Ok, so my first encounter with NZ beer was unremarkable. So was the food. Things soon improved though.

The first beer was Monteith’s Original. A darker lager type beer. OK.

Later same day (i.e. in Auckland), I discovered Brew on Quay, a place with a plethora of beer brands! So far, the only such place I have found. In most places there is one brand dominating, with mainly European imports as a complement.

My conception of New Zealand beer before I came here was Steinlager (= Pripps = Budweiser (US) = Heineken = Carlsberg Hof = mostly harmless). And sure, Steinlager, Heineken, Sol, and Stella Artois dominate the scene in any average eatery or drinkery.

Then we have a few local brands that are favoured by dedicated pubs and bars, namely Speight’s, Monteith’s, Mac’s, Tui and Waikato. Apart from Tui and Waikato, they offer a range of lagers, pilsners, ale, red ale, white beer, dark lagers, Belgian type beers or experimentals, and (shudder) low carbs. Monteith’s Radler is a fruity experiment. Not bad.

However, through my lucky find of Brew on Quay, I know there is more than meets the eye in most places, and I always scrutinize the beer list for local microbrews. The result of this research has so far given this list of NZ beer brands I did not know of before my trip (in no particular order, and subject to further research involving proper names of breweries, links, and weeding out of possible faulty entries):

  • Monteith’s
  • Speight’s
  • Mac’s
  • Tui
  • Waikato
  • Epic (wonderful IPA, and see below for Epic Armageddon!!!)
  • Lion
  • Croucher brewing company
  • Dux de Lux
  • Emerson’s (a well balanced IPA on bottle)
  • Founder’s (got to check this one…)
  • Green Fern
  • Harrington’s
  • Invercargill Brewery
  • Moa
  • Tuatara
  • Weka
  • Wigram
  • Green Man
  • Mata (Mata Artesian is an exceptionally good lager!!!)
  • Renaissance
  • Swine (Swine Lager local in Rotorua & served at Pig & Whistle)
  • DB Draught Beer (from Auckland, tasted first in Picton)

So, what about Epic Armageddon? Well, I returned to taste this one. It is ludicrously hoppy, and at 6.66% [sic!] it can easily match even Stone Brewery’s Arrogant Bastard in quality, spin, and hype. Read this:

In the beginning there was nothing. Then an impish brewer piled a ludicrous amount of hops into a batch of beer. This zymorgical big bang is Epic Armageddon, an apocalyptic assault on your preconceptions and taste buds. It may be too huge for this fragile planet, so enjoy this beer like it was the last one on Earth.

New Zealand clearly has an emerging capacity for cultivating radical new brews. It will be an interesting journey if I can just discover the pearls somehow. Not many behind the bars have the national brew overview.

The only brew lacking is a good stout. (Further research may change this statement…)
Update: Yes, indeed. See a later post…