I’m increasingly certain that my nomination for Under-rated Beer Style is golden ale. I’ve got a few more sitting on my bookcase ready to try soon, but I’d also never gotten around to trying this one that we’ve had at work for ages. And it’s pretty bloody lovely, really. Compared against the Three Boys Golden Ale, it’s conspicuously more honeyish, with a fizzier, ‘larger’ liveliness to it. They’ve added some wheat malt to the mix, here, so doubtless that’s where the extra complexity and more numerous fruity notes come from.

Verbatim: Invercargill Wasp. 10/1/09 $8 @ work 4.2%. Another Golden Ale; my vote for underrated style. More honeyish, with a fizzyer feel. Like ‘larger’ liveliness. Some wheat malt, so more complex, slightly hazy.

Afterthoughts, November 2010: Invercargill, a generally damn-good and under-rated brewery, have never quite been sure what to do with this beer. Originally, I believe it was a crystal (filtered) wheat, then (as here) it was a golden ale, and as at the time I’m writing, it’s now a pilsner. Always with the honeyishness, but with the ‘base’ constantly and inexplicably changing. By all accounts, my timing was right; this was it at its best.