PDubyah: Beer #188 - Hallertau

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Beer #188 - Hallertau - Stuntman

So Liquorland in Newmarket have the old school fill your own going on, and they rotate through beers of the week. This week the pick of them seems to be the Hallertau Stuntman. Brewed by Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant in the style of Imperial/Double IPA and they do that in Auckland, New Zealand, well more Riverhead really, but in the wop wops if you want to be precise.*

An 8.5% or a 9% ABV beer (depending on who you believe) which makes a 500ml "pint' about 3.3 to 3.6 standard drinks equivalent, and this is described as "Best not attempted by the fainthearted. Ten top additions make this an utterly rambunctious thrillseeker of an ale. Brace your senses for the ride.."

The Stuntman is all about pushing boundaries and testing limits of human endurance. This is a very hoppy beer! Some might say too hoppy, but you “hop heads” out there are in for a real treat. Ten hop additions create a tsunami of flavours and textures that explode across the poor unsuspecting palette. Taste buds are left reeling, stunned, like they have been eleven rounds with “The Green Machine”. If you find all the hops a bit much, remember, It’s not to hoppy, you’re to soft!! HARDEN UP. The Stuntman is stupid beer for brave people………….so get brave stupid!

It's a nice hoppy aroma, but a murky golden pour, and sans head, but this might be my technique over anything else.

It's a hoppy bitter beer, and the hops are a nice tart note. Which is stating the obvious perhaps.

Hallertau .Stuntman

After even one sip (generous sized sip, almost a gulp). I'd suggest that this is a top notch IPA bitter beer , and I'm instantly enjoying both the bitterness and the slight caramel sweetness that this has.

Shame that I couldn't get a head and then an amusing amount of lacing. But I have more so I can give it another crack.

The Hops dominate the profile, the pine\spruce\grass thing but there is a nice kick of citrus, perhaps grapefruit in the back end of the palate.

As it warms the profile seems to flatten a bit, a nice hope front and grapefruit finish, it's ok.

The cloudiness is a bit of a worry, but it seems to be its thing. It obviously it's thing to be cloudy.

A nice thing about this is that you don't really get a alcohol hit, and that you'd be sucked into to having more of these than is prudent to have. And so I shall have another.

Of which there was a head, but it was desultory and a bit thin, almost looking oily. But I take any victory.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this an easy 8.50 and only that because the murky didn't really impress me, and made me wonder if it was going to be ok. But it is a bangingly good IPA that hits many high notes, and you should if you have the chance get one. You'll like it.