Monthly Archives: October 2010

Actual Diary entries

Thornbridge ‘Halcyon’ IPA

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Thornbridge 'Halcyon' IPA
Thornbridge 'Halcyon' IPA

An interesting contrast against their ‘Jaipur’ IPA (and a worthy thing in itself), ‘Halcyon’ is a fresh-hopped IPA of higher strength but lighter body than usual.

Its Best Before date had been set quite conservatively, to encourage people to drink up and enjoy it while that madly-fresh hoppy aroma was still good to go. With ‘proper beer’, it has to be said that Best Before dates become a bit of a joke — well-made beers, especially bottle conditioned ones don’t really go bad in the way that the relevant regulations seem to expect. Hop notes will fade over time, though, so these brews really are best enjoyed sooner rather than later. Save your Delayed Gratification energies for the malty ones.

Thornbridge 'Halcyon' IPA
Diary II entry #22, Thornbridge 'Halcyon' Green-hopped IPA '09

Verbatim: Thornbridge ‘Halcyon’ Green-Hopped IPA ’09 5/10/10 7.7% 500ml ÷ 2 w/ Amanda, who was shouted it at work. We’re flogging them like crazy since their official Best Before is fast approaching, but we all know what nonsense those things are. Lovely hazy pale golden straw with peachy highlights. So fruity and lush, even this far away from its Harvest season.

Actual Diary entries

Three Boys Golden Ale (on handpull)

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Three Boys Golden Ale, handpulled
Diary II entry #21, Three Boys Golden Ale, handpulled

Three Boys Golden is an absolute favourite of mine. So after the heartbreak that was the Hopinated version of  Twisted Hop’s ‘Sauvin’ Pils — another beer whose deliciousness is closely-tied to its simplicity — I was a little nervous to try this. Especially after Martin had some and found it a little sweaty.

But this modification wasn’t as extreme as biffing in a whole buttload of some superfluous flavour, this was a difference in delivery method — upping the temperature a tad, and losing almost all of the bubbles. The effect wasn’t as jarring, and I thought it moved the beer into the sort of very-pale English-style bitter territory occupied by Galbraith’s charming ‘Bob Hudson’s’.

Verbatim: Three Boys Golden Ale – Handpulled 5/10/10 on tap @ MH Another slightly-varied old favourite, so after Hopinated Sauvin Pils, I was pretty nervous. But I like this more. I think it winds up like a golden Bitter, like Bob Hudsons from Galbraith’s, maybe.

Actual Diary entries

Mountain Goat ‘Hightail’ Ale

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Mountain Goat 'Hightail' Ale
Mountain Goat 'Hightail' Ale

The New World supermarkets in Wellington are surprisingly-good places to find some seriously out-of-the-way beers. Amanda, one of our bartenders at work, was at their Thorndon store, found this, and generously split it with me. I was pretty damn chuffed; my particular fondness for good Australian beer is pretty well-known at work, and we had this one in particular as a random guest after the beer festival last year. It’s just uncomplicatedly delightful; rich and malty and balanced and plain yum.

As I promised myself in my notes, I did indeed bike there the next day, and came home with a backpack heavy with goodies:

Given the preponderance of heavy-hitters in there, it was pushing fifty bucks for the set. When I was putting them into a ‘Philbert’s Stash’ box in the fridge, Peter and I couldn’t help but notice that all of those breweries were named after animals — and that there was a distinctly canine trend among them. I guess there’s something totemistic about animal names, and they do make for easy logos.

Mountain Goat 'Hightail' Ale
Diary II entry #20, Mountain Goat 'Hightail' Ale

Verbatim: Mountain Goat ‘Hightail’ Ale 1/10/10 $? @ NW Thorndon, found by Amanda, who generously split it. 4.5% 330ml. I’m heading there on me bike tomorrow. MFing MG, man! Just as I remember it. Rich and malty and yum.

1: Tragically, I never got to enjoy this one. It was smashed in a unfortunate cascade of bottles in the chiller at work, one night. Godsdamn gravity.