Beer – #802 – Shakespeare – The Antipodean
Blow me down, this really really has to be the last of the Fresh Hop beers, the Shakespeare Tavern have made one called The Antipodean, an APA. I am made up with excitement.
Nelson Fresh hops are only available in natural fresh picked form once a year
From the fill station, of course, the 1 litre of the beer at 6.2% ABV, making it 186 ish calories a serve size, and this would be 4.88 standard drinks worth in NZ.
Brewed by Shakespeare Tavern & Brewery in the style that is of American Pale Ale and they are in an historic pub in Auckland, New Zealand
Fresh hop makes a man smile
There’s an element of alchemy in taking something that looks like horse feed and a few pernicious weeds and watching them turn into cold gold.
Once a year in the fields of Nelson the hops are ripe, ready to be picked and whisked immediately to the brewery.
Our Fresh Hop APA celebrates this harvest – a spiritual rite for the true beer lover.
Waiting is your own celebration of deeply golden malts and a full yet smooth delivery of herbaceous fresh New Zealand hops.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
A well carbonated beer that lets out a great waft of hop grass freshness on opening,
Love;y orange golden colour with a decent a full head , which I listened to and is quite the noisy thing. Lovely aroma in the glass too.
That’s an unusual taste from the hops, and there is a real curtain of sweetness, or an envelope that wraps around and sort of subdues everything.
It is a beer that even for me seems to be overly sweet. Orangy sweet but it lacks any soft of hop dry finish, something you might expect from an APA.
This is the bit where I find myself not really enjoying this and it’s taking an age to drink. I want more bitterness, I would enjoy a smack of dry at the end, a light tap even, I’d enjoy a better fuller mouthfeel/middle and less sugarness. Then again that’s not a beer I’m drinking.
I’m disappointed by the lack of a ‘fresh’ grassiness aroma too.
I finished the beer, it was something I did whilst was watching the teevee and talking to MrsPhil, it wasn’t something that I focussed on, or kept my attention. It’s pretty much an everyman beer in that respect. Sadly. Buyer beware though this was pretty cheap as fresh hop beers go, and that might have should have been a red flag.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. Not all beers are brilliant, and not all fresh hop beers are created equal, all of them though with good intention. There is a gap though between expectation and delivery, and that often, not always. is the disappointment. However in this case it is.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? The nice people at Liquorland in Forrest Hill stashed one away. I doubt it’s available on keg elsewhere, being as how it was fresh and all.
- Am I enjoying it? I drank it all without much fuss, but I don’t remember it.
- Would I have another? No.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? No.
Music for this: ” Tom Odell ” and ” Wrong Crowd ” on Spotify
This is a rather good listening album of some merit. Thomas Peter Odell (born 24 November 1990) is an English singer-songwriter.
AMERICAN PALE ALE
American Pale Ales are light in color, ranging from golden to a light copper color. The style of this beer is defined by the American hops used. American hops typically have high bitterness and aroma.This is a perfect beer for big fare like grilled burgers or combination pizzas, as well as lighter fare like sushi and green salads.
A life just as ordinary 