Moa ‘Five Hop Winter Ale’

February 28, 2011 Phil 8 Comments

I’ve railed about it before, but Moa’s appalling brandwank annoys me sufficiently that it still buzzes in my brain as I enjoy something like this, one of their actually-rather-lovely offerings.

Praise first, praise first; stifle the rant for a moment. ‘5 Hop’ is a delicious E.S.B., richly flavoured and deftly balanced. It’s warming without being so stodgy you’d only want it on a cold evening, and nicely pitched at 6.2% — strong enough to warrant taking your time with.

So, wait, why the hell is it called “Five Hop Winter Ale”? That name manages to evoke two different things that this beer isn’t — it’s neither hop-focused, nor particularly wintery. It’s an E.S.B.. That’s a thing. You can call it that. You do call it that, in an afterthought buried at the end of the label or in the tasting notes on the website. Were you just trying to stick the word “hop” on something, since you launched this at the height of the “more hops = more good” fad?

While I’m at it, this sort of crap is an ongoing problem with the Moa Brewery, and it will be very interesting to see what does and does not survive the currently-underway ‘retooling’ of the branding. Given the prominent appearance of the nonsense phrase “super premium”¹ on the new tap badge, I’m not massively hopeful things will get much better — though I’m fascinated to find out which bits will get worse.

Setting aside for the moment such annoyances as their daft implication that they’re the only brewery in the country (in existence, perhaps?) to bottle-condition their beers,² let’s focus for a moment on just one part of their labels: the arch of text over the logo. Moa ‘Original’ premiered with a banner of “Premium Lager of New Zealand”, with ‘Noir’ then heralded as “Premium Dark Lager of New Zealand” and ‘Blanc’ cleverly cast as “Premium Wheat Beer of New Zealand”, subtly brushing aside the apparent reality that their wheat beer is also a lager, rather than the ale you’d almost certainly otherwise expect. Things then go all a bit whack. ‘Harvest’ (a lager with cherry flavouring) gets “Premium Alcoholic Harvest Beer”, which seems to imply three falsehoods — i.e., that the previous three aren’t alcoholic, that this isn’t made in New Zealand, and that “Harvest Beer” means anything at all.³ Then, ‘Five Hop’ and ‘St. Joseph’ get lumped together and mysteriously relegated to the less-descriptive category of “Premium Alcoholic Beer”, before things utterly collapse into a singularity of oddness when their ‘Weka’ lager is billed merely as a “Premium Alcoholic Beverage” — what, is it not actually a goddamn “beer” at all, any more? Just how worried should I be that they so studiously avoid that word, all of a sudden?

This kind of barely-coherent buzzword salad drives me nuts. And makes me sad when I think that it actually probably works often / well enough that some people can convince themselves that it’s worth it. To me, this is brandwank, and I detest it — particularly when it’s so clumsy and contradictory as this. Dear whomever: If you’re going to be an Evil Advertising Bastard, could you at least be a better writer, please?

Verbatim: Moa ‘5 Hop’ 28/2/11 @ Malthouse, w/ Mike the rep.. I’ve always thought this was just oddly-named. Why emphasise the hops, unless you’re going all-out pale ale? It’s a very nice ESBish kinda thing, really. Rich + malty, nicely fruity hops. They’re in the middle of a brand redo, and a push into Australia. Must try and see if the journalist hat fits me…

1: Seriously, can marketing people stop pretending that “premium” really means anything, here? The only way for it to ring true at all is to take it at its literal meaning of “more costly”. So maybe this really is an “exceptionally rare” (to hijack Moa’s current slogan) example of honesty in advertising.
2: The phrase “New Zealand’s native Moa is the only beer to be fermented in the bottle, like French champagne” appears on their current homepage. A longer blurb on the section labelled “Discovery” also implies the same, describing the brewing process and ending with “The result is a beer unlike any other — clear, exquisite and bottle-fermented” — the first adjective is outright false, the second subjective and the third hardly unique.
3: Well, it almost means something. If you said those words to any normal / sane kind of Beer Nerd, they’d think you were talking about a pale ale made with as-fresh-as-possible hops, a “wet-hop” beer like Thornbridge ‘Halcyon’ perhaps — just to pick the first one I found in my Diary.

Actual Diary entries

Rogue Mocha Porter

February 26, 2011 Phil 2 Comments

This is possibly the best instance of a Beer for the Occasion yet recorded in the Diary. After my visit to Hashigo, I wandered back to the Malthouse just before closing to have a beer with Stefan — he’d been our doorman for just over a year, but this was his last night as he was leaving to take over running a bar out in the Hutt. With the help of one of our regulars, I picked this beer from my stash, since it was a Mocha Porter for our Mocha Doorman. But then it lately dawned on me the pun works three times over:

rogue noun 2. a mischievous scamp
mocha adj. of a brown colour, like mocha coffee
porter noun 2(1). a person in control of the entrance to a building (wiktionary.org)

So, a Rogue Mocha Porter for our departing rogue mocha porter. How freaking perfect. Then I just went and piled on the puns — I am really quite seriously unable to help myself, on that score — and noted down the beer itself as smooth but with a bit of a bitter sting, again just like Stefan. Heh.

But that really does bring me nicely to the subject of doormen. We must be one of the more difficult doors to work, in this town; we’re a very civilised little bar, really, but we’re right on the big crazy noisy yahoo-laden party strip. So while we’re a fairly calm sort of a place, we do get our share of Collateral Muppets. Our doormen are our filters, and the best of them (by which I mean Stefan, and Rod, who worked our door for years — before it was in its present location, even) have this freakish, Jedi-like ability to wave away People Who Aren’t Really Our People without being a dick about it or resorting to silly pretend rules about the quality of a person’s shoes or whatnot. All the way, they keep everyone smiling — usually even those rare people who actually need to be eventually escorted from the premises. But damn, if things cross a line, the transformation from Amicable and Welcoming all the way to Serious and Scary is instant and awesome. It’s uncommon enough that a person would possess both temperaments, and exceedingly rare that they’d then also have the skill to flip from one to the other seamlessly and exactly when needed.

Big smiley Jedi like Stefan (and Rod) fit our little bar just perfectly, and in combination with our small staff and its higher-than-usual (for the industry, and for this street in particular) level of Giving a Damn, we’ve had some freakin’ excellent nights when all the smart money would be on carnage and chaos and constant annoyance for all concerned. He’ll be missed, but — much like the earlier one with Scott — it wasn’t a bleak, depressing Farewell, since the new gig does seem like such a good fit. Next time I’m out in the wilds of the Hutt Valley — I’m not just reflexively knocking the place, per Wellingtonian tradition; I used to live there — I’ll have to take the family and go visit.

Verbatim: Rogue Mocha Porter 26/2/11 12 floz 5.1% ÷ 2 w/ Stefan, on his last night @ MH. Mocha Porter for our Mocha Doorman. It’s big + smooth + chocolatey, like Stefan. And a little bit bitter at the end, like Stefan. Heh. And I have to give credit to Annika for the joke / beer pick. There were a few candidates, but this is freakin’ perfect.

Actual Diary entries

Coronado ‘Islander’ IPA

February 26, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

Not long after I showed up, Dave signed off and joined me, perched at the bar. He’d been bought a big bottle of this during the fundraiser night, and he split it with me. Which was extra-good, since it’s not often that two bartenders / Beer Nerds get to actually sit and have a beer, given that one or other (or both, obviously) of us is usually working.

They’d had this on tap at Hashigo as part of their recent haul of Western United States goodies, and Dave was instantly taken aback by how much milder it was out of the bottle. It was probably down to the bottle stock being older than the kegs they got — hoppy beers do calm down considerably over time, in the main. There may have been a bit of batch-to-batch variance going on here, too — that being another one of the joys of smallish breweries. Consistency is not an absolute virtue and uniformity is for supermarket stock; anyone demanding it of craft beer is a chump.

Mild-er as it may have been (I didn’t try the on-tap stuff), it was hardly mild per se, and we were agreed that it was pretty damn delightful and incredibly drinkable for a seven-percenter. The malt was nicely rich and smooth, and would’ve easily balanced out considerably higher hoppiness but was inherently delicious even in its absence. After my similar experience of Just Bloody Delightful-ness with their ‘Autumn Harvest Ale’, I’ll have to keep my eye out for these guys; I think there are still a few more in the haul.

And I can’t help but notice that this makes a hat-trick of Diary entries from Hashigo’s little basement beer bunker. Not a bad run at all.

Verbatim: Coronado ‘Islander’ IPA 26/2/11 1pt 6floz 7% bottle bought for Dave Wood, generously split with me. Nice bronze-gold, apparently a whole lot milder than what they had on tap. Probably a batch difference. Really lovely + drinkable, not a big wallop, surprisingly. Rich + smooth malt. Doesn’t taste more than 5% like this.

Actual Diary entries

Liberty Brewing ‘West Coast Blonde: Amarillo’

February 26, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

On February 26th,¹ Hashigo Zake hosted an amazing fundraising night, donating all of their takings between 6pm and midnight to raise money for a local mental health charity and the Red Cross effort in Christchurch. My plan was to stop by late shortly before midnight, after spending my Saturday night hanging out with some friends. But when Pieta realised she’d been locked out of her apartment and that her key was with her flatmate on the other side of town, it was me and my bike to the rescue. Which was all very fun and random, but it did put me in the mood / give me the need for something light and refreshing once I arrived at the pub.

And damn, was this it. Joseph Wood of Liberty Brewing had donated kegs of his West Coast Blonde, and it was precisely what I needed. The Amarillo-hopped version was on tap at the time (it exists in two differently-hopped varieties, and a a few kegs of both were delivered), and it reminded me a lot of Stone & Wood’s ‘Draught Ale’ (now renamed ‘Pacific Ale’) — and I mean that as a compliment because I freakin’ love that stuff² — what with the multi-faceted fruit-salady-ness, the gorgeous hazy strawish appearance, and the ability to make a person feel human again. For Liberty’s first official release, it’s pretty damn promising (and apparently also rather lovely in its Simcoe-hopped incarnation). But we already knew it would be, especially after his stupidly-awesome ‘Summ!t’ IIPA, which was an unofficial third entrant in Malthouse’s West Coast IPA Challenge last year — and which very much stole the show.³

Verbatim: Liberty ‘West Coast Blonde: Amarillo’ 26/2/11 donated to HZ for their Christchurch Quake / Mental Health fundraiser, which was apparently a huge hit, raising $5K+. Full Marks. I’ve just been biking around a bit tonight, so needed something light + refreshing. This is very much it. Lovely pale + hazy straw. Fruit[] salady, with edges of smokeyness. 5.5% (I still can’t draw fives.) Crisp + dry finish, compared to a nice NZ Pils by some. Really rather reminiscent of Stone & Wood Draught — though I should say “Pacific” now. Stunning burps.

1: i.e., “today”, if you’re playing along with the fiction wherein I update these things as I go, rather than in fits of productivity days or weeks or months (or years!) after the fact. And please, do play along.
2: We had it at the Malthouse after each of the two most-recent Beervana beer festivals. Which puts it in that awkward Grey Area of Not Uploaded Yet Diary Entries. Sorry about that, but take my word for it; its appearances are met with fairly glowing reviews.
3: I’d direct you to its entry, but, er, Grey Area (see above, n2) again. Sorry.

Actual Diary entries

Coronado ‘Autumn Harvest Ale’

February 24, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

I’d been out for a nice catch-up in the sunshine with some friends who’d just returned from the far side of the world — and being me, I therefore needed some time in the shade. Hashigo’s basement beer-haven was the pretty-obvious refuge for me between the waterfront and work.

Since their tap range changes so dizzyingly-often, a little Taster Tour is mandatory, and never a chore. I had a sample of this, first, and can’t even remember exactly what the bigger / crazier things offered to me afterwards were; there was just something irresistible about it. I’d never heard of it, and the best that some surrounding Beer Nerds could do by way of description was to tell me it was basically a Märzen — and I’ll confess to not really having much idea just what the hell that entailed (though, from what I’ve read since, it seems a pretty good fit). I often say that there’s often a particular joy to be had in trying a beer about which you know basically nothing, and this was one of those times.

I was a wonderfully enjoyable pint, filled with all sorts of interesting angles, but never overdoing things in any direction. The colour of it was particularly striking (with or without sneaky back-lighting tricks), and maybe its redness was part of what helped put me in mind of deliciously snappy apples when trying to pin down the crispness of the body. An incredibly charming beer, I can imagine it comfortably fitting any number of moods. Which makes it a shame that I’ll have to travel pretty far to get another. Unless Hashigo have another keg stashed away somewhere.

Verbatim: Coronado ‘Autumn Harvest Ale’ 24/2/11 on tap @ HZ 5% Had a few wheat beers in the sun w/ Aran & Maeve, stopped by here and was bombarded with tasters. This was first, and I’ve returned to it for its oddness + goodness. Pale + ambery, about which I know nothing. Which is always nice. Fruity + full + balanced + different. Not a hop bomb. Lovely. Crisp, like red apples. Just a really nice pint.

Coronado glass — Coronado's multiply-beerable glass

Actual Diary entries

BrewDog ‘5am Saint’

February 23, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

BrewDog aren’t all about the stunt beer and over-the-top prankish gimmickry. They aren’t even all about brewing at the stronger end of the spectrum. They do happen to do both of those things particularly well, but they don’t neglect the more-everday stuff, either. I really liked ‘The Physics’, an amber ale I discovered a few years ago (and which the Malthouse imported a few cases of in our metric-tonne-haul), so when I stumbled upon a bottle of this, I snapped it up.

They’re pretty freewheeling about their range, but it looks like ‘5am Saint’ has basically taken the place of The Physics as their amber ale and so inherited its livery. The label notation has changed from “laid back” to “iconoclastic”, and that about sums it up; the fruity flavours have gone from smooth and delicious to smooth, delicious and weird — the tartness takes a leap upwards, turning the subtle curranty flavour in The Physics into berryish, plummy snap. It’s a nice little sipper — the weirdness isn’t overdone, I mean — and as it warmed up I found that the bigger maltier, bordering-on-chocolatey tones started to stand out among the amicable little gathering of flavours.

And then, when I was filing my photos ready for upload, I noticed the the photo I took of this was spookishly-reminiscent of my most-recent other BrewDog, the ‘Rip Tide’ Imperial Stout. Unintentional, but kinda neat.

Verbatim: BrewDog ‘5am Saint’ 23/2/11 from NWT, at MH after some Beer Menu v3 work. I did really like ‘The Physics’, so thought I’d try this. Replacement or companion? Not sure. Definitely weirder fruity flavours in there. Berryish, but bigger + rounder + almost plummy. Tartness in the face, rather than sweet. 5% 330ml Smoother chocolatey side emerges as it warms.

Actual Diary entries

Beer 121: New Zealand Beer for Americans

February 22, 2011 Phil 2 Comments

I do like a chance to get my Nerd on, have a ramble over some beers and do a bit of evangelising. Work normally provides me with plenty, but I’m always up for ‘extracurricular’ ones, too.

Here, the brief was to lead some visiting Californians on a little tour through the local scene. For the occasion of her wedding party, Jessie — who described herself as growing up “within crawling distance” of the Sierra Nevada brewery — was playing host to her parents (her father is himself a proper Beer Nerd and writes for Northwest Brewing News), her sister and a friend-from-way-back. And since Jessie, her husband Simon, and George and Robyn (who were joining in and providing the venue) had all been in on a previous ‘Beer 101’ tasting session, I figured I’d bam the class code up a few notches and call this ‘Beer 121’, in honour of the Constitutional Amendment that undid that whole Prohibition nonsense.¹

The lineup was:

Tui — I got so many weird looks when I told people I’d be opening with this — and when I, great big Beer Nerd that I am, was seen buying a six pack. I honestly think it’s mandatory, though, on several grounds: 1) Its history and connection to our own local flirtation with Prohibition, the ultra-daft Six O’clock Closing Era. This is flavourless and limp, but it is so for a reason. 2) It is arguably the definitive modern example of the ‘New Zealand Draught’ style born of that time; it certainly regularly wins awards as such. And so far, that’s the only style that this little country is usually regarded as birthing. 3) Its enduring popularity — it’s one thing to have an enjoyable tour around a country’s best microbrews, but to completely ignore the crap which still sells by the millions all around it would just be weird. Tui is our Bud Light, and you should at least know what you’re avoiding — and why.
Emerson’s Pilsner — Swiftly to something tasty, then. I made the argument that ‘New Zealand Pilsner’ could plausibly be our next “indigenous style”, perhaps somewhat saving us the national embarrassment of the above. And at least one spot had to go to an Emerson’s beer, in recognition of their longevity in the local good beer game. Its crisp, snappy fruitiness was an instant hit, and we’re still struggling to come up with a suggestion for a Something Vaguely Similar that the Californians can seek out now that they’re home again. (Help welcome.)
Tuatara APA — Next, an example of a local run at an American style; perhaps the American style, and certainly one which sprung up from the area where our visitors live. I picked this one over the other usual candidate (Epic Pale Ale), since this has some more-local points in its favour (being a Wellington beer) and because I think it’s just currently more interesting than its obvious inspiration. For the record, the Californians were in agreement that this was pretty spot-on APA; those that liked such things like this — and those who don’t usually like the pale ales back home didn’t go for this, either.
8 Wired ‘Hopwired’ IPA — This, then, is a beer clearly inspired by big hoppy American pale ales, but it ups the ‘local flavour’ by using only New-Zealand-developed hop varieties, providing a great excuse to show them off. Also much more multi-faceted than the Tuatara above, it definitely began to win over the doubters that one struck.
Yeastie Boys ‘Pot Kettle Black: US remix’ — Talk of ‘rockstar’ brewers and of contract brewing made for a nice segue between the Hopwired and this really rather serendipitous beer. I was planning on using standard-edition ‘PKB’ anyway, for its inherent loveliness and interestingness and for the connection with the ‘Black IPA’ trend that seems to be bubbling up here and in the States — but to have a ‘US remix’ available? Bloody marvellous timing. It was also the only beer of the night that I was also tasting for the first time. And suffice to say I really should see if I can grab a bottle and give it its own Diary entry.
Epic / Dogfish Head ‘Portamarillo’ — And then to finish, what more could you ask for than a New Zealand / U.S. collaboration? Especially when the beer in question is so deliriously idiosyncratic and uniquely ‘local’, with its flavours of tamarillo smoked over native Pohutakawa, our ‘national Christmas tree’. Sacrilicious.

Brilliantly, Jessie even made sure that there was Apple Pie for afters; what else could we have had? Its blistering awesomeness and the fun we were having matching it with the remains of the PKB and the Portamarillo (and then experimenting with little Ice Cream Floats with each — which were excellent) explains why I entirely failed to make an actual paper Diary entry to memorialise the evening.

Beer 121, tasting glass forest — Beer 121, a shiny forest of tasting glasses

Beer 121, obligatory apple pie — Beer 121, obligatory (and fantastic) apple pie

1: Fittingly, there’s also a rather-charming craft brewery named after that clever and worthy (if slow) legislative rethink. I’ve had their ‘Brew Free or Die Hard’ IPA, but its Diary entry is still stuck in the infamous Not Uploaded Yet limbo.

Actual Diary entries

Duvel ‘Tripel Hop’

February 16, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

Despite my usually-militant middle-class-ness, sometimes you just have to cross the tracks and try something out-and-out posh. Of course, it helps when you can also wrangle two friends into thirdsing the cost with you.

I have some great memories of standard-edition Duvel; it’s probably my most-embarrassing early Diary entry (I noted it down as a lager, for fuck’s sake; the shame, the horror), and it was there again in the early days of the photography-habit, on a bloody marvellous night out. So along comes a variant edition of a beer I already like, with a punny name. Honestly, how the hell was I supposed to resist? I didn’t even try.

And it was lovely, it was. Deliciously fragrant — with tempting wafts of things like vanilla, plum and jasmine — it was one of those beers where actually taking your first sip involved some determination, because just sitting back and enjoying the nose was so good. Thankfully, once you did dip in, the flavour didn’t remotely disappoint. It had all those flavours, given zip and zest by the lively effervescence.

I really should dig out the scan and photo for the Estrella ‘Inedit’ I mention in the Diary entry itself. That was another attempt at a poshified beer complete with a little booklet of notes and history, and was supposedly brewed in collaboration with the chefs at el Bulli, reputedly some superswank 3-Michelin-star restaurant — again, militantly middle-class; I’d never heard of it. But it was pants, it was completely and utterly worthless nonsense. Full of marketing and brandwank, but totally lacking in substance or point or interest. This thing, though, this ‘Tripel Hop’, avoids that problem entirely and basically did justify its price tag.

Verbatim: Duvel ‘Tripel Hop’ 16/2/11 $45/750ml ÷ 3 w/ Peter & Ollie 9.5% Sexy dark version of the labelling; one of this pleasant run of hopified-x, done with class. Utterly gorgeous, pale gold with a big white head. Delicious aroma; vanilla + plum skins and all sorts of goodness. Delicate on the palate with the usual racing bubbles. And I love a good punny name. Compare the included booklet with the Estrella Inedit one (which I rediscovered yesterday, tidying my room) and the latter really is a pile of wank; this one’s nicely done. It’s all jasminny and lush, like some sexy millionairess’ garden.

Actual Diary entries

Bear Republic ‘Hop Rod’ Rye

February 12, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

This one didn’t technically violate the rule against Plural Big Beers in a night, but you do ruin your good midstength start if you then have a flagon of golden ale, and then find yourself tempted to try something Big like this. But oh well; you still do it, you just note down that you probably shouldn’t have.

I wound up at Hop Garden (which is in/conveniently on my way home from town), and Scotty couldn’t resist showing off his astute purchase of a swag of these, so we split one.

Rye beers are finally coming back into fashion after a rather mysterious absence; different grains make for different chemistry, unsurprisingly, and with rye you usually get a boatload of really nice texture, which was certainly the case here. The piney hoppiness was characteristically face-punching (for a pale ale from its part of the world), and the balance between the two made for a beer that managed to be simultaneously serious and fun. At least, that’s how I think I remember it. And hey; I do take notes.

Verbatim: Bear Republic ‘Hop Rod’ Rye 12/2/11 @ HG, with Scotty, who cleverly bought it off HZ. 355ml 8% 18% Rye, and it shows in the body. Nicely massive piney nose + taste. I’ll admit to being slightly too far-gone for doing this properly, but we had to try it. Quite a dark amber, which implies the pleasantly surprising balance. Big fruitiness in there. Monster bitter finish. Quite special.

Actual Diary entries

8 Wired ‘Underwired’

February 12, 2011 Phil Leave a comment

I’ve said it many times before, but it’s not like saying it again is going to cost me extra: the world, and particularly this part of it, needs more midstrength craft beer. So when I heard that Søren (him of the reliably-delightful 8 Wired beers) was making one, and was dropping the booze level even lower, I was intrigued.

George (him who bought the original Diary) and I wandered into Hashigo on our way to the wedding party for our friends Simon & Jessie. People were talking about it as a 2.2% version of the much-loved Hopwired (hence the awesomely punny name), but it was more reminiscent (to me) of the redder Tall Poppy. I therefore felt I should try to come up with an equally-punny name, and gravitated towards “Short Poppy”, which seems to work. And it was pretty good; maybe one of those beers that I like more as an achievement than as a beer, but still a very worthy thing.

At 2.2%, you’ve gone past ‘midstrength’ and right down to officially ‘light’, so it’s no surprise that considerable fullness of body had to be sacrificed to get all the way there. Strangely, if anything, the weakest point of the drinking experience was the moment of actually sipping it, because of that thinness. Seconds after that’s over, and for a good few minutes from there, the hoppy flavours pleasantly amble around your skull and also manifest in some surprisingly nice burps. If you’re after a hop-focussed midstrength, I’d still suggest that Hallertau’s ‘Minimus’ takes the gong,¹ but this is some seriously impressive brewing, all the same.

And then, when I got to the wedding party and went looking for a beer, I was faced with a fridge full of the usual supermarket-brand green bottles. But I was then told that Simon & Jessie had made a special trip to Regional and picked me up a flagon of the blessed Three Boys Golden. That struck me as a real sign that I was definitely becoming something of a Notorious Beer Nerd, and that I have some pretty neat friends — it was bloody lovely.

Verbatim: 8 Wired ‘Underwired’ Mini IPA 12/2/11 2.2% on tap @ HZ w/ George. More mid-strength! Although this is officially “light”, and if anywhere, that’s where the weaknesses come in; soda-water / disprin body. But what else could you have, way down there? Colour is very dark, as against expectation. Reddish hints. Hoppy flavour shines best in the aftertaste + the burps. It’s just a touch thin at the moment it’s sipped. So, Minimus still has it, but this is an impressive feat, and I love that there are more in the game, now. Still definitely beery, but less Hopwired to me than Tall Poppy — so… “Short Poppy”?

Three Boys Golden Ale — A flagon of the blessed Three Boys Golden

1: For a few Bonus Nerd Points, I’m having one right now, as I write this. Well, that, and because I like it — and simply because it’s there.

Beer Diary

Monthly Archives: February 2011

Moa ‘Five Hop Winter Ale’

Rogue Mocha Porter

Coronado ‘Islander’ IPA

Liberty Brewing ‘West Coast Blonde: Amarillo’

Coronado ‘Autumn Harvest Ale’

BrewDog ‘5am Saint’

Beer 121: New Zealand Beer for Americans

Duvel ‘Tripel Hop’

Bear Republic ‘Hop Rod’ Rye

8 Wired ‘Underwired’

Tastings and ramblings and whatnot

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Tastings and ramblings and whatnot