Invercargill Brewery has released a new seasonal beer, Dubbel Happy, a 7% ale based on Belgian-style abbey brews, so-named because brewer Steve Nally fondly remembers (as do I) the double happy firecrackers we were once allowed on Guy Fawkes night.
It has hints of allspice and milk chocolate aromas and fruity and hop flavours.
Monteith's Doppelbock (6%) returns for an eighth annual winter outing.
It is richly malty (from six different malts used) with hints of chocolate.
Really warming
English-made Thomas Hardy's Ale (11.7%) claims to last at least 25 years (unlike most beer, which is never better than the day it is bottled) because its high alcohol content acts as a preservative.
The one I opened was a 2006 brew - the malty aroma fills the room; it is rich in the mouth like a port, and a sweet malt flavour is followed by bitter chocolate.
Castle Macadam (in the Otago Daily Times building in central Dunedin) has bottles of the 2004 batch.
It's not cheap ($13 for a 250ml bottle) but it is so powerful, one is enough!
Stronger stuff
United States brewer Boston Beer Company releases Utopia every two years, and the latest is its strongest yet at 27%.
It is sold in 700ml copper bottles in the US for $150 (about $NZ215).
However, it does not match Scottish brewer BrewDog's Tactical Nuclear Penguin which is 32%, taking the record from a German 31% brew.
This one retails for £35 ($NZ75) in Britain.
Brewers find it hard to produce more than 10% beers without resorting to a wine yeast or scientifically-modified strains.
The result is something more akin to a fortified wine than a beer.
Try www.beerstore.co.nz (which has about 300 beer labels) for such exotic brews.
Beer awards
Invercargill Brewery struck the treble with its three entries at last week's Australian beer awards, with Smokin' Bishop (silver), Boysenbeery and Pitch Black (bronze) winning medals.
The first two are seasonal beers.
Pitch Black, Wasp, B. Man, Stanley Green and Nallys Cider are available year-round.
As reported in the ODT (on Saturday), Emerson's won a gold medal and the trophy for the best wheat beer with its Weizenbock (available from August).
Four of its five other brews won medals: Bookbinder and Weissbier (silver) and 1812 and Pilsner (bronze).
Fellow Dunedin brewer Green Man did not enter.
Of the bigger New Zealand breweries, none of Lion Breweries Mac's range of six won a medal, but Steinlager Edge (silver) and Classic (bronze) did.
Of its Speight's range, Old Dark and Porter (silver) and Distinction Ale (bronze) were successful.
DB Breweries' Export trio - Dry and 33 (silver) and Gold (bronze) - won medals.
Its Monteith's Black and Original Ale (silver), Celtic Red and Summer Ale (bronze) also won medals, as well as Tui (bronze).
Email: lojo.rico@xtra.co.nz
