Mussel Inn Black Rhino

I've mentioned the Mussel Inn before on my trip to Nelson, but haven't done a review of one of their beers. The Mussel Inn is a pub in Golden Bay which has been around since the early nineties and its brewery has been around since the mid nineties. They source all their ingredients locally (more or less) and have a very wide range of beers that you can get on tap and a bunch of other beers that you can buy in bottles.

One such bottled beer is the Black Rhino robust Imperial Porter style dark Ale. Winter is the best time to get into the dark beers. The robust part is probably the 7% alcohol. The colour is good and dark and thick, which is what you want from a porter. The beer itself had a burnt taste too it, which I guess comes from the burnt malt, again what you would expect. There was also a slight chocolately aftertaste. It certainly ticked all of the porter boxes, so can't really be faulted on that front but at the same time it was just lacking that little oomph that turns a good beer into a great beer.

Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude

Yeastie Boys is a great Wellington brewery. They have a small range of beers but a loyal following (and a very active Twitter account.) One of their beers that a lot of people seem to like is the Rex Attitude, a peat smoked golden ale. I wasn't really sure what that meant but thought I would give it a try. It has a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the label, so that is a pretty cool start.

There is apparently a whole market for beer made from peat smoked malt. Peat is thick mud from bogs often found in Scotland. It gives a smokey taste to whiskey. It also helps keep mummified bodies intact for hundreds of years. Whiskey is basically an extra alcoholic version of beer so I can see how people wanted to try some whiskey flavours in their beer.

I have to say though, I am not converted to the peat smoked beer market. The Rex Attitude has a nice golden colour to it, although slightly cloudier than usual. You can certainly smell the smokiness in the aroma. However, when you drink it you are assaulted from all fronts with flavours. It tastes like beer, but it also tastes like whiskey. You can taste the smoke, but it also tastes a bit like dirt (I guess that's the peat.) It's interesting, but if I want whiskey I will drink whiskey. Mixing it with beer just doesn't really do it for me. Sorry Yeastie Boys I will have to stick with the Digital IPA (which I love.)

Mike's Hemp IPA

Mike's is another NZ brewery that has been around for a while, in Taranaki since 1989, but has really taken off since the craft beer boom. Their angle is that their beers are organic, being brewed from all natural ingredients. Now, most small brewers are probably organic anyway if they are just using water, malt, hops and yeast, but is nice that they embrace their organicness. I fondly remember that a Mike's Organic Ale was one of the first beers I had upon retur
ning to Wellington nearly two years ago, before I realised what a huge industry craft beer now is.

They have a wide range of standard beers for a small brewery, but they also like to experiment with some more random stuff. That is what I am drinking today, a member of the Mike's X range. They have standard label with a small sticker over the top telling you what you are drinking. Today it is the Hemp IPA. Can't get much more green and organic than hemp. It was an interesting drink. It was an IPA and there were definitely some hops there, but there was something else too which made the taste kind of oily. Not sure if it was the hemp or the hops were just green,  but I'm undecided about this one. Could be worth another look but as it is part of the X range they may never make it again...

Panhead Supercharger APA

Another Panhead beer for me today. This is one of the original Panhead releases but it is still going strong. Like the Vandal the Supercharger is an American Pale Ale. This one isn't quite as strong but at 5.7% it still has a kick to it. 

That includes the hops too. It has plenty of hops to it, but that is what you should expect from an American Pale Ale. You can tell it is full of hops though because there is a bit of a sticky aftertaste. Maybe the hops were still green when it was brewed? I read somewhere that Panhead's goal is to cram their beer full of hops and they certainly achieved that with the Supercharger. If you are a hop head then this one will go down just fine.

Tuatara Belgian Tripel

Everyone loves a good trilogy so it is fitting that I finish these three posts by talking about Tuatara's third Belgian brew, conveniently called the Tripel. A Tripel is one of the strongest beers you can get. The Belgians do a Quadrupel but there aren't many of those around.

Tuatara's Tripel certainly follows the Belgian tradition but isn't quite as smooth as some of its BelgianArdennes so maybe I was never destined to like it all that much, although I didn't know that until after I had drunk it.

forebears. The booze is strong and you know it when you taste it. This isn't a beer to just throw back. You need to enjoy it over a long time. Trouble is it comes in a large bottle so it ends up being a really long time. If I was having it again I would consider splitting it with a friend. Tuatara might want to consider selling it in a smaller bottle? Interestingly this is a stronger version of the

Of Tuatara's Belgian trio the Dubbel far outshines the other two, both in drinkability and authenticity but with all beer it is always a matter of personal taste. For those whose Belgian experience goes as far as Hoegarden I encourage you to try some of the other Belgian style brews on offer.