Featured in Capital #73
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Check out our other top picks here:
Dark Lager, Porter, Stout, and the variations
Here are our top picks from the distinct profiles of the local New Zealand Pilsner, the straight-shooting Pale Lager, and the balancing act “mini-style” session brews.
Emerson’s Brewery
Bookbinder
Session Ale
Has there ever been a year this reliable and delicious session ale hasn’t rated? With biscuit malts, and hints of orange and passionfruit, it’s delightfully balanced and rewarding, with a low 3.7% ABV.
Fortune Favours Brewery
Trailblazer
Lager
This beer scored a five out of five for being everything it should be. It was clean and crisp, with light, biscuit malt and obvious New Zealand hop characters of passionfruit and minerals.
Emerson’s Brewery
Underground
Lager
This was a clean lager with light bready malt notes, and grass hop aromas with hints of a summer’s garden. It poured bright and clear and had a soft balanced bitterness on the finish.
Tuatara Brewery
Pilsner
NZ Pilsner
Given this beer is one that defines the style, there’s no surprise it received a five out of five. It was bright and well-balanced with a distinct minerally New Zealand hop aroma and flavour.
Emerson’s Brewery
Pilsner
NZ Pilsner
This beer is the original New Zealand Pilsner and poured with a great, white head. There were light bready malt characters, citrus, and hints of sulphur. Easy drinking, it finished with a dry bitterness.
Hop Federation
Pilsner
NZ Pilsner
This was a punchy and super fresh beer with huge passionfruit and dank resinous hop characters. It was bright in appearance, aroma and flavour with a bitter, mineral finish. It was tasting on-point.
Sunshine Brewery
Pilsner
NZ Pilsner
This was a bright, pale yellow beer with the gooseberry, grassy, and mineral aromas that define the style. It had a soft, pleasant bitterness with well-balanced light malt and citrus hop flavours.
Abandoned Brewery
Abandoned Pilsner
NZ Pilsner
Straw yellow in colour, this beer had great clarity. There was a water-cracker malt character, and tropical and diesel-like hop aromas and flavours. It finished with good balance.
Fortune Favours
The Adventurer
NZ Pilsner
This beer had a slight chill haze, and smelled of gooseberries and citrus trees. The citrus carried over into the flavour which also included fresh grassy characters.
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