Beer – #610 – McLeods – Great Migration IPA
“The Great Migration”, from McLeod’s, a brewer in Waipu that has morphed from or grown from being a pizza joint into something much bigger.
A Beautiful Monster
A 500ml bottle of a beer that is 6.8% ABV, so thats about 2.7 standard drinks, and 208 calories a serve size.
Brewed by the mysterious McLeod’s Brewery, this is in the style that is India Pale Ale (IPA), and they are in Waipu which is a ways north of me here in Auckland.
Big and bold, like the journey and those early settlers that took it on. A complex and flavoursome hop forward beer. Not for the faint of heart!
Slainte
A man with a great expectation let alone a great migration
Ballsier than a 600km journey to find home. Big and bold whilst still satisfying.
Mighty citrus power is balanced with plentiful malts to make this a drinkable IPA.
A Beautiful Monster.
So what could possibly go wrong?
Nothing overly obvious in the aroma, other than I think it’s sweet, as in sugary not ‘sweet’ as in ‘Dude, sweet ride’.
Lovely dark chestnut pour with a decent air filled head of pure white that seems quite persistent.
I get an aroma that might be grapefruit in the glass, or sweeter like passion fruit, more likely the latter.
And that has a really interesting grassy hoppy bitterness, interesting in a brilliant and unusual way, and a grassy pine dry finish at the other end. One eyebrow raised a little, this is surprisingly a bit good.
I say surprising as in it’s not really a widely known beer, and surprising as it should be.
Lots of those little point flavours like the passion fruits, the roughness of fresh grass, the under stated malt the lovely flavour on the dry finish, it’s quite an understated performer and a bit of a gem really, and a really good take on the IPA style, a beer to savour enjoy and reflect upon.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 of its things from the thing. It is rather unusual to find a take on an IPA that isn’t hop heavy or hop fronted that has allowed a bunch of flavours to be fore and centre. 8 is very good of things, I think it might, for me, needed a bit more punch of malts and backbone, and although the flavour points have come to play I might become jaded and tired of them as it becomes more fruity as it warms, and therefore impression that might be just too sweet.
The double dip review
Am I enjoying it? I am, it’s rather engaging and enjoyable, has a lot of things to like and a lot of things to take your attention.
Would I have another? I would indeed I bet it’s good fresh on the tap, I might have to plan a trip.
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I would because this isn’t an in-your-face beer, it’s all a bit understated and engaging and you end up sipping and supping and just enjoying things.
Music for this is a NZ artist, Anika Moa, who has a new album called ‘Queen at the Table’, which you can listen to here on the Spotify, and all the other places probably. It isn’t at all what you might expect.
This is a live version of ‘Running’
INDIA PALE ALE & IPA
India Pale Ale gets its name and unique style from British brewers who were making beer for export to India. This style has an intense hop flavor which was used to preserve the beer for the long voyage. India Pale Ale has a golden to copper color with a medium maltiness and body. The aroma is moderate to very strong. IPAs work especially well at cutting the heat of chili, vindaloo or Sichuan cuisine.
A life just as ordinary 