Our top picks

Our favourites

These beers scored the highest in our tasting:

• Emerson's 1812 India Pale Ale
• Epic Armageddon I.P.A.
• Monteith's Pilsner
• Harrington's The Rogue Hop Organic Pilsner
• Croucher Brewing Co. Hef
• Mac's Brewery Hop Rocker Pilsener
• Three Boys Golden Ale
• Emerson's Pilsner

Croucher Brewing Co. Hef

Wheat beers

With its flavours of spice, banana and bubblegum Croucher Brewing Co. Hef was our panel’s favourite wheat beer. Had the beer been fresher, it would have tasted even better.

Three Boys Wheat polarised the panel. Three judges rated it highly but the other three didn’t enjoy it. This is one you’ll have to try for yourself.

Lagers

Many of the lagers failed to impress our judges. They were looking for beers with a good balance between hops and malt; but many lacked maltiness and tasted thin, papery and “oxidised”.

Harrington's The Rogue Hop Organic Pilsner

Harrington’s The Rogue Hop Pilsner was our judges’ top-rated lager. It had clean balanced flavours with a strong hoppy finish.

Emerson’s Pilsner was another favourite. It too balanced subtle malt with clean and fruity hop flavours. One of our judges described it as having “assertive NZ-style hop aromas of gooseberry and ice cream”.

Two Pilseners from our biggest breweries (Monteith’s Pilsner and Mac’s Brewery Hop Rocker Pilsner) also rated well. And they were among the cheapest beers in our tasting.

Once again a Three Boys beer split the panel. Some judges found the Three Boys Pils harsh and overly bitter while others enjoyed it, tasting flavours of passionfruit and citrus.

Three Boys Golden Ale

Pale ales

Two beers stood out from the rest: Three Boys Golden Ale and Emerson’s 1812 India Pale Ale.

These integrated the flavours of malt and hops well – and had the level of bitterness expected from a pale ale.

See the Tasting results for details of how all 37 beers performed.