Beer - #488 - Moa - Blanc Evolution

This one: A First, First Things, First things First, and a Finish.

Moa Blanc Evolution is bottle fermented in the Belgian-style with a small amount of coriander added during its extended maturation time giving it a unique spiciness. Described as a rich, mouth-filling beer, it’s really a true wheat lover’s beer and a staple of the Moa Reserve range.

To round out the Moa Blanc trilogy I've managed of course to get them in the wrong order and so I finish with the Evolution.

Brewed by Moa Brewing Company this is in the style that is a Belgian White (Witbier) and they are  in Blenheim, New Zealand.

A small 330ml bottle, cork and cage, 6.2% ABV, 186 calories, this is 1.83 standard drink units.

[caption id="attachment_9763" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sunday, sunday......[/caption]

Moa Blanc Evolution has a slight fruity aroma and a crisp, refreshing finish.

Stone fruit and hazelnut flavours compliment the distinctive dominant spicy and phenolic characters.

With a subtle hop aroma and bitterness, Moa Blanc Evolution is well paired with lightly aged cheeses, smoked and savoury meals, or on its own for a satisfying pint.

Moa Blanc Evolution is best served at approximately 4˚C in a pilsner glass. 

Moa are undergoing some changes, all in progress, but they appear to be making a move to standardised 500ml bottles, re-branding, and shedding some of the range, although they might deny it. They've also been contract brewing for the last year, and these changes might be the continuance of that and reducing some costs, but here I just speculate. Love the cork and cage, it adds a little to the excitement, and no doubt the costs.

[caption id="attachment_9764" align="alignright" width="224"] Not my best work.[/caption]

Spend 5 minutes cleaning up beer after the cork spectacularly popped and beer fizzed all over the macbook, the table, floor and the cork took out the cat.

I've never worn a beer in such a spectacular way before.  Not a good thing. My own fault for peeling the cage and then thinking I could gently roll the bottle to move the sediment.

The aroma though is really nice,  sweet fruity and sugary. Its lively, very lively, I have a whole glass of excitable foam to deal with, and I really tried to be pour gentle.

Sometimes you end up feeling like a klutz.

This is a much 'softer' drink than the standard blanc, and drinks more like a Wheat beer might.

The hops and the associated roughness are not present that I could detect. Now the foam subsides this is a pleasing cloudy golden yellow, and the carbonation bubbles are pretty in the glass.

But as to the overall taste experience and how this sits int he scheme of things. This different to the standard 'Blanc' it is softer, but it is also more intense in the middle.

The aroma is stronger (MrsPdubyah just noticed the rather pungent room), and there is a lingering to the finish that is more to dry than not. The wine elements are highlights and can be picked.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 a of its things from the thing. I wanted it to be better, I couldn't have wished for more exciting though. The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? Not in the way that I expected to, or might have expected to.


2. Would I have another? No.


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? No. There isn't anything special or defining in this that would make it a conversation piece, or move a conversation along.

Music to drink by for this in an evolution of the band Status Quo, legends, their Quo Live album is one of the best live albums ever, in my opinion. So I was overcome with unbounded joy when I discovered they had a new album - The acoustic Status Quo 2014 album - Aquostic (Stripped Bare). This is the track  "And it's better now"

One of those occasions where the music was better than the beer, and that doesn't happen all that often.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcsL-JqVaTo&w=420&h=315]

BELGIAN WHITE & WITBIER

Belgian style wheat beers are very pale, opaque, with the crisp character of wheat, plus the citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes also include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise. Serve with light cheeses or mussels.

Related articles

• 'Pathetic' marketing idea quickly stubbed out

Beer - #484 - Moa - Blanc

Local beer, Not Local Music, numbers, and  self review.

Moa Blanc wheat beer is a blend of 50% wheat malt and 50% barley malt resulting in an elegantly smooth beer with hints of spice and uplifting esters. Based on a German Kristallweizen style, but in a nod to its origins, Moa Blanc is brewed using renowned Sauvignon Blanc yeast.

Moa Blanc - another of the beers that I thought I'd had, but clearly not, I have no idea how this happens but it does.

Brewed by Moa Brewing Company in that style that is of Belgian White (Witbier) and they're in Blenheim, New Zealand

The bigger sized 750ml bottle, as is the style, from the brewer, and it's a 5.5% ABV beer and 165 calories a serve. Cork and cage too, all fancy. 2.96 standard drinks worth in the bottle.  Lucky I went for my exercise earlier....

Moa Blanc wheat beer is brewed using a blend of 65% wheat malt and 35% barley malt which results in an elegantly smooth beer, with hints of spice and uplifting esters. The slightly cloudy appearance reflects its Germanic origins and it’s customary to gently roll the bottle before opening to create an even distribution of the sediment signature. 

Moa Blanc has a fruity aroma and taste. Banana, vanilla, citrus and bubble gum fruit flavours dominate, with some phenolic characters present. Moa Blanc is a highly drinkable wheat beer, with flavours more moderate than other wheat beers. Hop aroma and bitterness are minimal. Moa Blanc is best served at approximately 4˚C in a pilsner glass.

I've already noticed a confusion between description (a) and (b), makes it interesting for drinking and keeps you on your toes.

I'm also sitting in the sun, in the garden, as you can see, and the music bar is playing the Pixies, just so you know what's coming at the end.

I really did have to use a nutcracker to get the cork out, it was firmly in, but a gorgeous pop when it did let go.

Clear pour, and I know that this is a wheat beer, I can see the sediment in the bottom, it too is a bit in place, so I'm going to muddy it up for the second and other pours.

Nice hop aroma on opening, I'm sure that that is Wheat beer style though, it's more a pilsner aroma than a wheat.  Great head though, nice pour, lovely colour.

I'd still not pick this as a Wheat Beer though, it really does seem more like a Pilsner. MrsPhil had a sip and though it was ok to drink, I'm not  sure that is a good or bad thing though, it could mean I have to share, it could mean I have to go buy more.

[caption id="attachment_9729" align="alignright" width="112"] I used a nutcracker thing to open it, for real, I'm not even joking[/caption]

This is a very lively and well carbonated beer, and I couldn't get it to cloud up, despite a vigorous swirling, it might be my action or it might be there is no sediment to cloud it up.

This though is where I begin to have a doubt about what kind of beer this is! At the end of the bottle though the cloudiness appears, and I really did try, and then the lemony and citrus came through like the cavalry to the rescue. This just made a pleasant beer much more fun and enjoyable.

Now I know that the Moa beers are a bit hit and miss, and this as a style for them is a bit of a miss, not one of their best efforts, and frankly it's a bit of a hodgepodge of things, I can see why there is an "Evolution" and a "Sour" version of the same, sometimes you might have to put lipstick on a pig.

The "Evolution" version, which I don't have, by some accounts is about 3x this, and more the Wheat beer that it should be.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 a of its things from the thing, a jolly good and solid mark for a solid and go-to beer, which for me at the moment this is, mostly because the current stock with this branding is on run-out special, I'm so cheap. sometimes. Moa continue to entertain and disappoint in equal measures with their beers. At this, the run-out price, though you'd have to be a curmudgeon no to enjoy it

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? Yes I am, and I have been, and I will enjoy the rest of the stash that I have.


2. Would I have another? Of course! Despite it's confused style (to my mind) this is a drinkable and accessible beer.


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Yes, bring a nut-cracker and we will crack another!

Music I've already given away as being "The Pixies" This is "Caribou" The Pixies are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986. I'm listening to an album called "Wave of Mutilation" which is a "best of"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6m-pwWCDKU

 

BELGIAN WHITE & WITBIER

Belgian style wheat beers are very pale, opaque, with the crisp character of wheat, plus the citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes also include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise. Serve with light cheeses or mussels

Beer - #468 - Yeastie Boys - White Noise

Where in I have a small beer, listen to some noise, generate a random number, and second guess myself.

Yeastie Boys White Noise is my entertainment this afternoon, although it's a small bottle so I might wait to early evening before I  drink it.

"White beer with chamomile and NZ hops"

Yeastie Boys who brewed this at Invercargill Brewery in the style that is of  Wheat Ale and YB are in Wellington, New Zealand.

This is in the smaller 330 ml bottle, and it is of 4.4% ABV, making it  a beer of 1.4 standard drink units, it's a low 9 or 10 IBU, and 132 calories in the bottle to round out the numbers.

A quaffable, cloudy white ale that is perfect for those afternoon sessions after a hard day's work or play.  Pours a cloudy pale straw colour with a dense mousse-like white head.

A perfumy coconut and vanilla note on the nose, with a little citrus and spice, and bready grains from the wheat. The mouthfeel is full for such a pale beer, but still very light and elegant.

The beer finishes with a cleansing acidity, a faint spicy note and only the mildest touch of citrus from the virtually non-existent hops.

Speaking of which the Hops are  Kohatu, Wakatu  and this is  Egyptian chamomile, it's important. 

Beer - #449 - Blue Moon - Belgian White Ale

This most certainly isn't craft beer is it. Blue Moon Belgian White Ale.

"Brewed with oats for creaminess and spiced with the perfect combination of orange peel and coriander. An unfiltered wheat ale spiced in the Belgian tradition for an uncommonly smooth taste."

Brewed by Coors Brewing Company (MillerCoors) in the style they think is  Belgian White (Witbier) and they are in Golden, Colorado USA

Bottle is 5.4% ABV and 355Ml so that should be about 192 calories a serve, and makes this bottle 1.51 standard drink units in NZ. This might register at 9 IBU's too.

Blue Moon Belgian White, Belgian-style wheat ale, is a refreshing, medium-bodied, unfiltered Belgian-style wheat ale spiced with fresh coriander and orange peel for a uniquely complex taste and an uncommonly smooth finish.

Much of this beer’s production now comes from the Molson brewery in Toronto. A small portion of Denver draught production comes from the SandLot brewery. Still other product may continue to hail from Golden.  Which is where my bottle is from, and it's made specifically for NZ with country specific label and everything.

I first had this in Australia, and it had fruit in the glass, I think an orange slice, but that was then....

So no orange slice, umbrella or plastic tiki. just the beer, just a glass.

Beer - #357 - ’t IJ - IJwit

They ran out of consonants and this is then another one of those unpronounceable beers  - ’t IJ - IJwit

Brewed by Brouwerij ’t IJ in the style of  Belgian White (Witbier) and they are in the progressive city of Amsterdam, Netherlands

A 330ml bottle of a 6.5% ABV beer, with about 195 calories, only 18 IBU things, this would be 1.69 standard drinks in NZ

[caption id="attachment_7931" align="alignright" width="300"] Ears like Rocket Fins[/caption]

Formerly called ’t IJ Scharrel IJwit A full-bodied, Amsterdam wheat beer that is dangerously ‘moreish’. Slightly cloudy, it has a beautiful golden colour and a soft, foamy head. When we brew IJwit, we use wheat malt as well as barley malt, which is also how the beer gets its name. The wheat malt gives the beer a delightful, fresh flavour, and the addition of coriander and lemon during the brewing process produces a rich aroma of banana, citrus and spices. Topped off by a fine, slightly sweet aftertaste, IJwit is a delicious thirst-quencher.

Same old familiar aroma from this style of beer.

Well nice poor of golden yellow with a dense head of  white foam, bubbles dancing in the glass it looks great.

Lemon citrus wheat beer familiar on the nose, musty aroma under,, really dencet flavours and profile in drinking this, it's much more than I thought I would be.

Here then is a beer that is what it says on the label, it's clean,. refreshing, has some nice flavours and is pretty decent, not dressed up or challenge you to taste what the marketing people say it is. I like that.

However there isn't anything else in this except easy drinking, which is a pretty crowed field.  Eventually the sweetness of this would catch up ab become perhaps cloying and you'd need a change of beers to refresh your tongue.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 a of its things from the thing. It's a really clean drinking beer that refreshes but does not challenge you to more than that.

The double dip review

1. Am I enjoying it? I am


2. Would I have another? just the one, after that I'd be looking to change


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? As a lead in to something but not for a long story of unrequited love and lost fortunes.

BELGIAN WHITE & WITBIER

Belgian style wheat beers are very pale, opaque, with the crisp character of wheat, plus the citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes also include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise. Serve with light cheeses or mussels.

 

Beer - #340 - St. Austell - Clouded Yellow

The final of the 3 that I have   - St. Austell Clouded Yellow - obviously brewed by St. Austell this one however in the Style of a : Belgian White (Witbier) and they are in the romantically named St. Austell, England.

500ml bottle of a 4.8% ABV beer - making it 144 calories a serving, and 1.89 standard drinks in NZ.

Pale yellow in color and naturally conditioned in the bottle, the beer may be poured cloudy by gently swirling the last few inches to rouse the natural yeast sediment.

[caption id="attachment_7735" align="alignleft" width="300"] Grumpy looking[/caption]

Alternatively, clear beer can be decanted carefully leaving the yeast behind. Either way serve cool in a tall glass for a superbly refreshing wheat beer of character and individuality. Only natural ingredients are used including our own supply of exceptionally soft Cornish spring water. Malted wheat produces a beer with a citrus tang which has been delicately flavoured with whole spices and vanilla. The combination of flavors is brought alive by gently sweetening with pure organic maple syrup.
Ingredients: Maris Otter pale malt, whaet malt. Willamette hops. Vanilla pods, cloves, coriander, maple syrup.

I really don't have much hope for this, and I'm a big fan of the Belgium beer

I get a bananas as the aroma on opening, what's with that!. Cloudy pale yellow poor with an immediately disappearing head, although it sounds like it is well carbonated.

Aroma settles to something more nondescript.

This is really really average. It's really really thin and tastes is of nothing so much as cold water with some undefined chemical thrown in.

So I'm not enjoying it then :-)

Said though, this isn't undrinkable, and on checking it is past it's best before, but not so much that it would the disaster that is in my glass.

The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as a please avoid - 3 - on the scale of arbitrary, which is at the high end of avoid, and lower than below average.

1. Am I enjoying it?  yeah, na.


2. Would I have another?  yeah, na, no more of this beersie for me


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I'd give it to an enemy and run away....

and in reference to the no more beersies this :

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srE57FURiZU&w=560&h=315]

BELGIAN WHITE & WITBIER

Belgian style wheat beers are very pale, opaque, with the crisp character of wheat, plus the citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes also include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise. Serve with light cheeses or mussels.

Beer - #335 - Renaissance - Odyssey Wit Beer

Ok, I have to call it a night sometime, and I want to go out on a high  - Renaissance Odyssey Wit Beer it might be.

Small 250ml bottle of a 5.2% ABV beer, 1.2 standard drinking in NZ (330 ml being a standard drink volume)... 156  calories. They all mount up the calories, I've seen the chore list tomorrow, I consider it pre-loading...

Brewed by Renaissance Brewing this is in the style of a Belgian White (Witbier), and they are in Blenheim, New Zealand last I looked

 Odyssey Wit beer is brewed the traditional Belgian style. Delightfully refreshing, almost everything about Wit beer is a bit different, from the beginning of the brewing process when a high proportion of wheat, both malted and raw, provides crispness. Coriander and orange peel are added during the boil to harmonise the flavours. The addition of spices harks back to the days before hops, when spices or ’gruit’ were used instead. Lastly, special yeast is used to give a unique hazy white look and a spicy refreshing flavour. Serve with summer BBQ or antipasto.

I got so sqiffy I changed my eyes to the external distanc assisted versions. If only I could afford lasik or hadn't thought so many bad things as a teenager.

 The opening

Well, It is getting late, the table is crowded and so I went with what was to hand for a glass.

Lots of orange, and that's all I have to say about that.  Poured flat, and I tried to high pour to make a head, but alas it looks like lucozade in the glass a bit unappealing.

Unappealing to look at and to hold to the light.

The Taste.

Well....

Lets move straight to the pdubyah-o-meter then, which rounds on 5 this to be a  on the scale of things.

The Conclusion

I Didn't like it, it was flat, insipid looking and disappointing, It didn't have an aroma  and that carried to the palate where it delivered no length, carry, finish middle or low or high notes..

Shocker. What then the 5 - average. Oath it's average. It isn't poor, it isn't undrinkable, well it nearly is, but it isn't tart, difficult, over yeasty or over anything. It's just not much,

Smaller bottle = better beer - yeah - na.

The Three Point Turn

Am I enjoying it?  Nooooo.
Would I have another?  Noooo

Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Noooo

 

 

It was that kind of evening where you thought you might be 18 again. For me this was a bit of Yazoo, but to could have also been Bronski Beat..

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yod7jc8U94&w=420&h=315]

Bronski Beat....  bonus point if you get the link between the two.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuz94ZIPfJk&w=420&h=315]

 

BELGIAN WHITE & WITBIER

Belgian style wheat beers are very pale, opaque, with the crisp character of wheat, plus the citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes also include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise. Serve with light cheeses or mussels.

 

Related articles

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• Beer - #276 - Ass Kisser - Strawberry Belgian Style Wit

Beer - #333 - Kereru - Velvet Boot

I gave in and brought some Kereru, this one their "Velvet Boot" Why not, well their go-to-market thing didn't ring my bell, but in for a penny ...

Brewed by Kereru Brewing Company this is in the style of a  Belgian Strong Ale and they do that in Upper Hutt, New Zealand

I have the standard 500ml bottle of a 8% ABV beer (thats 3.2 standard Nz drinks) about 240 calories

A strong Belgian pale ale with complex aroma, spicy and earthy with some sweetness. Mildly-hopped.

or....

A strong Belgian ale with nashi pear aroma. Goes well with a nutty, soft, washed-rind cheese like Kapiti Ramara.

or....

A strong Belgian pale ale with complex aroma, spicy and earthy with some sweetness. Mildly-hopped, complements chicken, soft rind cheeses, & chocolate cake. Serve at 8-10°C.

Like who knows what that 8-10 thing is like, or how do you maintain that, oh it's a drama,,,,

back to now, the aroma is bizarro banana  and Belgium hops..  but mostly just like a wheat beer.

Pours a lot darker than I thought it would, since it smelt like a wheat beer. I thought golden pale hello, got chestnut brown. Head came and went like a Tuesday morning.

Aroma settles to a flat spicy thing, on a flat beer, no idea if there is carbonation or what going on in this glass

I think I reached for this based on 'Strong" and "Belgium" go on judge me.

Tasting this gave me a sense of wet wood. Not something that I ever thought I'd write in a relative term to a beer. but it's like beer through dry sawdust perhaps. At odds with itself.

This is terribly thin and totally lacking, I'm not even going to try an be kind.

Pdubyah-O-meter time says 6.  Shakes my head. Has the flashes of the thing it's aspiring to. but woefully undershoots and finishes embarrassingly short.

Drink a Belgium Strong Ale from a Belgium brewer and then try this, you are kidding yourself if you think this is an effort, it's a poor effort and a swing and a miss as far as I am concerned, and both the readers of this blog will get that.

I was in a kind of mood, so this was with  Barry White.... MrsPdubyah approved.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcd3XuQwDQQ&w=420&h=315]

1. Am I enjoying it? Nope


2. Would I have another?  Nope


3. Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I think that perhaps it'd end with a discussion about beer styles and how they are perceived in other places, it's not a conversation beer, and frankly there are better attempts than this. I'm sure there is an underlying philosophy but you got to front it before you can back it up . Or no.

BELGIAN STRONG ALE

Belgian Strong Ales can vary from pale to dark brown in color, darker ales may be colored with dark candy sugar. Hop flavor can range from low to high, while hop aroma is low. The beers are medium to full-bodied and have a high alcoholic character. Types of beers included here include tripels, dubbels and ultra-strong abbey ales.

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Beer - #276 - Ass Kisser - Strawberry Belgian Style Wit

May have made a bit of an error of judgement with this, but if you don;t try you'll never know. Ass Kisser Strawberry Belgian Style Wit.

Brewed by Ass Kisser Ales and this particular on was brewed at Hermitage Brewing Co. in the style of a Belgian White (Witbier) and that might have been in San Jose, California USA

A small 12fl oz, or 355ml bottle of a 5.8% ABV beer,  making it only 174 calories, and low IBU of 18,  and that makes it 1.51 standard dink units in NZ.

The "Berry Nice Ass" Strawberry Wit is a Belgian White Ale that has zesty lemon citrus tones with a splash of strawberry to make a bright refreshing ale part of a perfect finish to the day.

Slight note of candy sweetness on opening. Completely bonkers carbonation making it all head and no beer, and no smile. Still the candy floss aroma lingers.

This is like has a seltzer tablet in it, it's fizzier than a fizzy thing.

There is a plastic background note with this, a chemical addition, of strawberry there is  vey little, and so you get a golden yellow fizzy thin water like drink. Worse is that there is a sourness to it.

Ghastly mistake on my part.

The pdubyah-o-meter can't begin to move past 1, making a beer that I should have listened to the voice in my head saying "warning warning" but I wanted a sweet summer ale in a Belgium style. I can carry that thought with me in my adventure for such a beer.

Will not gain you admiring glances from your beer drinking buddies or the girl or man of your dreams, unless you mistake that look of pity as lust.

BELGIAN WHITE & WITBIER

Belgian style wheat beers are very pale, opaque, with the crisp character of wheat, plus the citric refreshment of orange peel and coriander. Ingredients sometimes also include oats for smoothness, and other spices such as grains of paradise.

Related articles

• Your Introduction to Wheat Beer


• Day 87: Ass Kisser


• Belgian Beers Are My New Favorite!

 

Beer - #254 - Pretty Things / Yeastie Boys - Our Turn, Your Turn

Took my eye in the shop, this is a Pretty Things / Yeastie Boys Our Turn, Your Turn collaboration.  Brewed at Buzzards Bay Brewing in the style of a Wheat Ale, or American Pale Wheat Ale. and that happened in  Cambridge, Massachusetts USA, not Cambridge Waikato NZ, where it is more about Horses than Beer.

A 1 pint 6fl Oz bottle, or 650 ml in old money, of a 6.5% ABV beer, making it 3.5 Standard drink units in NZ oh and around 210 calories.

YEAST: a blend of English & German ale strains. BITTERNESS: was meant to be around 25 but drinks like its 40+. INGREDIENTS: pale malt, red wheat, linden flowers, Bramling Cross and New Zealand Southern Cross hops (lots of Southern Cross hops actually). CHARACTER: pale, slight acidity from wheat, a quick drinker, lots of pungent dry hop character with the Linden flower just beneath.

ok. alright then. ready, set ......

Bittery hoppy aroma on opening. Pours a hazy golden pale yellow with a whiff of a head. The subtle hop aroma persists though.

To the drinking of this and it is intially very bitter on the palate, surprisingly so, which might account for why you'd think this was a bitter,  but then with a fluffy carry. Even the aroma does not hint at the punch in the mouth of bitter that you get with this.

But it is confusingly pale too, and wheat beer is what you sort of kind of expect to perhaps get, you don't.

This then is really confusing to me, because there isn't a paring between the appearance and the aroma, and then the aroma and the taste, and then the look and the other thing that doesn't pair with that anyway.

It is however  a jolly nice beer, with the freshness of the hops really standing out, I wouldn't be keen to get a slightly older one of these, I don't think it'd end well for some reason.  I'm thinking that this would be just a bit ok for a few in the afternoon, and would leave you feeling no pain in short order, but that you'd have enjoyed getting to that.

The pdubyah-o-meter is pleased to  be called to rate this, and does so at 7.5 making it at the top end of better than good and just under the great. The whisky head has persisted and there is a decent and goodly amount of lacing in the glass, all things that are pleasing to me.

As I've drunk more of this and it's warmed a bit in the glass, as it does, it has retained that fluffy mouthfeel, and subtle bitterness has remained subtle and the length and carry of the taste has remained.  It is however confusing and a bit of a quandary of a beer. I'd buy it again because I'd like to think that the freshness and bite of the hops would persist, but I can't see how the less of them would be the more of this as a beer.

Music Tonight was c/- Sweet Billy Pilgrim, click on the link and get yourself a fairly decent album of music that will keep you entertained.

Being summer of course the BBQ has to be had, tonight though back to 'steak', which after last nights Chicken stuffed with garlic mushrooms, wrapped in bacon seems a bit life just as ordinary.

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• Wellington (drinksetc.wordpress.com)

 

Beer - #247 - Mike’s - Taranaki Hefeweizen Cloudy (THC)

in for a pound, to follow that thinking... following the Plum Ale from Three boys I have a Mike’s Taranaki Hefeweizen Cloudy (THC) - Brewed by Mike’s Brewery in the style of a  German Hefeweizen and that's from the rugged Taranaki, New Zealand place. 

A 500ml bottle, distinctly labelled as a Mike's,  at 5.5% ABV making that  2.1 standard NZ drink units.

As much as I want to put a more fulsome description here you can have "Bananas, cloves, Cloudy" And nothing to do with Marijuna.

Almost a quite uncomfortable aroma on opening, might just be the banana.

Very cloudy golden pour, of course without a head, because that'd be impressive if I could pull that off right.

Looks flat, but I know it isn't, has a similar sort of aroma to a wheat beer :-).

And then..... wow a mouthful of something that really surprised me! Really chock full of a nice fruit base, with a hint of top sour, but a bit disappointed by the finish that left a lingering, how can I describe, plastic taste. I might be going bonkers.

Also this is a bit thin. There isn't a lot of carry. Also I'm not going bonkers.

So it falters and falls at the hurdle. This is at best averagely a 6. There are some highlights in this, but they are real point thing, and not part of a whole story.

No cloves, the banana might just be confusing me as something not overly pleasing, it happens,  bit of bubblegum thing, but the initial excitement wasn't long lived. I think I also just poured the floaters into this, the dregs, making it even cloudier and thicker looking. More fool me.

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Beer - #181 - Brew Moon - Luna-Wit

Brew Moon,  the New Zealand one,  Luna-Wit - Brewed by Brew Moon Brewing Company in the style of a  Wheat Ale from the town of Amberley, North Canterbury, New Zealand



This is a 500ml of a 5% ABV beer - which is about 2 standard drinks

Luna-Wit Wheat Beer inspired by Belgian Wit or cloudy wheat beer this beer contains a large proportion of wheat malt spiced up with coriander, orange peel and a mystery spice. Warning: May improve your humour and wit!

The initial aroma seems a bit 'sour',  the pour a nice dark golden colour, but lacks a head, despite the intense fizzy carbonation. The Aroma then tends to sweet.

It's not cloudy, and initially all there is by way of taste is the malt.  I wasn't expecting a taste explosion with this, and I based that on the alcohol content. But this isn't unpleasant.

But what it isn't is also anything like what I thought a Wheat ale might be like and it's not as estery as German or Belgian-style beers.  (These are generally light, fruity, floral scents).

My top up pour produced a head, yay! but it was fleeting, and it got cloudier.

This is a fairly crisp beer, with delicate tastes and an unassuming palate. It's quaffable and enjoyable as a fine beer. Despite not having a whole range of complex layers this is pretty competent as a drink, but there is no length of taste, no bite, no hidden flavour waiting for the warmth to release it.

The pdubyah-o-meter says 7 things from it's thing, making it "good". As an alternate to other very commercial beers this would be a fine and more then acceptable substitute. What you're not going to have though is a conversation about the flavour delivery of this. What you will have is a smile.

As a craft beer though, and in advance I state I might have misunderstood wheat ale , this really doesn't showcase anything. I'm not saying that craft brewers need to be pushing an envelope, although they should be, but this is a style that might not be well known, and if this is a leading example of the style then fair play. But it's not going to be a wildly commercial success and be the next 'black'.

However, unlike other craft brewery places who seem to cobble together all sorts of mistakes and over-brews and then label them up as "brew master specials" or "exciting adventures", Brew Moon seem to be sure of their footing. And for that they get a thumbs up.

Beer - #175 - Schneider Weisse - Original

Schneider Weisse Original, Tap 7 - Unser Original - Brewed by Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn in the unsurprising style of a German Hefeweizen in Kelheim, Germany.

Thus is a 500ml of a 5.4% ABV beer (2.1 Standard Drinks), this one came recommended to me.

With its amber-mahogany coloring and streaked with fine top-fermented yeast, this beer has a fine, persistent head that adheres well to the glass. It is pleasantly fruity with a typical top-fermented smell, an aroma of clove and nutmeg apple tantalizes the nose. On the tongue it is fresh, clean, full-bodied, harmonious and well-balanced. It finishes with a light, delicate taste of bitters leaving behind a sour impression.

Sort of both sweet and sour aroma on opening, It's a much darker beer than you'd expect, and it has a whopper of a head. The aroma stays the same, sort of a sweet malt but with a peppery thing going on.

Although you'd think that there's a mouthful of sweet malt this isn't exactly what happens, you get a warm sweet that somehow turns into a sweet bitter. I'm a bit betwixt and between on this. It's ok, the taste is good, but there isn't a lot of length in it. It then occurs to me that this is a "dry" tasting beer. See sometimes I get it!

I don't know however if I get the alleged "banana" or "vanilla" that might be expected, it would have been something to have experienced.

Probably more a summer beer than a first of winter tipple, but this is an easy drink, there is nothing that is offensive or that you'd find distasteful, and I can see why it's successful .

The pdubyah-o-meter says I should rate this at 8 being as how it's all a bit good but not spectacular. If I had a mind to have a party I'd probably get some in because it'd go down well. The nice caramel note invites you in and the little sour back means you're actually enjoying  and experience.  I had no trouble drinking this, and I know lots of people feel the same way.

Beer - #143 - Renaissance - Enlightenment - White As Wheat IPA

Renaissance - Enlightenment - White As Wheat IPA. A most unlikely beer Brewed by Renaissance Brewing In the style of a  Wheat Ale in Blenheim, New Zealand.



Unfiltered beers are prized by artisan brewer worldwide who relish a pint that’s cloudy and hazy with nothing striped away. We do too, so at Renaissance, our White IPA is packed with unmalted wheat and doses on NZ grown American hops. Aromas of dried tangerine and fresh citrus. A luscious body with a lingering evergreen finish. Think of it as a beer made, and served the way way nature intended, "cloudy as."

500ml 74% ABV (2.8 Standard drink units), of which I'm expecting something nice.

Cloudy, golden yellow, fruity citrus not to astringent. All of that.

It's cloudy, smells musty, seems to pour flat, and I got nothing by way of head. It's also darker brown than I'd expected.

It tastes ok though :-), syrupy, malty sweet, and just a touch of alcohol on the back. It's not half bad. There is however a bunch of grassy notes in this too. Bit of a melange of things. And that's not half good.

A confusing set to deliver, not as quiet and settled as a traditional wheat beer, and not an IPA either. Soft of a half/half and in doing so not quite making a whole one.

So, the pdubyah-o-meter says 5. and that's just because I want to enjoy this more. As a beer for the evening this has left me a bit empty and I might struggle to finish it, but I will, and mumble under my breath about each moutfull. It might be that  I just don't get the Wheat/IPA thing, but there is possibly a good reason that  this isn't a thing. Perhaps I should have thought it through some more.

Not for the faint of heart, and this might just ring your bell, but this is not for me

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Beer - #122 - Townshend - Three Piece Wheat

Nice play on words Townshend - Three Piece Wheat, Brewed by Townshend Brewery in the style of a : German Hefeweizen and they live in Upper Moutere, Nelson, New Zealand

500ml bottle of 4.5% ABV beer, that's about 1.8 standard drink units. 4.5% ABV surprised me, for no reason other than expectation I was expecting more (obviously).

The head brewers mother comes from Hall in Tirol, Austria, so this top fermented, cloudy Bavarian ale is a small tribute to one of the most wonderful people in the world. True to style, it contains 50% malted wheat and uses a yeast strain imported fromWeihenstephan, Germany.

It's also unpasturized and unfiltered. So "pour with care" I'm mumbling under my breath. They promise a classic wheat beer with  hints of banana and cloves.

There's nothing remarkable in the aroma, apart from the lack of an aroma. It's slightly darker than I thought it would be, and the lower carbonation means of course that it struggles with a head.

There's nothing remarkable in the taste either, mostly the fizz of bubbles masking whatever is underneath it. If you squint you could imagine a banana taste, if you really try. As for cloves, they are pretty understated to the point of absence.

Also not cloudy.

So of the three things that I think I'd like in a wheat beer, in no particular order;  Golden yellow colour, cloudy in appearance  and tasty of lemons or citrus,  what I get in this is a glass of fizzy water.

The pdubyah-o-meter casts this a poor 4 on it's scale of things, and an indication that you'd do well to miss this, as the brewer may have given it a crack but has also missed the target, badly and awfully.

And that's never a good thing. To their credit they didn't make up that it was a hybrid brew or a special concoction they've gone balls out and called it. Disastrous.

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Beer - #91 - Coronado - Orange Avenue Wit

A beer from the US of A, Coronado Brewery Orange Avenue Wit, of 650ml of a 5.2ABV beer - Coronado Brewing Company, Coronado, California USA in the style: Belgian White (Witbier).

Our spiced California style Wit is both refreshing and complex. Brewed with wheat, coriander, California orange peel and local orange blossom honey. From the first sip to the last you’ll find subtle flavors of bread, spice, citrus and a thirst quenching orange honey finish.

One of those beers that feels compelled to tell you what you're going to taste which should have been a bit of a flag, but I allow some leeway as it's a big bottle with a lot of real estate to fill in.

It's a very pale golden colour, lively carbonation,  and musty hops. The taste is overwhelmed by the bubbles. Either it's too cold or they're making it up about the smorgasbord of flavours that should be present, perhaps I left them in the bottle when I poured  the first part.

I like a wheat beer, I enjoy the fruits under the alcohol, the front and lingering taste. This isn't any of those things. It's all very 'meh', which means the pdubyah-o-meter arbitrarily really doesn't like this and makes it a massive swing-and-a-miss at 4 arbitrary things from it's equally arbitrary number.

If two thumbs up was the best this would be 1/2 of 1 thumb. Very disappointing,and disappointed in this. Without anything to reference, I can't find a best before date on the bottle,  but I did find an  importers sticker saying that it'd been imported over a year ago! (July 11) Quelle horreur!

I'd say based on that, that I might be drinking a beer that is past its' best, way way way past,  if I was being charitable.

If I was being uncharitable, I'd say avoid. I would say however take the extra two minutes to find a date. Lesson learnt. Gives self an uppercut.

Can't change my score on this, it was worth every one of the 4 arbitrary things, sadly making this possibly one of the worst beers I've had in ages.

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Beer - #88 - Wigram Brewing Co. - Ginger Jerry

The Wigram Ginger Jerry bottle of 330ml sized 4% ABV beer, the quiet end of a night out.

Brewed by Wigram Brewing Company, in the style of a Belgian White (Witbier), and of course they're in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Another addition to the Wigram seasonal range, Ginger Jerry has the full body of a wheat beer with the extra zing of infused ginger, honey and lemon resulting in a naturally sweet lemon ginger spice aroma. Cloudy in appearance the beer radiates with a warm rich orange hue. Brewed with a Belgium Ale yeast and low in alcohol, Ginger Jerry is a refreshing beer for all seasons.

For no reason other than I saw it this is a "best before September 13" beer. Not even sure why that bothers me, or even if it does since I had "keeper" beers that I drank that were 5 months old. It is what it is.

Lets be upfont with what I expect, the citrus (read lemon) and ginger that the label promises, and that's about all. So.......

It has ginger whiff , it has a well goodly amount of carbonation, and I get a cut grass aroma. The head which starts off all excitable like a puppy dies away fairly easily, I really do have to find a middling point with this aspect of beers.

The Palate is of a harsh bitter ginger that leaps and barks at you, like an excitable puppy, it's very long on the palate, very long and almost troubling. Peppery and tanging on the tongue. There is a lemon back taste, but it's like washing up liquid. What's going on ?

Gak. This is almost like drinking washing up liquid, it's not  really hitting any mark at all, and confuses to deceive as a beer. Not sure what the goal was but this might be an own goal of massive proportion.

This isn't even a sweet ginger ginger beer, this is the worst of the bitter, and a mufddled taste, what I get is all grass, it's fairly unpleasant. Lucky it's 330ml and not something substantial.

The pdubyah-o-meter resists strongly but lurches to a really weak 3 things from it's equally arbitrary number.  This should take a bus trip to Geradine and join the "muster" that I had a couple of beersago, and they should elope to and hide as recluses never to be seen again. Ghastly.

A poor finish to a night, and would have been a tragic start to a night, the chaps at Wigram need to sit in the sun more and listen the the inner voice, because whatever caused this wasn't contemplation and thought.

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Beer – #56 – Sawmill Brewing Company - Crystal Wheat Beer

Sawmill Brewing Company - Crystal Wheat Beer. Brewed by Leigh Sawmill Brewing Company in Leigh, New Zealand ,and they style it as a Wheat Ale.

A beer with a flip top lid,  500mls of 4.5% ABV craftiness. As usual it's buy first think about it later with me and having read about it later I have the trepidation.

Named "Crystal" because of its unique qualities, this beer is made to one of our own special recipes using 50% pilsner and 50% wheat malts. Light amber in appearance with a foaming white head, this beer has unique citrus fruit flavours. There is a hint of spice and a mild bitterness coupled with a medium hoppy aroma. This is a refreshing summer drink that can be enjoyed with a squeeze of lime juice. 4.3 to 4.5% abv

And I'm thinking "what have I done?" It could be a Frankensteins monster of a beer. It doesn't seem to be what it wants to be.

But it does come with a flip top lid.

So it's clear like a lager, it has the citrus lemon of an aroma- fleetingly. It even has a a head. And it had a magnificent poppage when I opened it- like it should.

yeah, the confusion of tastes, there is hoppiness, there is a lemonade shandy ness, a confusion of carbonation and a long mouthfeel taste of none of those things. I get an aftertaste of hops, it's not good.

I am a fan of the wheat beer genre, there should be no mistake on that, and I've had a wide range of them. This is down the wrong end of the range. I'd be happy to put it at the end of a firing range and take pot-shots at it, this isn't a beer that you could straight-face describe as a wheat beer. Or perhaps you can, in New Zealand, the same way you can trademark Radler I assume.

Arbitrarily then I can't even give this an arbitrary out of some number rating.But I will being 3 from 10 arbitrary things. I might have found another beer that I'll struggle to finish, and the frugal in me hates that.

The Leigh Sawmill company can do, and do have better beer than this. "The Doctor" for example - not a wheat beer. I'm in doubt about how this beer came into being, I'm not convinced it started as one thing, someone made a mistake and they had to sell it as something with a "special recipe"  and they do tell you to add lime juice to give it flavour. Enough said.

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Beer – #51 – Hoegaarden Wit

 

Don't think badly of me. I enjoy Hoegaarden Wit beer, it's light, lemony and usually pours with a head, but since It's me it doesn't. Which means I can't pour beer or live in some dead zone. No it's not a craft or special beer.

[caption id="attachment_3063" align="alignright" width="300"] It's a commercial beer, the shame.[/caption]

Hoegaarden Wit, 330ml 4.9% ABV. Brewed by Brouwerij Hoegaarden (InBev) in the style of a Belgian White (Witbier) and it's made in Hoegaarden, Belgium

If you're unsure about Wheat beer/White beer/Wit beer there would be far far worse places to start than this. It consistent like commercial beer is.

Arbitrarily this is always consistent  and 8 from 10 arbitrary things. giving it more would give away the lie that it's somehow a craft beer, which clearly it isn't. It's a good beer however and I'm going to enjoy this one and the 3 mates it came with. Probably the beer that got me started on "different" beers truth be known.

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Beer – #39 – Gavroche

Gavroche is a French beer, produced by Brasserie de Saint-Sylvestre, and they make the magnificent trois Monts that I like a bit.

Gavroche - Biere Sur Lie - which is beer on lees. Who knows? It's a cunning French thing. It's named after a character from Victor Hugo's novel, Les Misérables.

It's (according to the label) Fermentation Haute - which is like a beer version of Cuisine, or Fashion 0r just that it's an indication that it's a craft beer.

330ml bottle of 8.5% ABV beer. I was for no reason at all expecting a pale wheat beer, except that previous beer from the Brasserie de Saint-Sylvestre has been that way. But I was wrong, it's a dark rich red - a very inviting color,  but it does has a very familiar  yeasty aroma.

For all that lead up I found that none of the things is bigger than the whole, and the whole is a bit less than the parts. It's a bit thin on taste, overly carbonated on the tongue, and somewhat sweeter than I was expecting. No head and no lacing on the glass. And did I mention gassy?

So a French Red Ale, top fermented and re-fermented in the bottle. It's certainly full of it's own importance and upfront about what you're getting. Alas it's mostly bluster.

On the pdubyah-o-meter for some  arbitrary measure out of an equally arbitrary thing, and this is a poor show at about 4 from 10. It's not that it's a bad beer, it's just not all that., and I'm certainly not into it. For a strong beer you'd hope that you'd get a sense of being slightly taken on a ride to the smile place, an indicator on your palette that you might be about to take a walk on the wild-side. That of course could be it's ruse, it's ace up the sleeve, the more you have the more you love it, and you'll never figure out why.

Those nice guys at the Wine Circle in Huapai I tip my beret to you for this one.

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