Category Archives: New Zealand

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Wild Ale

Garage Project The Elephant Never Forgets

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Blended strawberry & rhubarb sour

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Originally bottled in 2018 this blend of mixed ferment oak barrels infused with rhubarb and strawberry was tucked away to condition and mellow. What happened next? Was it lost, was it misplaced or did it simply slip from our minds? ‘Rediscovered’ five years later, like a well aged wine the beer is transformed with the glow of French polished teak, mellow fruit and delightful sherry like complexity. Enjoy now or ‘misplace’ it for the future.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29

Intro: A 750ml bottle, packed on 20th September 2018 (but as per the description, seems only released in 2023). Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear golden colour with a half finger white head that had pretty good retention, and eventually settled to a ring around the glass, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, jammy, rhubarb, strawberry.
Taste: Sour, tart, sweet, jammy, strawberry, rhubarb, with a dash of lemon.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: The strawberry and rhubarb was a good combination, and the aroma was especially enjoyable here. Carbonation was a touch strong, but doesn’t detract from it too much.

4 - Good (buy), 8 Wired Brewing Co., Beer Reviews, Lambic - Gueuze, New Zealand

8 Wired Oude Imperiale

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Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 8%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: Spontaneous fermented sour ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A very special “Imperial Geuze” inspired blend of selected barrels from our library. One third each of spontaneously fermented 8, 6 and, 4 year old barrels create a perfect marriage of funk, fruit, acidity and Sherry-like aged flavours.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A clear golden orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a nice fluffy cap while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, musty, damp wood, oak, vanilla, with notes of orange, and citrus zest.
Taste: Light sour, tart, apricot, orange, funky, musty, damp wood, oak, with light citrus zesty sweetness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It was enjoyable while being oak and funk forward.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Wild Ale

Garage Project Oh What a Lovely Day Let’s Go Out and Pick Some… Blackberry

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 7.4%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Foraged flowers, spontaneous ferment 2020 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The concept is simple. Freshly foraged blackberry flowers are plunged into a light golden wort creating a spontaneous fermentation using only the wild yeast present on flowers. Aged in oak and refermented on blackberry fruit, the result is a delightfully tart, vibrant red sparkling beer bursting with wild berry flavour.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.25
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled on 16th September 2020. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice clear red colour with a slight purple hue, and a one finger white head that had decent retention and settled to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Funky, tart, blackberry, oak, with notes of lemon zest.
Taste: Much like the aroma, funky, tart, blackberry, apricot, oak, and lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was good. I’m not sure how much the blackberry flowers actually contributed, but the blackberry fruit came through nicely, and there was balance between the funk, sourness and acidity.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American Triple IPA, Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand

Garage Project Double Pernicious Weed

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 10%
Style: American Triple IPA
Other Notes: Double dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Rakau hops

Brewer Description: (from can) A very special edition of a Garage favourite, celebrating ten years of our own wicked and Pernicious Weed. Brewed to be bigger, with double the synergistic dry hop hit of freestyle grown Nelson Sauvin and Rakau hops. More malt, more hops and even more mouth watering bitterness, juicy grapefruit and citrus flavour and ripe passion fruit aroma. Intense? Definitely. Too much? Never.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.9
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 440ml can, with a best before date of 12th May 2022. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A very lightly hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Pine, grass, herbal, malty, biscuit, toffee, with some light tropical fruity notes.
Taste: Sweet and bitter, piney, grass, grapefruit, malty, toffee hints, and a citrus pithy finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: It’s perhaps ever so slightly better than the original Pernicious Weed, but at the same time, it’s a little sweet for my palate.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Porter - Baltic

Garage Project Baltic Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 11.5%
Style: Baltic Porter
Other Notes: Bourbon Baltic Porter 2016

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Baltic Porter, the favoured tipple of the Tzars. This batch has been treated to an extra serving of imperial decadence, aged for over a year in oak bourbon barrels. The result is a real heavyweight-rich and smooth with a seamless combination of vanilla, dried fruit, coffee, toffee and liquorice, but a classic clean finish courtesy of it’s long, cold fermentation. He’s an old bear, but he can still take any contender pound-for-pound.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.2
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 650ml bottle, packed on 29th September 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate, cocoa, bourbon, oak, vanilla, coffee, with notes of dark fruit, prunes, and plum.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, lightly sweet, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, bourbon, oak, vanilla, with a hint of dark fruit, prunes, and plum.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A very nice and enjoyable Baltic Porter with great bourbon and dark fruit notes. I like this a lot more than the base non-barrel aged version.