Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’

Tuatara Pilsner is brewed by Tuatara Brewery from Paraparaumu which is just under an hour’s drive north of Wellington along the west coast of the North Island.  Tuatara is a growing microbrewery which is has been awarded some fairly prestigious prizes for its beer.  Using the best German traditions the brewery produces five main beers in the classic European style. One of the ones we were lucky enough to try was the pilsner which was sold in draft form and very fresh and crisp.  The beer a Czech style pilsner has an alcohol content of 5% and is the brewery’s bestselling. The beer is brewed with noble Saaz hops, German Malt and Czech yeast plus some of New Zealand’s softest and purest water making it a very delicious drop indeed. Read the rest of this entry »

This beer is a treat, and as the New Zealander’s would say awesome!- it’s a slice of heaven!. Monteith’s have made a very tasty beer here with their Celtic Red, it’s got some very nice chocolaty tastes, a bit malty a hint of smoke. There is a bit of a dry taste but there is an element of sweetness to the 4.4% alcohol content beer. The beer is in the style of a Irish Ale and as you can see by the photo has a very distinctive rich red colour and fairly frothy head.   The beer is brewed using traditional ale fermentation techniques which help give the rich and smooth flavours.  Monteiths originated from the west coast of the South Island near Greymouth over 150 years ago. Now owned by DB Breweries they still brew using traditional techniques and make a very tasty range of products which even include some tasty ciders.

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Overlooking Auckland’s waterfront in the city’s port district is a great brew bar for anyone visiting New Zealand’s biggest city. The bar is pretty cool, it is built in, as the name suggest the old building once home to The Northern Steamship Co. It’s been totally refurbished and designed by some very clever designers who have turned it into a very funky beer palace.  Before we get to the beers we need to talk about the space, it’s amazing, there are floor lamps hanging from the ceiling, some incredible artwork including a huge piece behind the bar broken up into dozens of random photo frames, book cases full of cool stuff and some really funky furnishings.  Well now for the good bit- the beer there are about 8 of Mac’s finest on tap, we will talk about them in more detail in coming weeks, but  some of the line-up included Macs Gold All Malt Lager, Mac’s Sassy Red, which was delicious, Black Mac, and our favourite Mac’s Great White which was an awesome wheat beer, just to name a few. Mac’s also has some of their great ciders on tap including Isaacs’ which is a must and their food was pretty good too.  Auckland isn’t the only place to have one of these great Brewbars, in fact there are five in the city, there are also bars in Christchurch, Nelson and Wellington.

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We had a wonderful afternoon visiting the Tui brewery and headquarters in Mangatainoka New Zealand, which is a short drive from Palmerston North on the North Island. What an awesome little set up the guys have, it is fantastic.  Set amongst farmland the historic Tui tower can be seen for miles so there’s no problem finding it.  There’s an amazing welcoming centre complete with bar and giftshop, plenty of outdoor seating and a huge expanse of grass to enjoy a beer or meal. The bar features some pretty interesting drops of beer too, not only do they serve the Tui we have come to love on our Beer tour of New Zealand but they also stock a couple of beers not sold anywhere else- so it’s pretty special.  Tui offer tours of the brewery which is amazing, seeing how they produce beer from the freshest of ingredients. The friendly staff not only show you behind the scenes of the brewing process they end the tour as all good tours should end finishes with a taste of their tasty brews you even get to take home a Tui glass- how good is that!

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May at Hoppsy is New Zealand Beer month and the first of our beer stories from the land of the great long cloud is Speight’s Summit Golden Ale.  This 4% alcohol lager was first brewed back in June of 2008 and is the brewer’s first all natural beer. Speight’s use only natural ingredients including lovely Pacific Hallertau Hops from Nelson which is added late in the brew to the kettle, delicious malted barleys and crystal clear New Zealand water to produce a pretty tasty beer. It is a fairly light beer in comparison to the mainstream Speight’s Gold Medal but has a wonderful fruity flavour with some floral aromatics. The beer like many New Zealand beers has a sweet and smooth taste.   Speight’s part of the Lion Nathan suite of brands has been marketing this beer as a smooth flavoured golden larger that embodies the spirit of the modern Southern Man and is aiming at younger and more active customer, who might purchase a imported product instead of the traditional beers.

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Monteiths Zezty Radller Bier is another one of the tasty beers with a touch of citrus added. This time lemon. It is a high quality beer based on the Bavarian lager. The beer is rather refreshing and it is hard to stop at just one. Monteiths is one of New Zealand’s best brewers dating back to 1868, they have a whole range of classic beers which are well worth trying including an original ale, golden lager, a black and a Celtic red. Some are seasonal so keep an eye out for them, you wont be dissapointed.

The Waikato is a region on the Western side of the North Island of New Zealand around the city of Hamilton extending along the pristine Waikato River and is home to Waikato Draught. Now a Lion Nathan beer the beer has a very rich history dating back to 1864 when brewer Scot Charles Innes arrived in New Zealand.  Charles Innes started a brewery in 1871 at Ngaruawhia and then a new brewery was established in 1873 in Hamilton East. A bit of tragedy followed with fire destroying the brewery in 1897 and poor old Charles Innes drowning while bathing in one of his beer vats- what a way to go.  His wife Mary took over the reins and it later became a public company with what is now Lion Nathan merging with the brewery in the 50′s.  The beer brand has a strong tradition with Rugby and is a real tasty beer- They have won Gold Medal and Best in Class at the 2005 BrewNZ awards just to prove it.

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DB Breweries now part of the giant Asia Pacific Breweries Company which is a joint venture between Dutch brand Heineken and Singapore food and Beverage Company Fraser and Neave. Export Gold is one of New Zealand’s most awarded premium beers. Dating back to the 1930′s when the brewery was founded by Sir Kenry Kelliher and Morton W Coutts in the Auckland suburb of Otahuha about 13 km from the city centre. The Export label has had a bit of an identity crisis in recent years, the beer was originally known as DB Export then in the mid 1990′s after winning some awards got Gold added to its name, a few years later the DB was dropped; now we know it as just Export Gold. The beer is now a 4% alcohol vol and a pale ale style. The beer has a malty and hoppy aroma with a slight hint of sweet fruits, its quiet a nice drop. In New Zealand the beer is also available on tap and is specially micro filtered instead of the usual pasteurization used on many beers. Read the rest of this entry »