Beer – #832 – Outlier Cartel – Honey Chestnut
Look here, it’s different and a bit unusual, and having brought it perhaps a little rash, but I like the other Outlier beer I’ve had. Then I discovered that this was also part of the BeerJerkNZ beer club beers. That made me smile.
the not-so secret ingredient is love
500ml bottle of a bee that is at 6.5% ABV and 55 IBU, 195 calories a serve size that, and that’ about 2.6 standard drink units of beer,
Brewed in Auckland- this is in the style that is India Pale Ale (IPA) and that’s all I have to say about that.
More grey than chestnut
Urban Auckland honey from promiscuous origins and chestnuts from the Waikato were used to make this seasonal release.
We decided to pack this into a beautifully nutty amber IPA to make your trip to the watering hole worth your while.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
Lovely aroma on opening this, green grass, sweetness, possibly that Honey, right?
haha it’s brilliant dark chestnut brown with a head that is also tinged brown, deep and rich and creamy it settles itself into. What a picture of a great beer.
Aroma is muted bitterness.
Taste is brilliant, bitter with a house load of sweetness in the middle that all get shoved aside for a wallop of a finish that is bitter and lightly dry, that’s a really noisy beer the mouth.
Almost earthy taste as it sits a while, but this emphasises the bitterness in it, and the honey warms to a lovely level.
Finding the chestnut though that’s the chestnut isn’t it. A hard flavour to recognise, been a while since I had roasted chestnuts from the brazier, and I have, but it’s a long time ago in a different place.
I’m going out on a limb here. a tree reference, that the earthiness is from the chestnuts.
I like this beer for the things it brings, I even got a spike of something like lemons, definitely a citrus, but it was very point and short.
Also this looks a bit brilliant in the glass, lot of foamy lacing as I sip away.
I think I described it before as “Honey And Chestnuts as second fiddle in the band, but it’s a really big band”. This is a raucous rollicking beer of great metric and a very good take on an IPA type beer.
I’d buy it again. Also plus and additional to, I got to the end of this, and with the music playing in the background, made me very contented and in a happy place.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. It isn’t the perfect beer, but it really is different and compelling enough to bring you into it’s many layered thing. I also get that this might be a beer that polarises people, but when you’ve drank a few you remember the ones that add a bit to the game, this is almost in a game of its own.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? Beer Club beer, but it’s in the good places.
- Am I enjoying it? I am, because it is oddly odd, and also oddly good.
- Would I have another? I’d pass over a lot of beers for this
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? This is where it gets hard, right, as I think this is nice, early bitterness, sweet, bitter, and a lot going on, I think that it could though be polarising and make for a difficult conversation about the merits of things in beer.
Music for this: ” My Jerusalem ” and ” A Little Death” on Spotify
My Jerusalem is an American Indie Rock band based in Austin, Texas
What can I say, It’s almost a bit like the National, somewhat like a Billy idol, a bit Concrete Blonde in the chords, somewhat dark, and a bit of a lot of familiar things. Really an album that grown and fills out. MrsPhil, despite saying the beer smelt like beer, as always, came to comment, favourably, on the music, and if she approves that means something might be going right. Did I win a medal for the most commas in a sentence yet?
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 
Hi Phill Thank you for the review, loved it to pieces and I do agree on all points: including that it is polarizing. Can’t please everyone all the time I guess, but it’s definitely doing ‘it’s thing’! Cheers Carlos
On Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 18:35 A life just as ordinary wrote:
> Philip Walter posted: “Look here, it’s different and a bit unusual, and > having brought it perhaps a little rash, but I like the other Outlier beer > I’ve had. Then I discovered that this was also part of the BeerJerkNZ beer > club beers. That made me smile. https://youtu.be/pFmZl5” >
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I genuinely liked it, it’s an explorers beer, the ones you try to find out where your tastes really are, easy to go with hop forward super bitter and like them and be stuck, but this was a nice beer that brought something to the table. And you know if I didn’t like it I’d have said so.
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On a side note, it was the first 50 l keg to get drunk empty at this year’s Winter ale festival in Wellington. Not a bad feat considering us being a newcomer and the line up at said festival. C
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