Beer - #652 - Liberty - Pacific Rim

Winner beer, winner music, winning numbers and winners party

As the Japanese say, “Hayaku”(hurry up)…

From the fill station, a keg only beer, giving me 1 litre of a beer that is 6.4% ABV, making this  5.0 Standard drinks per litre - this is around the 190 calories a serve size.

Brewed by Liberty Brewing Co in the style that is India Pale Ale (IPA) and they're based in Auckland, New Zealand

So juicy is the hop flavour and aroma, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a fresh hop brew.


This Limited Edition American style IPA continues Liberty’s tradition of taking on exciting craft beer projects, blending hops from New Zealand and America with the rare, but distinctive Sorachi Ace hop from Japan.

Packed with fresh tones of lemon grass, dill and tea, this bone dry beer has incredible length of bitter flavours and a slightly salty finish making you want to reach for the salt and pepper squid.

As the Japanese say, “Hayaku”    (hurry up).

So what could possibly go wrong?  The beer was an overnight success, taking out the People’s Choice at the highly regarded 2015 West Coast IPA Challenge.

Beer - #607 - Hallertau Liberty - BDSM

Or more correctly Hallertau & Liberty Hopstock 2015 Collaboration - BDSM Fresh Hop Imperial Schwarzbier. So tonight it special beer, special music, special numbers and that special party.

Fresh hopped. Bier das Schwarz Massive.

It's a keg only beer so I have 1 litre bottle of an 8% ABV Beer, so this would be 6.31 standard drink units, this would be around 240 calories a serve size.

Brewed by Hallertau Brewbar & Restaurant in the style that is Schwarzbier or Black Lager, and they're in Auckland.

Hallertau Brewing announce BDSM, a Motueka fresh hopped Imperial Schwarzbier brewed in collaboration with our friends at Liberty Brewing Co. 

[caption id="attachment_11157" align="alignleft" width="300"] A session of BDSM coming up, what's not to like[/caption]

A dark German style lager that balances roasted yet smooth malt flavors with moderate hop bitterness.

Bier das Schwarz Massive was made using 80kg of wet Motueka cones in the hopback. 

Tastes similar to an American style Cascadian  black ale, but it's malts are more European. The wet hops impart a citrus aroma, giving the chocolate a distinctively JAFFA twist. 

So what could possibly go wrong? A beer that I belive won the people choice as the best of Hopstock this year, and on my radar but I thought out of reach. Until today.

I pop the top and I get a rich chocolate aroma mostly, it's enough to make a man smile.

Of course coal black pour, that's not difficult to pick, very lively, and the cup runneth over, all over. I knew this was going to happen and yet so unable to stop it.

Aroma in the glass is still the same dark cocoa chocolate, and the first sip is just something delicious.

Delightful amount of bitterness, lovely amount of the chocolate dark roasted thing, and a great mouthfeel that ends in a sharp and tangy finish.  If anything this is over carbonated, too much bubble fizz action going on on the tongue. Could explain the finish.

Oh and great lacing in the glass as you drink, I like that, just for aesthetics of course.

This is another beer at the slightly her end of ABV-ness and so I might need a safe word, this would be easy to get carried away with.

It is pretty much everything that everyone said, both sides the good and the bad, I lean to the this is a good beer end of the scale, to be honest there wasn't much at the other end, a lack of dissent.

A deserving winner though? Perhaps, but it isn't a common style, and looking back on other dark lagers I've had I tended to enjoy them. I guess this is a different beer that is don't well. I've noticed that as it warms the hop character becomes more apparent, which is really nice. I wonder if I might have voted differently, I picked the Deep Creek/Behemoth Yin, and IPA, as my beer of choice, I guess when you don't take in all the choices you go with what you know.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. this is really something nice. I'm burping away in-between singing along to music that seems to be getting louder with each week of the dial. I'm loving the hop 'roughness' that's arrived, as it does just before the roasted burnt notes kick in, and well before the tangy finish. Clever stuff, the safe word appears to 'another please'.

The double dip review

Am I enjoying it? Gosh yes, it was everything I thought it was going to be and a bit more. For once the expectation and experience gap was non-existent.
Would I have another? 'another please' is my safe-word ford this :-)
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I would and you would beg me for another, or not. I think that this is a beer that would sit well mid-evening if you were serious about it being a talkative evening, because after a few you might stumble into mumbling about love and other things undefined.

Music for this, well it was vinyl night in and there was a selection of things going on, Pink Floyd, Elbow, Jack White, Mike Oldfield, David Bowie, The Police, Dire Straits... it was quite a party, for one.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="11149,11150,11151,11152,11153,11154,11159,11169"]

In amongst all the lovely was 'Elbow', and the song 'Some Riot'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_kk9WZ2zLw

A friend of mine grows his very own brambles
They twist all around him till he can't move
Beautiful, quivering, chivalrous shambles
What is my friend trying to prove?

SCHWARZBIER

Dark brown to black. Medium body. Roasted malt evident. Low sweetness in aroma and flavor. Low to medium bitterness. Low bitterness from roast malt. Hop flavor and aroma, "noble-type" OK. No fruitiness, esters.

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Beer - #557 - Liberty Brewing - M!llers Humulus

Big beer, big music, big maths, big crowds.

 '.. this beer claims to have the largest carbon footprint in New Zealand. " 

This then as then beer that is; 8% ABV, 120 IBU things, 240 calories a serve, and for the 500ml bottle that would be 3.16 standard drink units. 120 IBU is bonkers.

Brewed by Liberty Brewing Co in the style that is Imperial/Double IPA and they are in Auckland, New Zealand, the people that brew the amazing C!tra. Of course.

[caption id="attachment_10577" align="alignright" width="300"] Sm!le[/caption]

Brewed with 100% imported USA Malt, Hops and Yeast, this beer claims to have the largest carbon footprint in New Zealand.

M!llers IPA has now been brewed to commemorate the success gained by Neil Miller: New Zealand’s champion Beer Writer.

Enjoy the taste of enamel being stripped from your teeth at refrigeration temperature with your friends and family.

What could go wrong?

Of course a burst of green grass hop aroma on opening, what else were there to expect? But it's also nice a sweet too.

That is one of the prettiest beers I've poured in a while, it's like golden glowing orange and head like Humpty Dumpty, except this is white and fluffy and not round, I'm sure you get it

But gosh it's pretty.

In the glass the aroma is like marmalade, or seville oranges or guessing wildly grapefruit (which is guess as grapefruit is a forbidden fruit)

On the tongue this is a monster bitter punch, but then you knew that was coming? Despite that though there isn't a flinch with it or a gasp.

The finish, again no surprises, is dry, going on arid.

The aroma is still big, and I also get something else, not all pleasant, but present, like a burnt plastic, faint but for me there, if I give it a really good snort, but that's not the thing you normally do is it. Who knows we're all different.

So I imbibe some more, and revel in the lovely way that the bitterness rolls across the tongue in an orderly fashion, the bitter then the sweeter mellow middle and the tang at the back, all preceded by the grassy aroma.

Words are almost enough.

Thing I noticed too is that you're compelled to the next mouthful, it is really inviting, and alarmingly easy drinking, and then you notice that the most of the beer has gone, and you've been all poetic and wistful about it.

Is it a good beer? Yes it's a good beer, it is balanced, has a few flavours that unwrap and develop, and isn't monitoring the palate and making you regret it, you could switch from this to another beer and still enjoy the other beer despite the assault.

For me though, it's not the be all and end all of IPA's. An undefinable thing, again I think we're all different, I might have like more middle in this perhaps. And here I am, empty glass, wondering how that happened, and wishing I had another. It is one of those beers.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this on it's scale of things as a 9 of its things from the thing. only a 9? are you mad, are you missing something, you said..... I know I said, but I don't think that 'everyone' would feel the same about this as i do. I'd like more malt in this, although this has a drooling about of bitterness that sometimes you just need a hit of. I think that because I can't stretch to enjoying the middle as much as the hop punch up front and arid finish that I could put this 'on the list'.  Call me you have one and want to share, or know of an 'on tap' experience, I'll be there.

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? This is a thunderously good  hop heavy beer of some class.


2. Would I have another? I am bemoaning that I don't have another, it's just not right.


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I might let you hold the bottle, or read the label, I'm not sure I'd share this. Of course I'd share with you and show you the light, the way and the goodness, it'd be a sin not to preach about this on the porch. Honest.

Music appreciation this afternoon extended to Angus & Julia Stone who are an Australian brother-sister folk and indie pop group that formed in 2006 by Angus Stone and Julia Stone.

This is "A Heartbreak" from an Album called "Angus and Julia Stone"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV50lmpVk1E

Nice for Sunday Afternoon.

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.

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Beer - #502 - Liberty - La Debut De Tout

La Debut De Tout - The Debut Of All -  an increasingly popular style the Saison. So here we go, Popular beer, popular music, popular numbers and pop-around.

100% NZ ingredients with Gladfield Pilsner, Aurora malt and NZ Liberty hops. The yeast is from DuPont brewery in Belgium. 

Brewed by Liberty Brewing Co this is in the style: Saison and they are in Auckland, New Zealand.

This was a fill-your-own 1 Litre 'growler' that is a beer of 4.7% ABV which means that this is only 3.71 standard drink units worth of beer, this in total would be about 400 calories.

[caption id="attachment_9933" align="alignleft" width="300"] It's in a brown bag, how I've fallen.[/caption]

Looking for something different than massive hops? Like the occasional Belgian beer? Try this all new Liberty Saison, a very refreshing and slightly spicy summer Farmhouse ale! Noted characters are bubblegum with spice on the nose, grapefruit.

What could possibly go wrong?

After a long couple of days this is something that I've been looking forward to. That and the Fish and Chips for dinner that I've been promised.

It's incredibly pale, in the bottle, and of course the glass, for which I've gone the jam-jar look.

Very fruity aroma in this, well carbonated, great pour, fantastic head, more a dusty aroma in the glass,

There are a couple early picks, one is the earthy tang and the other is the thinness.

• Bubblegum - not really, there isn't enough of the sugary malting that would lead you believe that.


• Spice on the nose - It's fairly earthy but this is debatable.


• Grapefruit - Which you'd think is quite tart and also quite specific - which this isn't.

This is though easy drinking and is easy to enjoy for the flavours and mouthfeel that it does deliver, it also looks great and retains it's head, and has nice lacing in the tumbler.

Price-wise, something I'm generally loath to do, this isn't expensive, and is somewhat money well spent if you compare it to a domestic type beer for the everyman. It's also a lot more interesting and enjoyable, different and tastier. Rarer too.

My mood has changed in drinking this (and the music helped a bit) and I've become a lot calmer and nicer, perhaps I was 'hangry' and the snack I had helped too.

A very summery beer, that is soft, mellow, has some tartness in and around the middle, and an earthy finish that is both a surprise and unusual, but not unwelcome.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as an 8 on its things from the thing. * being 'very good'. This is that beer that starts muddled, piques your interest and gallops on being the same, making it in the end something a bit nice and shareable.

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? I was doubtful and now I'm a bit of a convert, this is a great summer evening starter beer.


2. Would I have another? I'm having another :)


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? This is a fine way to start a conversation, it's a beer that should appeal to lots of people, there are similar/differents to domestic beer that would have some confused and converted, and for the craft snob something to crow about.

Riiight .

Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies - and this is from the Album "Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!" a track  "I believe I can fly" yes it's a covers band and it's all glam rock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV3XQcCyyPc

Hey it is so worth a listen if you want to sing you lungs out to old standards! Cracking!

SAISON

Fruity esters dominate the aroma. Clarity is good with a large foamy head on top. The addition of several spices and herbs create a complex fruity or citrusy flavor. Light to medium bodied with very high carbonation. Alcohol level is medium to high.

Beer - #501 - Liberty - C!tra - A redux

New territory, old beer, New music, old friends.

I make a return to a beer that I really liked and found on tap so I could take it home with me as I'd drink it out on my travels.

An imperial IPA showcasing a unique hop combination.

Liberty C!tra, is brewed by Liberty Brewing in the style of a  Imperial/Double IPA in New Plymouth, New Zealand

Tonight I have a 1 litre, 1000ml, of a 9% ABV beer (that's about 7.2 standard drinks), 99 IBU things, and all this in a a simple bottle that I filled at the fill station at Liquorland Newmarket, early night much?

What is in a name?

[caption id="attachment_9916" align="alignleft" width="300"] Big beer, big bottle[/caption]

Under conventional language guidelines you would expect to find any number of consonants, and to a lesser extent, you will find the odd noun.

But if your have a look at the name of this beer, you will find that it has an exclamation mark right in the middle of it.

What’s that all about? Doesn’t that just seem a little unusual? It’s definitely not a typo - and if you’re reading this, then I guess it’s done it’s Job.

The next step is to take this bottle home. Go on. You won’t regret it.

I had this beer as #133, march 2013, so it's been a while. MrsPdubyah was out and I was home alone, and up to no good.

As you can see, in the bottle, as it will be in the glass, looks like a polished chestnut brown.

Huge burst of grass aroma, sweetness and sugars, it really does give a full aroma experience.

Fantastic pour to a decent a persistent full and foamy head. And a large noisy mouthful of grassy bitter sweetness with a decent carry  that finishes towards dry but not parched follows. And again as I went in wonderment to the well again.

This has real bitterness in it, and if anything too much caramel at the bottom.

Nice amount of things like perhaps Mandarin, grapefruit (more aroma) but this delivers quite a hit of complex but raw favours, it is a bit lop-sided or uneven.

So, unbalanced then perhaps, a lot of bit notes, all very nice in and of themselves, but some of them are discrete. Not that I'm not liking this, it has a great presence and a is a lovely hop heavy high bitter IPA.  What is doesn't carry is a big aroma, so you don't get a nose before you get a taste.

Despite being hop heavy this does not deliver a harsh grass carry, and the aroma, as it warms does being to come to the fore. I mean that the particular hop/grass thing isn't all of it. As it warms the sweetness in this begins to bloom in the aroma, and this adds to the whole.

This beer is a showcase then, and has been a staple on the brewers list for at least two years. Highly and correctly. for a NZ comparison this is like The Epic Hop Zombie, which I rated (10), on the random thing (and was on the tap today but I went with this).  The IPA selection is as broad as it is long, and there are some stunning beers in there, I've had a few. I'd like to make two observations (1) IPA is a standard for a brewer, and therefore there is a wide selection of interpretation, most brewers go the more hops and bitter, because just because (2) Some of the interpretation hits the exact spot of an audience, could be sweetness, bitterness, dryness, but not all 'well rated' IPA are good IPA's for the 'everyman'.

Where does that leave me on this? Well C!tra is malt and sweet heavy as it is hop heavy and the sweetness and associated weight that gives to the beer is the more predominant of the things you experience as you drink this, that is you get the malt hit then the bitterness, it could almost be cloying. It is a 'sticky;' beer, it coats the mouth, dominates your taste, and becomes  loud and persistent.

I actually quite like it, despite being all over the place like a mad woman's hair on the favours, layers, length, notes, and delivery.  It really might just be me picking. This beer C!tra was 2nd= in the recent New World Beer awards thing -  The Liberty Yakima Monster - won, and that's a beer that I've rated as 3rd after the Hop Zombie and the C!tra, but then (a) I'm not a judge and (b) it's about accessibility of the beer. No point in picking something that leaves your mouth like a desert after a bottle, you have to get close to the edge for the everyman, but not too close to the sun.

Again, Where does that leave me? Well I haven't yet found anything that would make me change my mind on this, it's a cracking beer, heavy bold annoying cloying and in your face, at the edge, not for the faint of heart and stands up without shame as being a bit of a bully.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as a 9 on of its things from the thing. Remembering last time was a 9, and that was from a bottle, and so long ago.  This is, as taken, an IPA that is loud and brash and punchy, for that it's really should be recognised. It's not the pinnacle best,  there is something missing, or short of whole, there is a lot of sum, a lot of chorus all singing, at the end of the day, a bit loud and out of sync.

But I finished the bottle and sat and grinned on the lounge furniture like it didn't matter.

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? I really am, on a night when you wanted a big IPA this was a good choice.


2. Would I have another? I had two pints, and that made me reach for the phone to drink text someone, perhaps I should have another .....


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I really would, if it was a contest of what's the best you got, and I brought this, a gun to a knife fight....

Music was interesting. Although not the album I was listening to I'm compelled to share this track 'Pink Frost' from a band called 'The Chills" as to the "New" part of this the particular album I'm listening to has tracks that are all new to me, hey it works.  You should enjoy this though.

Beckoned by John Peel himself, the first time The Chills entered the BBC studios in Maida Vale it was a dream come true for the little band that could from New Zealand. Exporting the kind of unique pop smarts that only emanate from Dunedin, they were only too happy to graduate to the fully stocked studio and show the UK what they really had to offer. Removed from past budget restrictions, but pushed forward by the time constraints of a one day recording, the results produced a rush of superior recordings of their early material, without losing any of the charm so vital to their appeal. This was the real sound of The Chills.

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

They're from New Zealand, and this is pretty much a Kiwi standard at a party.

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.

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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 - #275 - Liberty - Darkest Days Oatmeal Stout

Home again home again.... to a Liberty Darkest Days Oatmeal Stout. One has to finish what's in the beer fridge and this is the last of the last year beers.

Brewed by Liberty Brewing Co in the Style of a  Stout and that all a happening in Kumeu, in Auckland, New Zealand.

This is 500ml bottle, of a 6% ABV beer, making it 2.4 standard drinks. Something like 180 calories a serve, which I think, and I'm still researching, is 350ml. at 45 IBU things this is nearer the top end of the range for this type of beer.

It doesn't have to always be about hops. With the surging popularity of overtly hoppy beer, there's an extreme demand for the aromatic little flowers. The history of beer has never seen such overwhelming pressure on the international hop supply. With entire crops unavailable to the smaller brewery, these are the Darkest Days for the hard-core hop heads. But this isn't about hops. This is about a delicious oatmeal stout, darker and more ominous that your hopped up fears. Challenge your palate with this, decidedly, devilish drop.

Enjoy full bodied bitter chocolate and espresso notes, with a rich texture, at cellar temperature with your friends and family.

Quite hoppy aroma, grassy, I wasn't expecting that, but it gives over to a more chocolate note.

A big heady pour, and I was expecting less than a pint, I got a bit more, with the mocha coloured head overflowing the glass, meaning a quick dive in. No harm except to the coaster that is not going to make it to the end of the glass.

I'm finding this a little bitter, and lacking in strong chocolate notes. This also didn't pout "thick". The head has subsided a bit to a smaller more manageable height but there is no lacing to speak of.

So what do I get? I am getting chocolate notes, yes. But this is carried on an underlying and quite resonant bitterness.  Yes I know this is more indicative of stout that I'm letting on.

I was looking forward to this, and it really is my lead up to finally getting to the Epic Coffee and Fig stout that is weeping gently in the fridge. However I find myself a little miffed that this isn't cracking on and being better.

So the coffee and the bitterness should be more balanced.  For my money, and it was, this is also a bit thin and short on length, there isn't much to chew over in each mouthful, the mouthfeel is a little lacking.

I feel that I've been a bit harsh on this, but I've come to the conclusion that it is only my opinion and it was my money.  The pdubyah-o-meter is 7 though, making this the top end of average on my arbitrary scale of things that makes often no sense.

I like a goodly amount of the Liberty beers, it's not like they have a record of swing-and-a-miss brewing, I really like their C!tra for instance. I look forward to my next one, beer from Liberty that is. Or beer, in general.

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• Beer - #267 - Liberty - C!tra Jnr

Beer - #133 - Liberty - C!tra

Liberty C!tra, Brewed by Liberty Brewing in the style of a  Imperial/Double IPA in New Plymouth, New Zealand

500ml of a 9% ABV beer (thats about 3.6 standard drinks) in a simple bottle.

What is in a name? Under conventional language guidelines you would expect to find any number of consonants, and to a lesser extent, you will find the odd noun. But if your have a look at the name of this beer, you will find that it has an exclamation mark right in the middle of it. What’s that all about? Doesn’t that just seem a little unusual? It’s definitely not a typo - and if you’re reading this, then I guess it’s done it’s Job. The next step is to take this bottle home. Go on. You won’t regret it.

at 9% ABV you might regret it, is what I'm thinking. This is beer that has nothing but good reviews though, so I'm not expecting any regrets, except if its only having one bottle.

Double IPA, so Hoppy, bitter (99IBU bitter) and a full noise nose is what I'm expecting. A head on the pour would be a bonus.

Before I pour there is an abundance of hop aroma, this is something you should bottle, it's pretty o for owesum. It's hoppy but sweet. Its chestnut brown and pours with a nice settled head. MrsPdubyah agrees with me , a first, that this has an aroma to die for. Grapefruit,  citrus, a little grass. I may have gone on a little bit about the aroma, it's worth it!

There's a banging amount of hop bitter on the taste too, not lip puckering whince but a fair goodly amount of 'gosh, how fine and subtle that is', and how fabulous the length of the taste, I'm sitting here grinning.

There a lovely sweetness to offset the bitter in this, the whole experience is something to savour and if you're drinking to enjoy you're unfolding a many layered thing.

After a bunch of average this stands shoulders above many many beers, and leaves you wondering what  the others might be up to, or what they missed on their journey.

As it sits the grassiness begins to take hold of the taste, the length remains the smile still lingers. They've really crammed the hops into this, and managed at the same time to keep them in check. I can see why this is well liked.

The pdubyah-o-meter likes this too. It's a solid 9 things on the scale of things. Not a 10, there just aren't enough things to keep you looking for the next thing, but as a thing on and of itself this is the thing!

One of those beers where if you like an IPA, then this would really ring you bell, and if you brought this and didn't like it I'd offer you the money back. Quite spectacular, quaffable and a beer that would get you wobbly in short order should you forget that this i a big hitter 9% abv beer. Would easily stand up to some strong taste foods, would easily make grown men start waxing lyrical about the 80's, 90's, and confess many things.

Hats off to you Liberty, I'm a bit in love.

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• Beer - #116 - Liberty - Yakima Scarlet (pdubyah.com)

Beer - #116 - Liberty - Yakima Scarlet

The Liberty - Yakima Scarlet. Brewed by Liberty Brewing  In the style: American Strong Ale and they do that of course in New Plymouth, New Zealand

Of course. It's been a while since I had a new beer to drink about, and time to get back on the horse.

They say "My original records for this beer date back to a batch of home brew in June 2007. It was a beer called IPA Massacre. It was brewed three times under this moniker with minor tweaks along the way. The most significant tweak I made to the recipe was changing to use hops grown in Washington USA. Accordingly, in January 2011 the name was changed to Yakima Scarlet. There were no less than seven iterations of this beer brewed before releasing what you hold in your hands right now. I still don’t what style of beer it is, but I can tell you that it is hoppy and it is red."

I say... 500ml bottle of 6.9% ABV beer, that's 2.8 Standard Drink units,  here I come... and I'm  expecting a  beer with a history of chop and change but that with American hops should make it a mouthful...

It does have a bitter hops aroma, a fluffy dark head (a head yes!) and decent carbonation, it's all happening. When I say bitter aroma, I mean pungent because the aroma is sweet malty sweet.

The beer is a dark red, not stout dark, but burnt brown dark, it's really a very pretty thing.

And the taste is to amaze at, there is a balance between the hops and the malts that brings a smile to the dial, this at first flush seems to be the goods.  This isn't like any "red ale" that I've ever had, and I don't profess to be any kind of expert or aficionado, but this is nice as is.

As it sits between sips though the hops take a hold and push the malt sweets to the back, but overall this is a bit of alright. The pdubyah-o-meter says 8.25 arbitrary things for this, not because there are things wrong with it but because I'd prefer the malt to hag around for a bit longer.

Very good, I'm off to cook some lamb, and watch some cricket, and smile .

 

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Beer - #80 - Yeastie Boys + Liberty Brewing - Yakima Raven

A few beers ago I tried the Yeastie Boys – Motueka Raven. This time I'm up for the Yakima Raven.

This one similarly brewed by the Yeastie Boys in their Invercargill Brewery in the style of a Black IPA.  Yeastie Boys are from Wellington, New Zealand, and Liberty Brewing, they're all over the internet.

"It’s a knee-trembling honour to face him in our annual Yakima/Motueka hop challenge. Try this US hopped Black IPA alongside our NZ version and experience the difference 11,500km makes."

And the thing is that it was a few beers since I had the Motueka Raven. So the challenge is with me.

There's a goodly fantastic beer bitterness smell as you open the tiny 330ml bottle of  6.5% ABV beer, Pours dark, with an off white head. The initial Hop aroma though fades quite quickly, as does the head, it's as if it all wanted to burst out at the one time. So we settle in for a low aroma beer.

The initial  taste isn't a disappointment either, lots of the bittery hop taste and a decent linger.  Underneath the hops you can taste the malts trying to do their thing, and they carry it off with some credit. This is a high burp beer.

All the time I'm thinking that I'm  not a fan, that I'm trying to like this in a really hard way, but there is the crash of the bitterness that is the thing. That's all the thing there is though. As it sits I do get a caramel on the aroma, that's somewhat pleasing. I liked this more as it warmed in the glass, but then it just finished and I had no more.

To the chase though, I'm not sure If I'm over thinking it, or that the bitterness is that's all Im going to get. I might not just get  the "Black IPA" thing, I might not get the IPA thing. Of the two beers though I think the first just shades it on it's overall balance. If it was a choice. I wish I'd had the foresight to try these side to side, back to back and then I'd be more sure of a winner.

I do think it's a terribly good idea to have a "similar but different" beer competition, even if it is amongst yourself.

The pudubyah-o-meter thinks that because this is just a shade bitter- all the time - that this is 6 from 10 arbitrary things from an equally arbitrary number. I'm worried that in my effort to like everything I'm being too kind.

The nice people at Liquorland stock these, and a goodly lot more beers besides, and as a bonus I found a gift card so this is a freebie!

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