Invercargill Biman

Guest tap at The Twisted Hop, early October 2009. Pours clear amber with a medium white head- a bit darker than most lagers. Aroma of citrus, hops, malt, a little skunk. Flavor is malty, with hops and citrus, and slightly skunky. Light body, somewhat watery. I’m not sure if something was off with this one, but it was okay. All the Twisted Hop beers were better, so maybe it just suffered from comparison.

Had this one a few times now, and evrytime impressed with it. Lovely light nose of passionfruit and a picture in the glass. Thirst quenching with a sweet malt finish, One of the best NZ lagers for me

300ml bottle. Pours a clear gold with a nice head. Malt with a hint of lime, not getting any other fruit. Average taste and mouth feel. Not too bitter, little hint of citrus.

One of those "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" beers. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to rate this either. It’s a slightly different beer to when I first had it, less tropical, more caramel, but still very tasty and a great Friday night quaffer. The 5.2% abv is a bit of a kicker though!

Deep bronzy gold, thick white head. Very hoppy nose, lots of tropical fruit and citrus. The palate is fairly bursting with hops as well: passionfruit, guava, and lemon rind. Incredibly bitter finish. A delicious, flavourful, well-crafted lager.

2L rigger from regional. Pours a nice amber, with a fluffy white head. Aromas of passionfruity hops, vanilla, citrus and a nice bit of malt. Hoppy fruits come in bitterly straight away in the taste, and slowly relinquish some malty caramel. Bitter finish stay around for a while, quite pleasant. Very nice.

Aroma: Passionfruit, gooseberry and lightly pine hop aromas moderately dominate the palate but can’t disguise the malt-caramel combination underneath. The prickly, nettle like hop aroma blended with a subtle malt is quite enticing.

Appearance: dark gold, clear with lovely persistent white head and good beading.

Flavour: firm passion fruit and gooseberry giving way to quite a caramel middle and finish. Finishes medium and a pleasant after-taste of hop and caramel. No off flavours detected and pleasant assertive hoppiness balances the malt flavour.

Palate: Finishes medium and could improve with drier finish.

Good drop that would please most punters looking for a moderately challenging beer. I have had this quite often and this is tasting slightly different with a more pronounced caramel note.

Pours a sparkling golden with a small white head. Quite sweet and somewhat bitter. Strongish malt aromas of grains. Slightly fruity. Also a hint of dates. Light alcohol notes. Medium to full bodied. Creamy mouthfeel. Medium carbonation. Long bitter finish. Nice full roundness.