What a way to start our new beer column with a gold medal US style ale from small Auckland-based brewer the Behemoth Brewing Company.
Owner Andrew Childs picked up a gold for his 'Murica! American Pale Ale (APA) at the recent Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards and it's not hard to figure out why.
A disclaimer, I am a rank amateur when it comes to critiquing, so beer with me. But, I know what I like and 'Murica! is one of the best APAs I've had the pleasure of tasting.
Its mix of Columbus, Centennial, Zythos and Amarillo hops with a German malt base delivers a wonderful pineapple flavour. Andrew from Behemoth said he'd always wanted to produce "an in your face APA with a big hops, stone fruit and pine flavour" and he's hit the nail on the head. And at 6 per cent you can have a few without getting completely blown away - so I'll give this four-and-a-half pints out of five.
Beer provided courtesy of Brew Craft Beer Pub on Eat Streat, Rotorua. This week's featured beer is available from Brew Rotorua and Brew Tauranga.
