Coopers Sparkling Ale - A real Southern Hemisphere Ale?

First international beer off the ranks - I specifically hunted this out because 1. It was on special at the supermarket and 2. I'm planning on brewing a batch of this in the near future.

Anyway, I have a small issue... a pet peeve if you want to call it that. Although we have many, many wonderful beers here in Aotearoa, we have a tendency to make beer that's not true to style. This isn't to say that we don't have some wonderful examples of craft beers that are true to form or an exciting evolution of an accepted style. It's a reflection of the market - we like Lagers and Hoppy Pilsners; therefore that's what the brewers make.

Australia too has a slightly unfortunate habit of doing the same - the "mainstream" breweries in both markets rightfully cater to the tastes of the public. And dammit the public want lager!

Forgiving the local pallet and forgiving the flavour of the ingredients... but some beers (I'm looking at you Tui and Speights) even claim to be Ale's when they are in fact Lagers. But beer is beer and beer is good.

So it was with a pleasant surprise that I popped open my Coopers Sparkling Ale and smelt the delicious aroma of top fermentation and bittering hops.

A real ale! Probably a little light in bitterness for the English and maybe lacking the complexity of a Belgian... but an ale none the less. In fact it's delicate flavour and effervescent sparkle make this a great companion to the southern summer. Coopers Sparkling Ale is a breath of fresh Ale in a Lager world - and from a mainstream brewer none-the-less!

As a note to beermaker's in our corner of the world - it's ok to make a traditional Ale, Bitter, Bock, Helles or Weizen. With the current increase in craft brewing I hope to see a lot more of these and more, but for now it's nice to know that there is a delicious alternative to lager at hand.

Too Early for a Beer?

Sometime last year, those wonderful folk at Moa Brewing Co. crafted something quite unusual. The called it "Breakfast Beer" and styled it after Belgian Wheat's. It was released to much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the media, worried that a beer in the morning would lead to widespread alcoholism.

Well, thankfully a year later the end of times hasn't arrived, and our society hasn't crumbled into a drunken wasteland. I can't help but think that at $8.50 a bottle, this is priced into the beer connoisseurs market, rather than the dedicated morning drinkers, but that's a different story.

What I can say is that this is delicious! On the nose it's all hops and fruit, it's a lot like a good wine in that the aroma is so alluring that i'd almost be happy just to smell it all day (but I wont because I know what wonders lie within! )A real treat to drink with a lovely full wheat mouth feel and a crisp slightly hoppy flavour, with only hints of cherry sweetness. Hugely rewarding and refreshing drinking, and I can't think of a comparable local Wheat Beer.

It really reminds me of a good European Wheat Beer, and a good Fruit Beer, my closest points of reference would be Hoegaarden Wheat Beer and Verboden Vrucht Strong Ale, but it's much more complex that the Wheat and less work than the Verboden Vrucht.

It's definitely not a "session" beer, a couple of these would be plenty. Moa have a reputation for crafting fantastic beers and this lives up to expectation. I don't know if I'd call it a breakfast beer, but I'd be up for 11sies!

Mac's Hop Rocker Review

The "go-to" beer.

Mac's is a kiwi institution, famously pipping the two big guns (Lion and DB) and starting a trend by being the first microbrewery in the country. Unlike the main brewers who use sugar to speed up fermentation, Mac's started by using just the traditional beer ingredients, malt, hops, yeast and water. It reminded us what beer was supposed to taste like.

Hop Rocker is good... damn good. It's full flavoured, loads of NZ Hops - the label says Motueka - adding aroma and bitterness. It sparked a trend of highly hopped beers in NZ. This is my go-to beer, it's awesome summer and winter, refreshing and full bodied.

Now as I said, I love this stuff, but Pilsner? It's like they've never supped the crisp clean flavour of a Budvar or Urquell. It might be made like a Pilsner, but this is one hell of a lot of hops flavour for a Pilsner. It's had the effect of convincing the beer drinking public that Pilsners should be hoppy. Perhaps that why they mispelt Pilsner? Other notable brewers have even replicated the style.

So, a reliable favourite, consistent with the quality of Mac's even if it's not true to style.

EDIT: I rechecked the label last night (what can I say? I'm a thorough researcher) and it's not Motueka hops as stated, but Nelson Sauvin and Cascade hops. Traditionally Pilsner is hopped with Saaz.

Beer Is Awesome

Formally recognising that Beer in it's many guises is awesome.