Beer Radar
By John Krüger
New Zealand special edition (Previously published in Wine Business Magazine in 2011)
Emerson’s Pilsner
4.9%abv
Smells start with corn and pawpaw. Baked beans. It’s a concoction.
Nice sharp metallic bitterness. Hard to tell where carbonic bite finishes and bitterness continues but it’s enjoyable. Lingering hop bitterness that rolls on.
Tuatara APA
5.8%abv
Pours like a champ. Looks great. Pale burned orange with a thick soft head.
Malt and toffee aromas.
Good slab of bitterness. Fresh grass, a stew of tropical fruit and hop resin that’ll still be lingering tomorrow morning.
Cool label. Very drinkable for an aggressive beer.
8wired Hopwired IPA
7.3%abv
Nice light colour but a bit of haze. Clean sharp bitterness like a mouthful of cold broken lightbulb. Attacking bitterness and tingling carbonation along with enough hop resin to chew like gum. There’s a slow seeping numbness through the mouth, presumably from the high alcohol and bucket loads of hops. A whiff and taste of good quality strawberries and cream lollies. Mandarin and grapefruit. This beer is like a moderate traffic accident that includes a ride in the ambulance with a few hits of happy gas. Exciting, then relaxing. Very enjoyable beer.
Epic Armageddon IPA
6.66%abv
Looks filtered and lovely.
Smells of hot buttered toast with honey and marmalade. Some background of roast turkey with gravy.
Surprisingly clean and polished. Dense wheat toast and honey flavor with a refined bitterness. A great, tasty refined beer. Loud but not aggressive. Expecting Armageddon and ended up with a boozy roast turkey Christmas lunch at the mother-in-laws.
