Updated: 03 Dec 2009

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Introduction

We tasted 37 New Zealand craft beers - including wheat beers, lagers and pale ales.

Craft beers are brewed for intense stylistic flavours, so some may not be to your liking. But you don’t have to find this out the hard way after buying a dozen. All the beers in our tasting are sold by the bottle, allowing you to buy a selection and pick your own favourites.

Find out which ones rated tops with our tasting panel.

About our tasting

Our panel of 6 judges tasted 37 craft beers from New Zealand breweries. We included a mix of wheat beers, lagers and pale ales – lighter and refreshing styles you’re likely to drink in spring and summer. Among the 37 beers, we included 3 from New Zealand’s biggest breweries.

Our tastings differ from industry tastings. We buy our beer from shops just like consumers do – most other tastings use beer chosen by the brewery. And our judges are a mix of professionals and experienced amateurs.

See Our top picks for the favourites from our judges, and Tasting results for the full results for all 37 beers.

Our panel

• Geoff Griggs
  Independent beer writer and commentator.
• Stu McKinlay
  Beer enthusiast, home-brewer, beer award steward and owner of Yeastie Boys.
• Trasy Fahle
  Beer, wine and cheese enthusiast.
• Kieran Haslett-Moore
  Beer specialist at Regional Wines and Spirits in Wellington. Beer judge, beer columnist and founding member of SOBA (Society of Beer Advocates).
• Alasdair Clem
  Head brewer at Wellington’s Mac’s Brewery. Originally from whisky country in the north of Scotland but much prefers a pint after work to a dram!
• Grant Pearson
  Brewer at DB Breweries in Auckland.

 

Beer styles

There are over 80 different styles of beer but they all fall into two broad categories: lagers and ales.

All beer contains the same four basic ingredients – water, malt, hops and yeast. But it’s the type of yeast, hops and malt, and the brewing process that determines the style.

• Lagers are traditionally brewed with yeasts that sink to the bottom of fermentation vessels and work slowly, at low temperatures. Before packaging, the lagers are stored at cool temperatures to allow flavours to develop.
  
  Many of the lagers we tasted were Pilsener-style, named after the city of Pilsen in the Czech Republic where the style originates. What makes Pilseners distinct from other pale lagers is their characteristic hop flavour and aroma.
• Ales are brewed with yeasts that rise to the top of the fermentation vessel. Ale yeasts work faster than lager yeasts because they ferment at warmer temperatures. Pale ales are brewed with ale yeasts and pale malts. They’re usually deep-golden to coppery in colour – and often have a degree of bitterness in their flavour.
• Wheat beers are usually ales. Sometimes also called white beers, they’re brewed with a large proportion of wheat as well as barley malt. Belgian-style wheat beers often have spices such as coriander or bitter orange peel added, giving them a slightly fruity and spicy flavour. Wheat beers are often served unfiltered, in which case the sediment left behind produces a cloudy appearance.

Our top picks

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

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 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.

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.

Tasting results

 Here's how all 37 beers rated with our tasting panel.

 

Guide to the table

Products are listed (within each style of beer) according to score out of 20.

• One star = less than 12 points.
• Two stars = 12-14 points.
• Three stars = more than 14 points.

Price per 250ml glass is based on what we paid per bottle.

Freshness and availability

Fresh is best

Our judges felt some of the beers in our tasting had the potential to rate higher but were let down by a lack of freshness.

With a few exceptions, beer doesn’t improve with age. The styles we tasted are best enjoyed fresh – make sure you check the best-before date.

Beer is also sensitive to heat and light. So don’t buy beer from the front of glass-fronted fridges or from under fluorescent lights. Go to the cool room or the back of the fridge and take the freshest product you can find. When you get your beer home, keep it in a cool dark place.

Availability

Many of the beers in our tasting are from small Kiwi breweries. That means you won’t find all of them in every supermarket and bottle store. Supermarkets that stock a good selection of beers – along with specialist beer and wine stores – are the best places to look.

If your local supermarket or bottle store doesn’t stock the beer you’re after, ask them to order it in. Or contact the brewery directly: it’ll know whether there’s a stockist near you (you may also be able to order direct from the brewery).

Ordering online is another alternative: www.regionalwines.co.nz and www.beerstore.co.nz both stock a good selection of New Zealand craft beers.

And you don’t have to buy a six-pack. All the beers in our tasting can be bought individually in 330ml, 375ml or 500ml bottles – you can mix ’n match and put together your own tasting selection.

Our advice

• Beer tasting is a personal experience. The best beer is the one you like, whatever its rating. Try our top beers – but also sample some of the other beers in our table.
• You’re after really fresh beer? Many of the beers in our tasting can be bought directly from the brewery or on tap at specialist beer pubs. Some pubs also brew their own beer … if there’s a local brewery in your area, give your taste buds a new experience.

 

Report by Libby Manley.