chilli, damn there moorish

Sounds: Bob Marley (the 15month year old seems to love Buffalo soldier again and again etc.) and Grizzly Bears' vekatimest

[denimglen]

Cooper's Sparkling Ale

Extremely underwhelming.

I don't know the buzz with this Aussie Pale Ale thing, especially when they say this is the pinnacle of style.

Definitely easy drinking, crisp and dry, not too offensive, but reminds me of my first taste of beer at 14 or so thinking 'why do people drink this shit?', I think that beer was Steinlager Light. I think it's that almost flavourless malt profile, dry finish and weird grassy/hoppy/fruity thing, although that was 7 years ago.

[JackoNZ]

Harringtons Rogue Hop, I'm just loving this Harringtons range of beers. I was expecting something quite hoppy but not really picking that up, it's there but more subtle than expected. What I am getting is the delicious taste of this though, is there some crystal in here? I doubt my bo pils is gonna be similar with just 100% pils malt. Certainly getting some caramel flavours, lovely mouth feel. To me the taste is actually very similar to the Razorback premium bitter which is surprising. Both very easy drinking and quaffable.

There's a dobblebock and wobbly boot in the fridge, best mix in some homebrew so as not to clean them all out tonight!

Great work guys.

[Bambule]

Denim, I think you'll need to be drinking this on a beach in Adelaide watching the sun sink into the water at about 38deg to fully appreciate its value to humankind. The fresher it is it tends to have a lot of banana esters which can add to its allure, it does not keep that well.
Its one of my favourite beers but there's a touch of nostalgia in that. I just appreciate its uniqueness and it shear drinkability and sessionability even for a 5.8% beer. Oh, and its ability to stay independantly owned, shrugging of an offer a few years back from Lion Nathan to buy it. Bastards! Its not a monument to craft brewing by any stretch of the imagination however.

[Mike Neilson]

This is what Joking had to say about Australias finest ale,

Appearance: Pours a golden hue of orange with a slight note of mud in there - upon closer inspection, there was some peanut butter yeast as well as stunning precipitations of protein that clung to the readily disipating head of this wonderous brew. Aroma: Reminisent of the boot of my old Datsun - hints of old Carpet with the metallic tang of Rust. The Malt had aged spectacularily into the smoothest perceivable sweetness that coopers has been famous for. A floral hint of Black Wattle rounded out the nose of this drink. Taste: As with the aroma - rusty Datsun Boot was dominant along with a subtle hint of Marmite (not to be confused with Vegemite of course) with a dry sour finish.

Its the best evaluation of a beer I have ever read!!

[Stu McKinlay]

Damn, I prefer vegemite.

[Ally Mcg]

Twisted Hop IPA (mk2 i guess)

Now, back in Summer it would say !!!!! than (mark 2 i guess) so maybe I'm a little disappointed. Expectation is a killer sometimes. The beer pours with quite a frothy head, like something isn't quite right. Aroma is subdued, tho there's the usual suspects of citrus and passionfruit. It's let down in the body, the malt doesn't back up the bitterness and the finish is a little thin. Its dropped from 6.4% (i dimly recall) to 5.2% and i think its suffered for that. Still pleasant right enough, just not a patch on the beer i was drinking 6 or 7 months ago

[David Wood]

Had a great night at the twisted hop last night. The IPA is on now, and tasting awesome! I thought it was really nice, very hoppy, almost like an APA as malt was quite toned down. Twisted Ankle was awesome too, so odd.

[Steph]

Well, I have had another huge week of beer. Think my liver deserves a break but there is so much awesome stuff on offer in Wellington at the moment. People should be getting themselves into Bar Ed for some Twisted Hop. So glad Martin sent them some as, by all reports, it is tasting fine. The have the Emerson's London Porter on tap too which may be why I have a headache this morning.

Thursday saw a tasting of the Thornbridge Epic Halcyon, Armegeddon and Hallertau Maximus Humulus Lupulus. The Halcyon was smack you in the face hops...Without the carbonation, they seemed even bigger than the other Epic beers. I am not a fan of cask ales (strike me down), so while it was definitely worth it to taste, I wouldn't say it was my favourite...particularly because of the after-taste which was a bit green for my liking. It is just so impressive that it made it all the way here to NZ. And, I love the fact that Luke has launched a few kegs of IPA on the inter-islander for Beervana. Awesome.

The Armegeddon showed that it would be an awesome drop once again. It had "just" been bottled, so had a little development to go. The Hallertau was already tasting fine. I only had a half (such restraint) because it was a school night and I remember what a bad hangover I got from the IPAs last year. Thank goodness the launch is on a Friday.

Last night before the Emerson's tasting I had my last Moa - St Joseph - With a bit of age. I had forgotten how hugely alcoholic it was at 9.5%. The alcohol initially dominated both nose and taste it was so strong. It poured with the usual, fabulous, Moa head and gave some beautiful lacing. Nice and pale golden, cloudy (but not chunky with a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottle)! Some strong bitter orange and spice. Definitely one of my favs with their Original.

And, the Emerson's tasting. Big ups to Richard, Regionals and James at Bar Ed. In particular, to James for letting Jonny and I join in and Kieran for not being too grumpy about it (as we were supposed to be banned). It is our local after all...

The Old Cascade was the only beer I hadn't had before and for that reason a highlight, along with Richard's jokes. He is hilarious. It was a good reminder of how tasty the Old 95 is as well. The match of the Weissbeer and paki-paki goat's cheese was my favourite.

I have the Founder's stout and some Captain Cooker in the fridge, along with a 3 Monts (drunk an delicious bottle on Friday night) and some Garvoche too look forward to. Phew.

[Barry]

Courtesy of an Alaskan relative visiting at the moment, Sierra Nevada Torpedo double IPA. Gorgeously bitter IPA, lost a little of it's hop flavour and aroma but it's still yum. That and several ounces of US Cascade and some Simcoe and I'm a happy chappy indeed tonight.

[Steph]

That is awesome. Jealous.