{"id":3094,"date":"2011-05-23T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T12:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=3094"},"modified":"2011-10-20T00:17:54","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T11:17:54","slug":"invercargill-pitch-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/05\/23\/invercargill-pitch-black\/","title":{"rendered":"Invercargill ‘Pitch Black’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Invercargill<\/a>
Invercargill 'Pitch Black'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The aforementioned ‘St. Bernard’<\/a> was proving a popular guest, and comparisons to ‘Pitch Black’ (made, unprompted, by quite a few people) had kept up enough that a couple of circuits of my ever-skeptical brain had started to fire up and crackle with the question of whether we were all just being nostalgic for that weirdly-long-lost (on tap, at least) old favourite. And I never really get annoyed with those careful, questioning bits of my brain — because they provide a damn-good excuse to retry something, you know, for Science!<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0sake.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Nostalgia, and its opinion-inflating effect, can be fairly problematic in the beer world — as much as it can be anywhere else, I suppose. People often seem overly-fond of something they discovered on holiday, or think something isn’t as good as it used to be, or swear that something imported is always “better back home”. None of those are nonsense scenarios, of course: the enjoyment of beer is<\/em> an ineliminably circumstantial thing, some recipes really are<\/em> sacrificed over time (given the need to make ever-increasing quantities, or in an attempt to chase a more mainstream drinker — or both), and — all else being equal — something probably is<\/em> better close to its source than after a long journey. Memory in general<\/em> is problematic, of course. Mine, particularly so — hence the Diary<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n

But no, on this<\/em> occasion, we’re all good. Every positive thought that lingers in your mind about Invercargill’s sessionable little stout is probably bang on. I tried this again, after probably more than a year, and after a relative boatload<\/em> of delightful little somethings-similar — and it was still crackingly fantastic. There is some serious wizardry involved in cramming such dense deliciousness into such a small four-point-five-percent frame. That’s\u00a0cleverness, that is;\u00a0artistry, even.\u00a0It’s got the flavour of a much-heavier thing — big, smooth, coffee-milkshake smoothness. In its own terms, in its own weight division, it is damn close to perfection — and you have to suspect that, in a head-to-head, it could beat the tar out of a fair few members of the heavyweight classes. If Pitch Black started liberally quoting classic Muhmmad Ali smack-talk<\/a>, there’d be no cause for complaint — on the simple (and also-very-Ali) grounds that it ain’t braggin’, if it’s the truth.<\/p>\n

And once you pause for a minute — hell, take six-minutes-forty-nine-seconds, and watch the relevant episode of NZ Craft Beer TV<\/a> — to consider the dizzying range that they release under their own name and<\/em> the stuff they brew for Yeastie Boys and the Mussel Inn and others, you really have to be a little bit in awe of Steve Nally and his little brewery near the end of the World. If you happen to be wearing a hat, take it off to them — if you’ve not got one on your noggin right now, go get one; they deserve the gesture.<\/p>\n

\"Invercargill<\/a>
Diary II entry #104, Invercargill 'Pitch Black' Stout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Verbatim:<\/strong> Invercargill ‘Pitch Black’ Stout 23\/5\/11 330ml 4.5% Speaking of which! $8 @ MH Worried we were just being nostalgic, but inspired to test after Jono had one earlier. And no, we’re good. This stuff is delicious. Big flavour on a lightweight thing, and very well balanced. Coffee milkshake kinda smoothness to it, with a nicely cocoa-powder bitter fizzle at the end.<\/p>\n

\n

1: I’ve always had a bit of a case of science-envy. I mean, I have a humanities degree. I never get to do actual<\/em> science, though I have plenty of friends who do (in some very impressive ways), so I tend to overstate things when I do anything properly experimental<\/a>. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The aforementioned ‘St. Bernard’ was proving a popular guest, and comparisons to ‘Pitch Black’ (made, unprompted, by quite a few people) had kept up enough that a couple of circuits of my ever-skeptical brain had started to fire up and crackle with the question of whether we were all just being nostalgic for that weirdly-long-lost … Continue reading Invercargill ‘Pitch Black’<\/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":[6,14,42,11],"class_list":["post-3094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","tag-pages","tag-nz","tag-sessionable","tag-stout"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":561,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/11\/05\/invercargill-pitch-black-stout\/","url_meta":{"origin":3094,"position":0},"title":"Invercargill ‘Pitch Black’ Stout","author":"Phil","date":"November 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Invercargill Brewery 'Pitch Black' Stout. Again from the hand pumps at Old Malty, and in many ways one step further down Black Beer Boulevard from the aforementioned (and aforedrunken) Tuatara Porter. Bigger, darker, and stouty, basically. But still (I think) fairly accessible. Something of a favourite for a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Invercargill 'Pitch Black', handpulled","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Invercargill-Pitch-Black-handpulled-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3137,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/06\/03\/invercargill-sason\/","url_meta":{"origin":3094,"position":1},"title":"Invercargill ‘Sa!son’","author":"Phil","date":"June 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Invercargill Brewery really is the unsung workhorse of the local beer scene -- or insufficiently-sung, at least. I was re-struck by that thought when I was writing about their utterly-delightful 'Pitch Black' stout, and I'll take the chance to just repeat myself now, if you don't mind. If, while staying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Invercargill 'Sa!son'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Invercargill-Saison-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":654,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/01\/10\/invercargill-wasp-golden-ale-incarnation\/","url_meta":{"origin":3094,"position":2},"title":"Invercargill ‘Wasp’ (Golden Ale incarnation)","author":"Phil","date":"January 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Invercargill 'Wasp'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Invercargill-Wasp-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":670,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/01\/17\/invercargill-biman\/","url_meta":{"origin":3094,"position":3},"title":"Invercargill ‘Biman’","author":"Phil","date":"January 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Although winner of its class at the relatively-recent Beer Festival here in town, I hadn't gotten around to trying one. And damn, was I missing out. It's genuinely fantastic. Originally (the story goes) brewed to go with the food from the curry house near the brewery (hence the name), it'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Invercargill 'Biman'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Invercargill-Biman-225x300.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":3094,"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":1155,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/12\/16\/townshend-%e2%80%98j-c-%e2%80%99-ipa\/","url_meta":{"origin":3094,"position":5},"title":"Townshend \u2018J.C.\u2019 IPA","author":"Phil","date":"December 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"So yeah, our Christmas Offerings at work included a beer which had burnt pohutakawa1 as part of the process, and a beer named after Jesus for no readily-apparent reason. I just loved the irreverence of that. Of course, it didn't hurt that both beers were really rather lovely, in their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Townshend 'J.C.' 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