{"id":1362,"date":"2009-02-19T00:01:50","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T11:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2011-03-02T15:16:26","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T02:16:26","slug":"epic-mayhem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/02\/19\/epic-mayhem\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic ‘Mayhem’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Epic<\/a>
Epic 'Mayhem'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve said some nasty things about Epic in the past, so in credit-where-due spirit, Mayhem is awesome<\/em>. It’s one of a few variant editions of the Epic Pale, and addresses all of that<\/em> beer’s shortcomings nicely. It’s vastly maltier and ‘beerier’ in the body (and a bit boozier too, as a result) and is thereby much better balanced. But it’s still astonishingly hoppy and aromatic, with New Zealand-developed Riwaka hops in there alongside the usual American Cascade — so the big hop notes aren’t just striking in one place like they do in the Pale. To re-purpose Epic’s particularly-stupid marketing phrase, this really Just Tastes Bigger, in all<\/em> directions, and is vastly better for it. But more importantly than merely being “better” than the Pale Ale, this is, on its own merits, bloody lovely.<\/p>\n

Afterthoughts, February 2011:<\/strong> I remember liking liking this, if you follow what I mean. I really grumped about the Pale Ale, partially because it was so absurdly popular — hailed as the best-ever by any number of otherwise-plausible people, when I thought the most you could say in its favour was that it was a well-made example of that intentionally off-kilter hop-nonsensed sort of beer. Stunt beer. Boy racer<\/em> beer, as my colleague Ben used to say. It wasn’t badly made, it was just boringly flashy and it mystified me that so many people had it as their standby everday ‘session’ beer. I like those beers sometimes<\/em>, but worried about how, if you drank it all the time<\/em>, your tastebuds must resemble an apocalyptic wasteland — and whether that was the cause of the Epic-sessioning, or its effect.<\/p>\n

\"Epic<\/a>
Epic Pale Ale changes notice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In fairness, Epic Pale has massively<\/em> improved. There was one horror-batch as the malt in the recipe was changed around in Luke’s absence, but after that things stabilised nicely and the beer became considerably more drinkable, I thought. If anything, now the real irony is that Tuatara’s APA — designed fairly shamelessly as a bandwagoning local-sales-stealer — is just that bit better yet<\/a>; it’s certainly less one-note and more balanced. Epic Pale was necessary to push people in this hoppy direction, but is now in danger of watching its students become its master, perhaps.<\/p>\n

\"Epic<\/a>
Diary entry #80, Epic 'Mayhem'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Verbatim:<\/strong> Epic Mayhem 19\/2\/09 380ml 6.5% $9 @ Malty. After nasty words about the Pale, this is great. Much maltier underneath and with the passionfruity Riwaka hop alongside the US Cascade. So deeper and wider. Actually balanced, still remarkably hoppy. Altogether very good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve said some nasty things about Epic in the past, so in credit-where-due spirit, Mayhem is awesome. It’s one of a few variant editions of the Epic Pale, and addresses all of that beer’s shortcomings nicely. It’s vastly maltier and ‘beerier’ in the body (and a bit boozier too, as a result) and is thereby … Continue reading Epic ‘Mayhem’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,14,12],"class_list":["post-1362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-pages","tag-nz","tag-pale-ale"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":632,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/12\/23\/twisted-hop-ipa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1362,"position":0},"title":"Twisted Hop IPA","author":"Phil","date":"December 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A reward-to-self for knocking my Christmas shopping off in one go (and with a whole day to spare). It's awesome. A big apricotty, hop-filled nose to start off, and a similarly big, nicely bitter and full-on taste, faultlessly done. It also very much suits being on the hand-pulls, being flatter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Twisted Hop IPA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Twisted-Hop-IPA-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7154,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2014\/04\/25\/monteiths-american-pale-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1362,"position":1},"title":"Monteith’s “American Pale Ale”","author":"Phil","date":"April 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the decade I've been taking handwritten notes of my beer-drinking experiences, I have inevitably developed an idiosyncratic Style Guide.1\u00a0Broadly \u2014 though there are exceptions early on as the pattern developed, and sporadically throughout as I either forgot my own practice or thought of\u00a0some now-lost rationalisation for a variance in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Monteith's \"American Pale Ale\" (My house, 18 March 2014)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monteiths-American-Pale-Ale.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monteiths-American-Pale-Ale.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monteiths-American-Pale-Ale.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":595,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/11\/15\/three-boys-ipa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1362,"position":2},"title":"Three Boys IPA","author":"Phil","date":"November 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Three Boys IPA. 15\/11\/08 $8.50 @ Malthouse, 5.2% Had it lots, but it warrants an entry. Gorgeousness personified. Slightly less traditional than a Tuatara IPA, but proudly so. Wonderfully balanced (cf Epic...), slight grapefruity hint, not hoppy for the sake of it. Full damn marks. Afterthoughts, November 2010: I'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Boys IPA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1065-Three-Boys-IPA-300x219.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1983,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/02\/22\/beer-121-new-zealand-beer-for-americans\/","url_meta":{"origin":1362,"position":3},"title":"Beer 121: New Zealand Beer for Americans","author":"Phil","date":"February 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Beer 121 tasting session lineup","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-121-lineup-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":906,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/10\/10\/beer-101-tasting-session\/","url_meta":{"origin":1362,"position":4},"title":"Beer 101 Tasting Session","author":"Phil","date":"October 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"George (the gifter of the original Diary) organised a little tasting session at his house for a few friends of ours, with me playing the Informative Nerd. I'll be the first to admit that I made them all run a bit of a marathon, but we hit most of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Beer 101 tasting session empties","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-101-1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1134,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/12\/15\/epic-dogfish-head-portamarillo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1362,"position":5},"title":"Epic \/ Dogfish Head ‘Portamarillo’","author":"Phil","date":"December 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I really have turned around on Epic's beers over the course of a few years. 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