Brewed by Yeastie Boys and Brewed at Invercargill Brewery this is in the Style of a Porter and Yeastie Boys are in Wellington, New Zealand, or this could be a Dark Belgian-style Strong Ale, depends on where you read and what you read. I'm sure it's awesome.This had a low IBU of 20 for a porter that can range upto around 40.
A flashy 750ml bottle of a 7% ABV beer, with only 210 calories a serve, but at 4.14 drink units in NZ. Flashy in the sense that it's a label with purple foil highlights.
So, dark low bitter, and high aroma. Sounds like a good idea.
Aroma of bitter chocolates, and pepper. Doesn't keep it's head when poured, aroma moves to musty and wet grassy hops. (Simcoe?) Pours a dark brown.Head starts off with promise but fades. There is some lacing on the glass after the first sup.
Flavours are fairly muted, and a but over-powered by the aroma which sets you up for something you're not getting in the mouth.
This is a beer that would easily be over-powered by any accompanying food type, there isn't any depth or length that I can describe as being present.
It's, then, a beer produced for a celebration, in this case their anniversary. To say I'm underwhelmed would be about right as there doesn't appear to be much in this, and I'd suggest that it'd be a commercial gamble to produce it year round.
As it warms some of the hoppiness beings to assert itself on the profile, but I don't think that saves this from being a bit 'meh' to be honest. I've found the Yeastie boys beers to be a bit of a roller coaster affair. Some of them are startling and with our peer, some are less sparkling and fall by the wayside.
This is one of the ones that runs out of steam early, which is disappointing. The pdubyah-o-meter sighs to an average mark for this as 6*
I said at the top that "I'm sure it's awesome". I was wrong. If you were drinking this in the pub and unless you like the simcoe aroma and no bitterness you'd think about changing beers, it really is a bit Jekyll and Hyde. It's not the strongest beer, and isn't overly challenging, but the assertive aroma and the lack of distinct or leading flavours really lets this down, in my opinion.
I drank the first half easily enough, it is easy drinking, but because it's not challenging, not because it lights up on the tongue.
Not the beer I was expecting, but then unless you try you can't tell. I don't think this is a beer that is going to divide the audience, I'm sure most people will nod politely at it and pretend it never happened, and the brewer is usually more on their game than this.
*Update: The brewer was in touch on Twitter. No Simcoe, so swing and a miss for me, and they were aiming for soft and low bitter. Well they got the low bitter taste. On that though I'd change this to a 7 on the arbitrary scale. This isn't a beer I really liked though.
PORTER
Black or chocolate malt gives the porter its dark brown color. Porters are well hopped and heavily malted. This is a medium-bodied beer. Porters can be sweet. Hoppiness can range from bitter to mild. Porters are often confused with stouts.
Related articles
No comments:
Post a Comment