Emerson’s Dark Beauties – 2011 Master Class

It is always good value for money and an entertaining afternoon, especially when Richard in is Willie Wonka mode and revealing an experiment or two.

Choose one – but don’t choose the Chosen One

It will be disappointing if beer buyers taste any of The Chosen One products I tasted and think they are representative of craft beer. The samples I was given showed fundamental flaws of the kind I experience when judging home brews.

Colonial Upstarts!

It may seem churlish to gatecrash Her Maj’s birthday by comparing British Pale Ales with their brash colonialist knock-offs. But there was no gong in my mail this morning, so churlish I’m going to be.

I mashed-up 100 Hop Zombies

Last Friday night I created my own Hop Zombie army

Black Emperor – Just the ticket

Extra points for naming a beer after Lee Scratch Perry.

Polarised results from an eclectic beer tasting

Last week I held a sold-out beer tasting at D4 here in Wellington. The beers all came from D4’s tap range, and so there were some unusual and eclectic matches. The first pairing was Erdinger Weissbier and Coopers Sparkling Ale. Coopers Sparkling was the first craft beer I tasted, many years ago, in Australia. It’s […]

Summer beers are blooming

Summer’s a great time for beer – I don’t know if I drink more beer in summer, but I seem to drink it more often. I live halfway up a mountain, and so I deserve a beer at the end of the working day. (What? Well, yes, I do work from home. What’s your point?) […]

Commercial beer scores 11/50 in National Homebrew Comps

How would commercial beer rate against home brew, in a blind, objective competition? I’ve wondered this for a few years as a home brewer and beer judge. The worst home brews are bad – mine were – and it is easy to see how Uncle Ted’s homemade rotgut earned its notoriety. But the best are […]

Welcome to NZBeerBlog TV!

Last month Tuatara Brewery generously sponsored the AGM for Unlimited Potential, a Wellington-based ITC networking group. They had the beer, so Unlimited Potential invited me along to speak briefly and run a quick tasting. Steve Leon from Spring TV recorded it and you can see it here. Have a look, have a laugh, and you […]

What’s up with our hops?

I have noticed recent batches of old favourite beers smelling and tasting distinctly sharper and more metallic

Copyright © NZBeerBlog.com     Powered by WordPress MU    Designed by WPDesigner    Hosted by