Beer - #47 - The Moa Methode

The time has come the walrus said.... to get into this 1.5Litre bottle of Moa Methode. It's 5.5%ABV and that makes the whole mission about 6 standard drinks and a stagger.

This then is as brewed by the Moa Brewing Company, in the style of a Pilsener, and hails from Blenheim, New Zealand

A German Pilsner - expecting Citrus and Hops. Might have bitten off more than I can chew, but who can resist a bottle that is bigger than you arm!

And frankly this has been in the fridge for far too long and I could make a million reasons I haven't drunk it year and all that but today is the day

And I poured myself an ice-cream! a Half and half. So I found a beer that I can pour with a head. At least it settles down with a fine lacing.

I'm sure If I could hold the bottle and glass I could pour a beer with a more acceptable head, as the bottle gets lighter I might get better, however the trade off might be that I get less steady of the hand.

So did I get the citrus hops? Yes I did. I also got a hazy golden pour of beer, with is pleasing to my little eye.

The taste is somewhat coloured by the hops, it has that rasp that you'd expect at a low end of the scale, some people might be put off by it, and I do get an earthy aroma, mostly from the fluffy white head which is still there despite my efforts to drink through it.

I had this with some of  the "Over the Moon - Triple Cream Brie" (which I just notices has a per Kg price of $76.00, I'm in the wrong industry), and I'm pretty much enjoying myself. I should write about the cheese, which is about as close to perfect. I'd sway towards a Camembert normally but challenged myself to a Brie. And you know what, pay a little more for the cheese and enjoy it a lot more.

The pdubyah-o-meter is needed to provide the usual arbitrariness of things, and on the scale this is about 8.5 from 10 arbitrary things. This isn't an offensive beer, it's not a front runner beer, it's a very fine pilsner beer. It carries itself well and it's consistent in it's taste. Of all their fine beers If you can find it I recommend the Moa St Josephs, which surprise to no-one is a Belgium style Tripel

I've not a lot to compare this too, from my very unreliable memory there are more pale ale and wheat beer types of beer than pilsner beers in the list so far, which is not to say that I've never had reason to talk about them, just not here.

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Beer - #28 - Brasserie Du Mont Blanc La Blanche

Ok, So I was in Faro Fresh  on the North Shore, looking for some Camembert from the Over the moon dairy company, and coming away from the cheesery disappointed, and not wanting a Goat version, I mooched over to the beerorium, where I had spied that they had the Trois Monts that I enjoy, but hidden behind it was some  Brasserie Du Mont Blanc - La Blanche

Well now well now well now... who can resist something like this then, a magnificent label of the most fantastic blues and a medal winner too!

 "The brewery has a long history with the first beers being produced in 1850. Like all high quality beers the key to great characteristics is ingredients. At the centre of this is the water. In the case of Brasserie du Month-Blanc, the water is from alpine glaciers harvested at the source of the Enchapeuze at an altitude of 2074m. Along with purity enhanced from being sourced at a high altitude, a low mineral content makes it ideal for brewing."

750ml of 4.7 % ABV a French attempt at a WitBeer (Belgium White) The Interwebtubes says this isn't something to write home about. But there was little else to do on a Sunday afternoon so I had at it. The bottle is presented as a flip top, but has a cap, I guess you sip and seal? or it might be some weird EU rule for export. Who knows.

It's very very fizzy, noisy fizzy, and very very pale, but no head! What's with that ? It also smells yeasty, which reminds me of home brew. I now have  my fingers crossed (metaphorically).

And that's odd. A montage of tastes in this, none of them making me lick my lips. There is no aroma to give anything away this is all on the tounge.

I lied the aroma is the yeast smell  that lingers, it's odd.

It's very thin on taste, and there are tastes in there fighting to get through, but like all things French not fighting hard enough,  My brow is furrowed on this one I have no idea what to make of it.

The pudubya-o-meter is barely moving on this, and this is going to be a minor setback in my run of good bears well enjoyed. Given the choice of the cheese or this I would have picked the cheese. Which by the by is most excellent Over the Moon Dairy Company.

I'm really struggling to get this to an arbitrary 2 from 5 arbitrary stars on this,  it's not offensive and at the same time it is. A bronze medal in how to make a beer smell like homebrew perhaps, I'm going to sulk and wish I was as adventurous in Cheese as I am in beer.

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