Renaissance Stonecutter Scotch Ale

Since returning to New Zealand I have always noticed beers on sale from Renaissance Brewery, but for some reason I have never gotten around to trying them. A follow on my Tweeter account from Renaissance reminded me that I shouldn't be missing out, so I decided it was time to take the plunge. Renaissance is based in Blenheim, the heart of Marlborough wine country. It was founded by a couple of Californians who decided that beer needed the same dedication that wine does. You can tell that these guys are serious about their craft. Their bottles are not the usual longneck you get from a New Zealand brewery, but rather have the curved shape you see with many English beers. Nice touch.

My first Renaissance brew is the Stonecutter Scotch Ale. It already has a few rewards under its belt so someone likes it. They have used nine malts in brewing the ale and it shows. It is very smooth with a strong caramel taste. It is rich and sweet. With the sweet flavours and 7% alcohol I think I might see how it goes down during winter.

De Halve Maan Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel

You may have noticed that basically every time I talk about Belgian beer I make a comparison to a Bruges based brewery,  De Halve Maan and in particular their beer called Straffe Hendrik (also known as Strong Henry).

It was therefore with excitement that I received a box from my wife for Christmas delivered from the Beer Cellar and contained within were six Straffe Hendrik Quadrupels and two Straffe Hendrik glasses from which to drink them. I love the idea of the glass should match the beer. I am not sure if it actually makes any difference to the taste but it certainly shows a level of respect to your beer.

The first time I tried Straffe Hendrik was at the brewery itself on my first visit to Bruges. At that time their strongest beer was the Straffe Hendrik Tripel. However by the time I visited again two years later they had upped the ante and you could also buy a Quadrupel. These are the beers against which I measure all Belgian style beers (unless we are talking about Kriek...but that is a blog for another day.)

At 11% the Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel packs a real punch but you wouldn't know it from drinking it. The dark smooth malty finish goes down like velvet. For everyone who isn't Belgian and is trying to brew Belgian style beer the bar is high and, looking back, no imitator I have tried has reached it yet. If you consider yourself a beer drinker this needs to be on your "Must Drink Before You Die" list.

Rockin Robin

Another entry in the Christmas beer collection. Again this is the result of collaboration between Staffordshire Brewery and Cottage Delight Fine Foods. This time a darker Amber Ale named Rockin Robin, the Robin being a Christmas related bird in England.

 

This was quite a different beer than the Grumpy Santa from the day before. It was a winter ale, which to me is a dark but spicey beer. This beer was certainly dark, although not really spicey. It was actually more chocolately along the lines of a porter. A good porter. I can see a pint of this being just the thing in a snowy countryside pub at winter.

Grumpy Santa Beer

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

Christmas is a time to eat, drink and be merry. A few beers always go down well. One man who enjoys a beer on Christmas is Father Christmas himself. With everyone leaving him a beer and some cake at the bottom of their Chimney each Christmas Eve he must have developed quite a taste for the stuff. Having said that he must taste so many he knows when he is being shortchanged. With that in mind Staffordshire Brewery in the UK has teamed up with Cottage Delight Fine Foods to produce a beer under the Had Enough Brewery label called Grumpy Santa. The intention is of course to make Santa less grumpy.

Grumpy Santa is a Golden Ale. Like a good English real ale it is best served cool, but not chilled to bring out the flavours. That works quite well if it is sitting by the fireplace all night. It has a nice smooth malty taste. Not too strong in flavour. Probably works better in a cold English winter than a grey Wellington summer. Not amazing but a perfectly festive golden ale.

Golden Eagle Old Skool Vienna Lager

With the summer weather finally arriving it was time for something a bit lighter than the usual IPA. It was also time for a different brewery that I haven't tried before, Golden Eagle Brewery from Christchurch. Like many smaller breweries they share with another brewer, Raindogs Brewing Co, who I have yet to try. Golden Eagle is the lovechild of an Englishman come to New Zealand who missed the English Real Ale scene before the explosion of the craft beer scene in New Zealand. Certainly something I can relate to, with my worries about what I was going to drink when I returned from London.

I have seen Golden Eagle's South Island Pale Ale and New York Porter at the local New World, but it was a visit to a different New World where I picked up the Old Skool Vienna Lager. Lager gets a bit of a bad rap because it has been the standard for many years. There are certainly plenty of tasteless brews out there but that doesn't mean it should be written off. Nothing beats a cold fresh lager on a hot day. I don't remember drinking much beer when I was in Vienna (although evidence would suggest otherwise) so I had no preconceived ideas of what the Old Skool should taste like. However, I was surprised to see how dark it was when it poured. This was not your usual pale lager. The same went for the taste. It was much richer and maltier than I would have expected from a lager. I would go as far as saying it didn't really taste like lager at all. Nice drop though.

Tuatara Iti APA

With a reduction in blood alcohol levels for driving coming into force the trend towards higher alcohol beers needs to find a bit of balance. Tuatara's answer to lower alcohol but not lower taste beer has been around a little while. You may recall I tried it's BIG counterpart Nui a little while ago so it was a perfect (possibly even overdue) time to try an Iti (Maori for small.)

Iti comes in a standard 330ml bottle, which is small for many craft beers out there these days. You can even buy it in a six pack, which again is unusual for the craft beer mark
et. The alcohol content comes in at 3.3%. At 0.9 standard drinks per bottle I can be comfortable that having two while out at a summer BBQ isn't going to push me over the limit. Fortunately the taste is far from small. It proudly carries the APA style and although not as hoppy as some of its competitors it still has plenty of hops in there to keep your taste buds interested as well as a smooth malt base. A good drop for those who have to drive but still want to have a couple of tasty brews.

Mata Black Bru

With cold dark weather it is very important to keep those dark beers flowing. This time it is a Mata Black Bru from Aotearoa Breweries from Kawerau. Brewing and beer is definitely a male dominated industry and pastime, so it is great to see that this brewery is run by a woman, along with the help of her family. It is also good to see that they promote sustainable business practices, like converting the cardboard waste from packing to business cards and the leftover grain from mashing going to the pigs. I am sure those are happy pigs.

Black Bru says it is a dark ale; it also says it is a stout. It is certainly an interesting take on a stout, but isn't really heavy enough to fit into the category of what you usually expect a stout to be like so dark ale is probably a good approximation. It certainly has the dark thick colour, but then the taste is also fruity which comes as a surprise. If you are on the hunt for something along the lines of a Guinness, then this probably isn't for you, but if you want something slightly different for a cold winter night then the Black Bru is worth a try.

(If the photo background looks a bit different than usual it is because we have had to move out of our house while the kitchen gets re-done. Doesn't mean the beer doesn't get drunk though.)