Herevana – GABS Edition – Sawmill – Aotearoa IPA
That’s right, a proper beer festival beer pack for my Herevana experience. Herevana, a beer festival at my place.
Because they’re in a list that I might or might not follow I started with the Sours, and then I thought lagers and then the Pale and IPA’s, and so the final session of the Pale and IPA beers. What could go wrong.
Sawmill Brewing Company (NZ) make the Sawmill Aotearoa IPA Series #17 in the lovely 🇳🇿 Matakana, New Zealand as an IPA – Hazy / New England (NEIPA) with 6.0% ABV and 27 IBU
Sawmill Aotearoa IPA Series #17 Hazy Riwaka Loaded up with Riwaka, this IPA has big punchy grapefruit, passionfruit and tropical aromas. This series is about people who bring beer to life. The farmers, the growers and the brewers. All from here and as good as it gets.
It’s a very bold and forward hop, fruity and earthy at the same time, a lovely hazy golden yellow pour with a brilliant white head.
Nicely bitter and grapefruit pithy juicy this is quite enjoyable, and briefly at the back there’s this dry kiss. I question again though if this really is a beer made for a festival, or a beer at a festival. It is a Pale Ale. A nice one, but. it doesn’t do much for celebration and joy of brewing.
Pretty sure if I was at a festival this might not be on my list of ‘must try’ beers. On tap at the bottle store then I’m all over this like a cheap suit for a grower fill, and Series beer, if you can remember them all, are their own exploration of variation on a theme.As to prove my point on the marketing “Eight carefully curated craft beers that won’t be found anywhere else” this beer is available everywhere if you just have a quick google.
So not a festival beer, just a Pale Ale.
The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 on the arbitrary number scale. It is a lovely Pale Ale don’t get me wrong, that Riwaka is bold and offers up a lot of grapefruit and that pithy dryness along with, which makes it a decent and pleasing change form other beers in the style.
It’s a vinyl Sunday and so I’m playing Kraftwerk, Electric Cafe you can listen along if you like on Spotify
The Top 8
1. Behemoth – Just a Little Slice
2. Duncan’s Boysenberry and Chocolate Ripple
3. Urbanaut Luz
4. 8 Wired Welcome To Tijuana
5. Emerson’s Hell Yeah!
6. Sawmill Aotearoa IPA Series #17 Hazy Riwaka – mostly because it’s not a festival beer.
The GABS Invitational pack brings you a true “Craft Beer Summer in a Box” and features eight carefully curated craft beers that won’t be found anywhere else including Just A Little Slice Cheesecake Sour from Behemoth, Double Boysenberry & Chocolate Ripple Sour from Duncan’s, Mos Definitely Hazy Mosaic IPA from Funk Estate, Luz Grapefruit Brut IPA from Urbanaut, Aotearoa IPA Series #17 Hazy Riwaka from Sawmill, Zenith Hazy IPA from Deep Creek, Welcome to Tijuana Lime Lager from 8 Wired and Hell Yeah! Helles Lager from Emerson’s.
Herevana beers are those I drink at home, I’m not at some beer festival, like, for instance, Beervana, but am just in my kitchen, usually, dining room table, sometimes, or outside, occasionally, where I can take an average picture and write in real time about the beer that I’ve invested in, both in a monetary and emotional way.
Philip himself.
A life just as ordinary 