Kapiti Coast brewery Tuatara has briefly gone hopping mad - using all of its American hops at once.
Its annual consignment (which is never enough because of a worldwide shortage) arrived late in March and has gone into the annual seasonal release of American Pale Ale and into a potent Mayday! Double Imperial Ale.
The first kegs were opened at Dunedin cafe and bar Eureka yesterday. There will be no more of three of the brews by the end of the week because only one comes in bottles.
The American Pale Ale (5.8%) is rich, herbaceous and bitter.
Mayday! (10.5%) uses both American and New Zealand hops to overlay caramel malt flavour with hints of pineapple, passionfruit, melon and gooseberry - and "savage" bitterness.
The other two kegs at Eureka are of Conehead Green-Hopped Pale Ale and Aotearoa Pale Ale.
Conehead (5.5%) is made from hops direct from the vine instead of going through the normal drying process. The Nelson sauvin variety produces gooseberry and lychee flavours and Riwaka and Motueka varieties have imparted passionfruit and citric characters.
Aotearoa (5.8%) was introduced last year when Tuatara first ran out of American hops, using four New Zealand varieties instead. It is the only one available in bottles.
Creature comfort
Three more of Australian brewery Little Creatures' creations are now available here.
Its first brew in 2000, a bottle-conditioned pale ale, quickly found favour in Australian beer awards (champion bottled ale in 2001 and champion ale in 2002 and 2007) with Little Creatures judged both champion Australasian and international brewery in 2002.
Now its Bright Ale (a filtered version of the pale ale), Pilsner and Rogers' (a mid-strength brew named after two well-known Australian brewers with the first name of Roger) have arrived.
Little Creatures brewery was established in an old boatshed on a crocodile farm in Fremantle in 2000 by ex-staff and shareholders of Matilda Bay Brewing (which makes Redback, Beez Neez, Dogbolter and Fat Yak), which was bought in 1989 by Carlton United (Fosters).
Its name was adopted from the album Little Creatures released in 1985 by American band Talking Heads and alludes to the live yeast cells that turn sugars into alcohol, taking the form of winged babies, or cherubs.
Rogers' (3.8%) is a mid-strength malty brew full of flavour. Bright Ale (4.5%) has a little bit of wheat in it, like the original pale ale, and uses two hops (one New Zealand and one American) which are well balanced with the malt flavours.
Pilsner (4.6%) has delicate flavours which would make it great with fish and chips. It uses three hops (one of them New Zealand) and is slightly more bitter.
Little Creatures is now one third-owned by Lion Nathan, imported and distributed by its subsidiary Lion Breweries, and is easiest found in Liquor King (a chain of about 40 outlets owned by Lion Nathan). A six-pack costs about $22, which, in my opinion, is a bit much for non-premium (5%) beers.
