Incoming
Anticipation is building over a couple of brand new import orders arriving over the next week or so. First of all we're expecting fresh beer from Asia's greatest brewery, Baird, very soon. This shipment is all about bottled beer. We're replenishing our stock of Baird's core range and picking up four recent seasonals.
Those seasonals are Pacific Century Citrus IPA, a citrus juice-infused IPA that we've had before, Morning Coffee Stout, Four Sisters Spring Bock and Ganko Oyaji Barley Wine.
We hope to resume buying kegged beer from Baird some time in the near future when they start filling key kegs - the kind of single use kegs used widely in Europe.
A week or so later our latest Californian shipment arrives and relief will be at hand for hop-junkies. And not just at Hashigo Zake but around the country at the growing number of supermarkets and bottle stores piggy-backing off our import orders. This shipment will restore bottle stocks of beer from Green Flash, Bear Republic, Moylan's and Ballast Point. There will be some kegged beer too from Moylan's and Green Flash.
Making its New Zealand début will be a new year-round beer from Green Flash called Rayon Vert. It's a Belgian Pale Ale that is bottle-condition using brettanomyces. It's thought to be the first time that a "brett-beer" has been made on such a scale before. The result is getting rave reviews in the US.
We'll also have bottles from another Californian brewery - Left Coast. We'll be getting four of their range (Trestles IPA, Hop Juice IIPA, Voodoo Stout and Wedge Black IPA) in some of the best looking, screen-printed bombers ever to hold beer.
Tastings
We've been letting our tasting programme take a back seat so far in 2012, while we enjoy the habit that New Release Tuesday has turned into. But it's high time we resumed structured tastings around a brewery or theme in the manner that has usually proven popular over the previous two and a half years.
So on April 11 we're planning a tasting of New California Beers. That is, beers that are new to us. In that category are a couple of Moylan's beers, the whole Left Coast range and the aforementioned Green Flash Rayon Vert.
More details next week.
Next Tuesday
We're following this week's Ballast Point Double Header with a pair of new Coronado beers - Stoopid Stout and Nado Nectar. Stoopid Stout is a massive 9.3% Imperial Stout. Nado Nectar is a strong witbier, which we can have high expectations of given how good Coronado's year round Orange Avenue Witbier is.
As usual these two go on tap at 5pm on Tuesday.
Next Friday
Citra-fest is just over a week away - our homage to what may be the most fashionable hop in brewing today. From 3pm on Friday March 30 we'll be serving Liberty West Coast Blonde - Citra, Nøgne Ø Citra IPA, Mikkeller Single Hop Citra IPA and Liberty C!tra Imperial IPA. Note that we've set the starting time at 3pm to head off any chaos due to the fact we only have 20 litres of the Liberty C!tra. Remember though that if our keg of C!tra runs out we will have bottles available.
On Tap Now or Soon
At the time of writing there remains about half a keg of Mikkeller Texas Ranger on tap.
For something a little different from the usual we'll soon have Mussel Inn Captain Cooker on a hand pump.
Maybe it's adjunct week, because the first of our allocated two kegs of Brewaucracy Bean Counter, a vanilla bean-infused porter, will come on any day.
And we've another keg of Invercargill Boysenbeery. Yesterday the Southland Times ran this rather glowing profile of Invercargill Brewery.
There will be more of last Friday's big success, Emerson's Clean Sweep, and another seasonal pale ale from Emerson's - Bird Dog.
And anyone feeling the need for a hop bomb from the west coast of the US can look out for Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, Green Flash Hop Head Red or even the returning Tuatara American Pale Ale.
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