The Lager features Central Otago tussock land, Krystal Weiss (wheat beer) Lake Hawea, Best Bitter the Moeraki boulders and the Stout a steam engine in Kingston.
Other new labels indicate their flavours, like gingerbread men coming off the line at a bakery (for Ginger Beer, to be released next month) and tequila in shot glasses for a new release, Tequila Beer.
The latter is the brewery's Premium Pils (a 4.5% pilsner) with a dash of lime and about 10ml (about half of the standard bar nip of spirits) of tequila in each 500ml bottle, which boosts the beer to 6% strength.
It is surprisingly nice, and worth a try especially as a summer beer because of its refreshing bitter lime finish.
Green Man has also just released its annual Whisky Bock.
It is hard to tell how much whisky is in each bottle because whisky is not added but rather infused from oak staves soaked in the spirit which are added to the brew while it is in tanks.
The first version (8.5%) won a bronze at the 2008 New Zealand International Beer Awards.
Last year's was 10.3% strength; this year's a little less, at 9.2%.
This bock is more like a port (although only half the strength), with no head, only a few bubbles, but a strong whisky aroma and flavour.
It really is a winter-warming experience.
It is available from the Grange St brewery or at the Otago Farmers Market on Saturday mornings at Dunedin Railway Station ($9 for a 330ml bottle).
Competitive Aussie
Adelaide brewer Cooper's makes a range of beers, three of which (Sparkling Ale, Pale Ale and Stout) have been widely available here for the past 20 years: nice beer, but it always seemed relatively expensive.
But it is not, really, because Cooper's bottles hold 375ml, when most stubbies are 330ml, meaning you get 14% (or the equivalent of nearly an extra 330ml bottle) more in a six-pack.
Cooper's now distributes its beer through a co-owned company (with the Australian distributor of Budweiser beer) called Premium Beverages with, obviously, cost savings, because its six-packs (between $14 and $15.50) are now about the same price as the likes of Mac's and Monteith's (about $15).
Six-packs are an expensive way to buy beer, so the good news for Cooper's fans is that the Pale Ale (4.5%) is about to hit the shelves in dozen packs.
Look for an introductory offer of about $23 a dozen.
Cooper's prices will go up by about 3.5% from July 1 (which will incorporate an excise rise of 2%).
The ales are bottle-conditioned (with the bubbles produced in the bottle, like Champagne is) and my favourite, the stronger Sparkling Ale (5.8%), has a lovely balance of malt and hop bitterness with a hint of yeast from the particles left in the bottle.
Email: lojo.rico@xtra.co.nz
