Beer - #582 - Hallertau - Resurgence

Hallertau Resurgence. A born again beer.

Beastwars IPA reborn, apparently, as a Stong Pale.

Same but different beer, same but different music, same number and same party thoughts

this is a 500 ml bottle, 6% ABV, 38 IBU thingies, 2.57 standard drink units, the bottle is about 180 calories a serve or 240 calories in the bottle. 

Brewed by Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant in the style that is  American Pale Ale and they are Auckland, New Zealand

[caption id="attachment_10852" align="alignleft" width="300"] Wistfully looking at a beer[/caption]

Nose of Pineapple Fruju with a squeeze of lime.

A tangy pile of hops on the palate, rich and resinous.

Lean malt flavour with hop oil sweetness helping balance out the fresh bitter finish.

So what could possibly go wrong? I never had this the first time around, this shows though a brewers faith in their recipe. Get in!

Big fruity burst of aroma, lots of hops, and that passionfruit note. I've settled on passionfruit as a go to. I'm probably wrong.

Pour is really light golden, which si a surprise and the head is fluffy white and persistent, aroma has moved to more grassy hop.

Whilst I don't get pineapple, I do get resinous hops, and it has a lovely smack of bitter at the finish. It is big on hops.

Which is pretty much as advertised.

A really crisp beer to drink as well, nothing out of sorts of disconcerting in this that I've found, even if I really thing that some of the taste points are a bit peaky, sticking out over the overall profile in places.

I've had what seems like more than a fair share of Pale Ale styles of late, and this one seems more memorable than most, and remind you not to get bored or just over them.

Easy drinking, I discovered as I ran out, and now I mope as I don't have something that I think will be the equal of. Well played Hallertau.

[caption id="attachment_10854" align="alignright" width="150"] Comes with a warning[/caption]

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 a of its things from the thing. It is hard to be over enthusiastic about a beer style that in your heart you don't actually want to enjoy, personally I prefer a cracking IPA or at the other end a Belgium Tripel for instance.  This though is good and is mellow enough and at the same time aggressive enough to make it both drinkable, enjoyable and a bit special at the same time.

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? I am, it is particularly and peculiarly enjoyable, and as advertised.


2. Would I have another? I so would.


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I would indeed this is quite nice an appealing.

The latest discovery is an artist called "Clem Snide" the album "Girls Come First" is on the music machine, you can listen here . Clem Snide is an alt-country band. Not on that album but worth a listen is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh55NuFEAwc

AMERICAN PALE ALE

American Pale Ales are light in color, ranging from golden to a light copper color. The style of this beer is defined by the American hops used. American hops typically have high bitterness and aroma.This is a perfect beer for big fare like grilled burgers or combination pizzas, as well as lighter fare like sushi and green salads.

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Beer - #411 - Hallertau - Joppa Stout

Oh now here's a thing, Joppa Stout, an award winning beer.

Brewed by Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant and in the style that is of a Stout,  they are a few minutes drive from my house in Riverhead, Auckland, New Zealand

This is a bottle of 500ml (!6fl oz), and at 5.5% ABV,  a whole  2.7 standard drink units,  and because calories in beer is import  - this bottle would be about 220 calories or so. 

"Joppa Stout is the winner of the 2013 Champion Beer in the SOBA New Zealand National Home Brew competition. I've been brewing and adjusting the recipe over the past 10 years; ever since my husband and I received a home brew kit as a wedding present. Chocolate and coffee flavours balanced by a full body and a dry finish.

I hope this encourages more women to brew and enjoy great beer."

It was a dream come true for Swanson brewer Barb Joppa when she won the SOBA New Zealand Home Brew Competition with the highest ever points score. Californian ex-pat Barbara's prize was to have her beer brewed and commercially released by Hallertau Brewery. Joppa Stout is a full bodied beer with a lot of bitter-sweet chocolate and coffee flavours. Black in colour, with a thick tan head weighing in at 5.5% with 30 IBUs this promises to be a popular winter tipple

Commercial home brew :-) I've had a few of those. But this should be something a little special

Beer - #330 - Hallertau - Hopocalypse IIIPA 2014

Well it's a Friday so Hallertau Hopocalypse IIIPA 2014 it is! Four Horsemen Of The Hopocalypse -

Four Horsemen of the Hopocalyse – a collaboration with four of the most hop driven brewers in New Zealand. Joseph Wood from Liberty Brewing, Steve Plowman from Hallertau, Kelly Ryan and Luke from Epic. Could you add anymore hops to one beer.

This is listed as brewed by Epic Brewing Company (NZ) in the Style: Imperial/Double IPA, and they are in Auckland, a ways up the road in Riverhead. I could visit anytime I like. Or I can drink at home :-) They have a fine restaurant. 

I brought a 1 litre  growler (1000ml) of this, which is 12% ABV 180IBU's,  This might contain near 1,000 calories if my maths is up to it converting Ml to US Fl Oz. That's a bit extreme.  A Standard serve is 12 US Fl Oz, or about 355ml., this contains a whopping 9.4 standard drink units when calculated by ABV. Golly.

It's almost sweet smelling on opening, there's not much giveaway if this is a hop monster beer.  Aroma really kicks in on opening though, pours fantastic burnt orange and with a fluffy head that dissipates but seems to persist a bit.

This is a lot sweeter than you could expect it to be, seems to have a lot of  caramel malt thing going on, which is interesting.

There is the alcohol that you can pick on the top, it's pretty obvious if you were wondering, and it lingers and finishes a bit tart. But hey it's a big IBU beer and these are things that you could be expecting to happen it shouldn't be a surprise.

This might not be the most sensible thing I've ever drunk, particularly pre-dinner.

The Pdubyah-o-meter ticks up a tad, makings this a 7.5 which is better than good but not  on the podium for medallists.

Watching the Formula 1 practice on the teevee. These new V6 cars are like sewing machines compared to the thunder and lightening that was last year. You can hear the tyres squeal and the turbo chirp. I guess that's a good thing, but I prefer the noise. Someone should invent an app.

I know it's important to round this off with a couple of things.

Am I enjoying it?  Yes I am, it's both sweet and bitter, and a bit quaffable despite the misgivings about the alcohol astringent
Would I have another?  I do have another, and I'm looking forward to it. I may have the munchies later though.
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Yup.

On the drive home I was listening to Muse, loudly. I'm sure I look odd in the car with this dialled up to 11

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_sBOsh-vyI&w=420&h=315]

 

IMPERIAL/DOUBLE IPA

Imperial IPA, Double IPA or DIPA is a strong, often sweet, intensely hoppy version of the traditional India Pale Ale. Bitterness units range upward of 100 IBUs and alcohol begins at 7.5% but is more commonly in the 8.5-10% range. The flavour profile is intense all-round. Unlike barley wines, the balance is heavily towards the hops, with crystal and other malts providing support.

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.



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.

• Wops Wops a localism meaning "in the sticks", "the back of beyond", "Off the beaten track"

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Beer - #142 - Hallertau - Porter Noir

Tonight then a Hallertau  Porter Noir,  A beer enjoyed by my friends and highly recommended by others.

The Porter Noir is a beer from way out of left field. A 6.6% Porter was aged for four months in Pinot Noir Wine Barrels acquired from local winery Kumeu River. The barrels were only gently hot water rinsed before use to retain the wine charter and also the native yeasts in the wood. The four month maturation in the barrel develops the palette with gentile woody tannins and fruits of the forest from the previous resident. Combined with the remnants of chocolate and soft acidity from the native yeasts creates amazing mouth feel with a long drying finish. The secondary fermentation in the bottle was carried out with the native yeasts from the barrel, namely brettanomyces. This is the same yeast used to bottle condition the famous Belgian Trappist beer Orval. The brettanomyces character dominates the aroma. Layers of complexity, red currents, earthy gumboots, a stroll through the barnyard?? All very interesting stuff. The beer has been conditioned in 750 ml Champaign bottles for 6 months prior to release and with correct cellaring will continue to improve for up to 3 years. The Porter Noir is a strictly limited release and is only available from Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant.

Or Liquorland Forest Hill...  750mls bottle of a 6.6% ABV beer (thats about 4 standard drinks)

Overly excitable, it's frothing everywhere, pours with a monster head, it's a bit out of control. Initially I though a sour aroma, but it settles into a nice chocolate...

On the taste there is a bunch of sour,  chocolate, and pinot wine, shut up!,   The Aroma settles into a fantastic fruit thing, into something that you can't actually put your finger too. Oddly odd.

Am I enjoying this though? It's a bit of a treasure hunt, a mixed bag of things, a nose of fruit, a taste of bittererd chocolate, and some  sourness that really isn't all that. For me then too much of a weird fruity bottom note, not a lot of the porter-ness that you might think you're getting, the chocolate aroma seems to have disappeared and I'm left with something I don't understand, a little bitter and a the dregs of a poor bottle of wine.

Eventually the pdubyah-o-meter really doesn't like this at 6 from it's arbitrary scale of things, and despite wanting to like this either I wasn't on my game or this was the emperors new clothes.

I review this as I taste it, I'm happy to go back and have another crack, but with this I'd need persuasion. I've tried hard to like it as being "different" or "forward" but it's really a bit average and oversold. I'm about at the point where the reputation that this arrives with is by stealth and bluster, and the delivery is a huge gap. A voice against he crowd, I'm happy with that, I didn't like 1,2,3, or 4, and this does nothing to improve my humour.