Beer – #466 – Garage Project – Hāpi Daze
The one where I drink beer from a can, introduce some Maori, dance, discover DNA and think of a number between one and ten
A can of Garage Project beer, this one a beer called Hāpi Daze
Sessionable in strength, bright golden in colour and loaded with generous quantities of aromatic New Zealand hops. Very friendly.
From the prolific output of the people from Garage Project this one in the style that is Golden Ale/Blond Ale Wellington, New Zealand
This is a can of 355 ml, and is 4/6% ABV, making it 1.2 standard drink units, and somewhere around 120 calories in the can.
Hapi Daze. It’s a prototype for a possible future session ale, but in this early form at 5.4% ABV it’s a little strong to be considered a session beer.
Hāpi, the Maori word for hop, inspires this truly Pacific pale ale.
Brewed with New Zealand barley and the best of the Kiwi hop harvest, Motueka, Wai-iti, Riwawka and Nelson Sauvin. Assertively hoppy – exceptionally drinkable.
In a can – what could go wrong?
Well bursty hop aroma on opening.
More orange golden than I would have expected, and with a flimsy but largish head of big bubbles.
Still has a brilliant hop aroma. Immediately big bitter taste, no messing about there.
Passionfruit, grapefruits. and something lemon like, all carried with that dry grass aroma. Nicely sweet and balanced too with a reasonable body.
But the bitterness is mostly around the edge of the tongue, for me, and not a lot at the back on the carry, but this is a really nice drink in a can, giving you a hop hit without overload and it has a nice fiullish mouthfeel.
This is a beer that gets better as it sits in the glass, with the hop bitters, grassiness, and florals becoming more prominent and enjoyable. If anything this could do with more malt sweetness, as the rasp of the hops tends towards dryness on the palate.
I got up and did a bit of a dance, mostly to the music but somewhat to the brilliance of this canned creation.
What I didn’t get though at the end was a beer that I’d describe as “crisp” just thought I’d throw that in there- but this is, as advertised, exceptionally drinkable
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 a of its random number generator that knows it’s own mind, 8 is very good on the random scale, I’d love to have this on tap to see if they are created equal, and wouldn’t mind having another can, if only I’d had foresight.
The double dip review
- Am I enjoying it? Yes, it improves with the 4 or 5 minutes of age win the glass
- Would I have another? I would indeed love another.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? If it was bitter beer night and there was a promise of something to eat I’d be happy to sit and chug away a few of these telling porkies.
I’m listening to (again) the the band Black Swan Lane – this track from “A Moment of Happiness” is called DNA
For me something quite compelling in this music that resonates with me, and if I knew more about music I’d be able to wax more lyrical.
GOLDEN ALE/BLOND ALE
There are a few different types of blond ale. The first is the traditional “Canadian Ale”, an adjunct-laden, macrobrewed, top-fermented equivalent of the American Standard. The second is common in US brewpubs – a light starter ale, with marginally more hop and body than a macrobrew, fewer adjuncts, but still not a flavourful beer by any means. The British interpretation is easily the boldest, hoppiest blond ale rendition. Some of these can almost be considered American Pales they are so hopped up – very crisp, refreshing, with relatively low alcohol compared with their North American counterparts.
