Friday Craft Beer Review: Lion Breweries’ Waikato Draught

Truth be told, this is the first time I’ve sampled Lion Breweries’ Waikato offering, despite it being one of New Zealand's oldest beers. 91 years old apparently!

According to beer historian Mr Wiki, Waikato Draught was originally brewed in Hamilton by the Innes Family Brewery, the first brewery in New Zealand owned by a woman. Lion Nathan acquired the brewery in 1961 with production continuing in Hamilton until 1987 before being moved to Auckland. Unfortunately for Hamilton, this shift to Auckland meant Hamilton officially became New Zealand’s "Most Uninspiring City.” A title held until the first class debut of Daniel Vettori for Northern Districts against England ten years later in 1997. His first wicket, that of Nasser Hussain (caught at first slip attempting to drive), is recognised by the local council of the time as breathing new life into the city and inspired their catch phrase “Hamilton; Where It’s Happening,” Good stuff Lucas! Shortly after they planted a garden and bought some hot air balloons and things have been on the up and up every since. But I digress. In 2005 Waikato Draught won gold in the draught category of the Brew NZ beer awards with its classic beer being described as having a “strong malty flavour with well-defined bitterness.” That’ll be something to look out for!

What else? Technically a draught beer is one poured via a handle and from a keg or cask, now-a-days though Waikato primarily comes in a can or a bottle. In fact, it is rare to find Waikato Draught on tap outside of the 7,067-person town of Huntly. Basically very view taverns are brave enough to invest in a 50 litre keg. It might take 10 - 15 years to work through that much Waikato Draught and not many publicans are willing to sign up to that kind of commitment. Nevertheless, if one is prepared to make the trip to one of Huntly’s local establishments you’ll be able to find Waikato Draught on tap as well as a better-than-average chance of a Thursday night schnitzel special. Just follow the sound of the Waikato chainsaws calling to each other (they don't text over there) and keep a look out for the Huntly Hurricane (aka Lance Hohaia). Draught continues to be used in the title only out of tradition. Other than that, as a malty/bitter beer we’d expect it to be in some way related to the Pale Ale family. Whether a long lost cousin to be welcome home or an ugly step sister, we’ll have to wait and see.    

Let’s see how this goes.

Price: $7.99 4x330mls. Waikato Draught is certainly priced competitively when one compares it to other craft beers we’ve reviewed. Interestingly enough, Waikato Draught gets cheaper per bottle when you buy in bulk. A box of 15 works out at $1.73 per bottle and a box of 24 at $1.66. In theory then, a 249 pack would work out at about .59c per bottle. They’re practically giving it away. Or, maybe my math is wrong.

Alcohol content: 4.0%

Colour: Deep amber and golden hues. Plenty of bubbles and a reasonable white frothy head.

Aroma: Faint notes of sweet toffee are discernable. There is also subtle sour note as well, kind of a mix between 24-hour charity relay sweat, apprentice builder’s body odour, and the sticky wooden floors of the Mount Rugby Club just before church used to start after a Saturday night 40^th birthday back in the day.

Palate: Even chilled the sweet malt flavours come through, hints of Pam's golden syrup. Other than that it is simply wet and watery. It is slightly fizzy but totally lacking any body. In terms of strong taste and bitterness; whoever did the write-up extolling the virtues of this draught beer has obviously never sampled a good stout or a quality IPA. I’m not convinced this beer even has any hops in it.

Finish: The initial swig of this beer is quite palatable compared to the finish. The finish is where it becomes pretty off-putting as it is hard to work out what the tangy aftertaste exactly is. Many myths surround what may or may not be the special ingredients used in this brewing process. Since 2011 the general consensus seems to be Beaver's Rugby World Cup winning socks and undies, the very ones worn as he nervously took the kick that became "The Kick." I’m not convinced though. This old misty is even more tangy than that. It’s almost as if someone has combined the muddy water of the Waikato river with select segments of yellow snow from Mount Ruapehu and a hint of Stihl’s HP 2 Stroke chainsaw oil, and then actually put it in the bottle! It's hard to digest.

On the Chart: Well in terms of complexity we’re sitting pretty low. Well let’s be honest, this bit of mooloo magic just isn’t that magical and will line up right at the bottom of the chart. It’s also not hoppy in the slightest. And while it is a touch malty, it's certainly not anything like a deep dark porter or stout. This is pretty middle of the road. A refreshing beer rather than a beer to be savoured. It’s looking pretty lonely on the chart.

Conclusion: Truthfully, Lion Breweries’ Waikato Draught is an easy drink. Easy like a glass of water is easy. There isn’t a lot to it. I’d say that’s why it is sold in 24 packs and maybe even one day in 249 packs for .59c a bottle. I think the idea with Waikato Draught is to come back for more. This isn't craft beer. Craft beer is different. Craft beer is to be savoured rather than skulled, and the flavours, like anything of substance, eventually fatigue the palate. Most craft beers are sold as a single drink, though you do get a few 4 packs and a handful of 6 packs. This particular Waikato Draught was one of 4 but I’m bamboozled as to what to do with the other three; I’m not touching them. Glad I didn't get a box of 24.

In all honesty, it’s not that Waikato Draught is that bad, it more that it just isn’t that good. Why waste time or money on a beer like this? When you want a coffee you go to local café for an espresso not to Gregg’s for an instant. It doesn't matter that Gregg calls it a "Special Blend" we know it isn't true. When you want steak you throw a scotch on the grill not a piece of marinated BBQ steak with those lines in it (where do those lines even come from anyway!?!). When you want a beer you pop a Tuatara or a Panhead or something from Garage Project. You stay away from Waikato Draught. At least I would. Quality over quantity I say. Less is more. This is an ugly step sister rather than a Cinderalla. Run!

Friday Craft Beer Review: Eagle Brewing’s RED IPA

In craft beer world the IPA is pretty much the most manipulated style of beer on offer at the moment, even more so than stouts. While most brewing associations officially recognise three varieties, an English style IPA (hoppy but with malts coming through), an American style IPA (tends to really focus on the hops and only a touch of malt), and an Imperial or Double style IPA (very hoppy and very high ABV); there are all sorts of other varieties on offer.

You have Belgium style IPAs brewed with Belgium yeast, white IPAs which tended to be witbiers brewed in an IPA style (witbier esters plus notable hops and bitterness), Indian Session Ales brewed at a lower ABV so you can share a couple of pints rather than having to stop after only one, so in other words - all the IBUs of an IPA without the ABV, these are normally about 3.something %. You also have Wild IPAs brewed with multiple fermentation processes that also include wild yeast. There are spiced and herbed IPAs, flavoured IPAs e.g. coffee, and also Black IPAs. More technically these black IPAs should be referred to as American-style black ales (essentially though they are IPAs brewed with specialty dark roast malts).  And then you also have Red IPAs, one of which we are going to sample today.

Red IPAs are essentially a variant of a traditional American red ale, which is a beer brewed with darker style malts in order to create a ruby red coloured brew that is toffee like, sweet and malty. To turn it into a Red IPA though, this traditional ale is “hopped” up a few notches to bring additional notes of fruity bitterness and is also brewed at a higher than usual ABV. The result essentially being a combination of sweet butterscotch malts and the herbaceous bitterness of tropical / grapefruit / herb like hops (depends on the variety used). None of which sounds like a bad idea to me. Red IPAs are a delicious IPA variant. 

I’ve got Eagle Brewing’s RED IPA. Eagle are a Christchurch based brewery that has been brewing since 2010. There website doesn’t really tell you anything in terms of their story, their history or their philosophy of brewing but you can see they have a number of established ales (RED IPA, South Island Pale Ale, Coalface Stout, an ESB [Extra Style Bitter, an English style pale ale], Big American Yank IPA, and a Pilsner). As well, you can see they have offered a number of experimental beers over the years, Golden Sour (a grapefruit sour beer), Mr White IPA, a May the 4^th Padawan Pale Ale, a Jawa Juice Intergalactic Brown Ale, and a Light Saber Pilsner. So they must be into Star Wars too.

Let’s pop this RED IPA and see if it is as good as it is promised to be on the label: “The finest new world malts and hops contribute all they have to this shining example of the style. Toffee and caramel together with fruity hop aromas…” etc etc.

Price: $9.99 500mls

Alcohol content: 5.8%

Colour: Browny / ruby red colour with a slight head. Nice and red when you hold it up to the light. A little cloudy.

Aroma: Smells both sweet and hoppy. Promising.

Palate: Bitter hops at first, grapefruit and lawn clippings. Very much like an IPA, even a double IPA. 

Finish: The toffee like malts come through lovely and strong in the finish. Caramel, marmite, malt biscuits for sure. In saying that though, you can't escape the hoppy bitterness. 

On the Chart: This is a beautifully balanced beer. Quite a bit more hoppy than malty as expected with an IPA, but the ruby red malts have their moments. It's not a sweet beer at all though. So we're well left of centre and up a bit in terms of complexity.

Conclusion: I really enjoyed this. I prefer a bitter beer to a sweet beer, and this is certainly bitter. At the same time though the sweet toffee profiles of the malt come through as well. It's really nice. Well done Eagle Brewing on your lovely RED IPA. Highly recommended! 

Friday Craft Beer Review: Ballast Point’s Watermelon Dorado Double IPA

Yes folks, you read the title correctly. A Watermelon Dorado Double IPA!!!

I’m in America at the moment and it seems only fitting to review an American offering. When I was here last year I had a couple of different craft beers, and they were all pretty good. The one that stood out though was Ballast Point’s Sculpin IPA. Truly delicious. I was pleasantly surprised to discover Ballast Point for sale in New Zealand not long after coming home. It’s pretty expensive in New Zealand due to shipping and so forth, but they’ve some really interesting beers. Their Sculpin IPA is fantastic, as is their Habanero Sculpin which adds spicy habanero peppers to the mix. One of the more crazy, but superbly done, beers I’ve ever had is their Indra Kunindra Stout. Get this, a madras curry stout with cumin, cayenne, coconut and kaffir lime leaf. Probably something you’d only ever need to have once in your life, but you need to have one. Just add white bread or white rice for a delicious dinner. And they have plenty of beers that I haven’t tried yet, Pineapple Sculpin, Mango Sculpin, Grapefruit Sculpin, an Imperial Stout with Coffee and Peppermint. It’s all happening.

You should check out their website for a couple of reasons. Firstly to see the incredible range of beers they have, but also to see the branding. I’m a sucker for good branding and love the nautical themes they’ve branded all of their beers around.  

Ballast Point Brewing started as a home brew store in 1992. Originally a couple of college kids, Jack White and Peter A’Hearn, tried their hand at home brewing. They struggled to get their hands on the variety of malts and hops and gear they needed to really experiment as brewers though. So, in light of this they opened a home brew store and kind of set themselves up as the home brewers hangout of San Diego. San Diego’s craft brew scene is apparently pretty impressive now and it seems in large part because of this store set up by these college kids. A’Hearn studied for a Master Brewers Certificate at the University of CA and then they started brewing as Ballast Point Brewery in 1996 from the back of the home brew store. Long story short, it went from strength to strength. Ballast Point went from being the first micro-distillery in San Diego this side of the prohibition to being America’s 17^th largest brewery. In 2015 they sold Ballast Point to Constellation Brands for $1 billion USD.

Enough of that though. I’ve a Watermelon Dorado Double IPA to open. Being a double IPA or an imperial IPA (same thing) this beer should be loaded with hoppy bitterness. It’s rated as 90 IBUs. That’s International Bittering Units if you can remember back to my first review. Tuatara’s Double Trouble, a double IPA, is 167. Totally of the charts bitter. Tuatara’s Indian Pale Ale is a 40. So this will obviously be a pretty hoppy beer. In theory there should be some malty sweetness coming through as well but we’ll have to wait and see. I’ve no idea what the watermelon effect will be.

Price: $7.99 355mls (NZD)

Alcohol content: 10%

Colour: Lovely golden colour. Slightly pale and slightly pinky. Not much head. Plenty of bubbles.

Aroma: Floral notes from the hops and slightly sweet. I’m trying to smell watermelon but more getting grass clippings. It is 90 IBUs after all!

Palate: Yum. Yum. Yum. It is very bitter and this hits you straight away. There is a sweetness to it as well though. Brown sugar rather than tropical fruit, but very subtle.

Finish: The finish is where the watermelon comes through. And it’s done really well. The bitterness sticks to the roof of your mouth while the watermelon flavours swirl around your tongue and bubble up your nose. The watermelon complements the bitterness so well. It’s a big beer. 10%. Loaded with hops. Plenty of bite. But at the same time, it’s like it is also loaded with summer memories when with beautiful watermelon notes.  

On the Chart: On the chart this is way down the hoppy side of things. Not quite as hoppy as Tuatara’s Double Trouble but they’re neighbours. There is more complexity with this beer though. The Dorado has hints of malt tucked into it, but also the watermelon is a really cool addition. Way to the left then and up a few notches in complexity.

Conclusion: Over all this is delightful. You should try one. Very hoppy, but there is more going on than just bitterness in this beer. In Tasting Beer, Randy Mosher points out the reality is that anything with taste ends up fatiguing the palate, and I think he’s bang on the money. This is one of the things I love about craft beer. It’s complex, there are all sorts of flavours heading in all sorts of directions all at once. Delightful, but it also means that one or two beers is perfect. The taste helps with moderation. Less is more. I think this is one of those beers. It’s a double IPA. One is enough. I look forward to having another one day, but not today.