Some Interesting Local Brews

[Backlane Brewery]

Tasted a few new (to me, at least) local brews recently, wondered if anyone else has tried them/had an opinion?
1/- Monteiths Gold
2/- Monteiths Black
Both of these were OK, but left me feeling I'd been sold a pup. The bottleshop dude who took my cash for 2 (330ml) stubbies of the gold told me it was the best beer coming out of NZ- I couldn't taste anything that special in it- nice mild hop finish after initial fruity beerness. The Black seemed undecided- they call it "Black Beer", not stout, and it falls between the two camps- dark (but not a dark ale), and semi-sweet/rich (but not as sweet or rich as a stout). More info at www.monteiths.co.nz. Any one tried their seasonal beers? Anyone know where I can get the full range?

3/ Stockade Lager
Allegedly something to do with Ballarat, brewed down in Bangholme , next to the sewerage farm. From the taste, and close examination of the bottle, cap & label positioning, I'd say this is a relabelled version of the lager they sell those at those wierd nasty Aldi supermakets for $6.99 for a six pack. I'd love to be proved wrong. Avoid, unless in Frankston, where this may be your only alternative to VB. No, sorry, even though this may be the closest "local" brewery to frankston, you won't find it there..

4/- Geelong Brewery pale ale
5/- Geelong Brewery bitter
Now, these were both very good. Dry, smooth, easy to drink...waiting for the website & (possible) tours.

 

[Doc]

Monteiths was a small brewery on the West Coast of the South Island that is now owned by Dominion Breweries. DB now brew a lot of it at their Auckland brewery which caused a huge uproar from the Coaster old timers a few years back. Drinking their local beer but brewed in Auckland. DB had to label the beers as to where it was brewed and make sure the Greymouth pubs were stocked from the local brewery. They were also going to close the Greymouth brewery but the locals put their foot down on that too.

DB markets the Monteiths ranges as it's premium range of craft style beers.
The main stays of the range are the Gold, Original, Black, Pilsner and Celtic. Of those my favourite is the Celtic although a fresh Original goes down well.
The seasonals are the better of the Monteiths brew IMO, although DB has now decided to only doing a couple of seasonals a year instead of each season. The Doppelbock and Radler are my two favourite ones.

If you look at the photos of keg freezer and font in the gallery, you will see I have Monteiths tap labels etc as well.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Weizguy]

I've had some of the Monteiths. I had the Gold Lager and the Summer beer. Neither was special to my tongue, and the the Summer beer sounded great but was more a ginger beer than a beer beer. I was disappointed coz it wasn't much of anything, and I certainly felt that I wasted money on it. Could've bought a 500ml Kozel for about the same price.

Maybe they lose something when they cross the channel between here and NZulland.
I hear that there are better beers in the country, maybe from the other island. I have tasted a few of the Mac's brews and they were much more fondly recalled.

Seth Connoisseur :chug:

 

[dreamboat]

Mac's is also from the mainland.
All North Island beer is crap



dreamboat

 

[neonmeate]

try the monteiths oud bruin seasonal if you can find it it's an interesting spiced beer (not a rodenbach style oud bruin though).

i like the black myself, it's a pretty good schwarzbier even if they don't call it that.

the pils, original etc are pretty low on flavour but often the best option when stuck in an NZ pub that only serves 4% brown lagers...

but i'd rather have emersons or pink elephant anytime

 

[wessmith]

Doc, I had the opportunity to try both the Monteith Blacks side by side. The bottled version out of BD in Auckland is very different to the draught on tap at the Monteiths themed bars (this was in Christchurch). Bottled version was quite ordinary and quite obviously did not have the same grain bill as the draught version. Did some extensive tasting notes at the time if I can find them. The draught Black won a class at the Aus Beer Awards a few years back and I remember Doug Donelan from MSB saying at the time how well balanced it was. That was just before DB announced they were going to close the Greymouth brewery I think.

Wes

 

[barfridge]

Mac's is also from the mainland.
All North Island beer is crap

dreamboat

When I was in NZ I did have one great beer in the north island (my strange attraction to Tui doesnt count).
I was mike's mild ale, brewed by white cliffs brewing, not far north of New Plymouth.
some info here
ratebeer page here

 

[spog]

yep backlane,your #4 pick the geelong pale ale,there is a small pub down a side street from the adelaide entertainment centre, that has this breweries wares on tap. a top drop that no doubt.

 

[GOLIATH]

Spog,

The pub is called the Jolly Miller. It is owned by the same bloke that owns Geelong Brewing.

Dave

 

[tdh]

Was!

He passed away end of last year.

tdh

 

[phantom]

I recently tried a mixed 6 from the lovely valley beverage co at Myponga.

What an ordinary tasting bunch of pap! The Irish stout was the nicest but the lager and bitters had an annoying cloying(poet) <_< characteristic that reminded me of green homebrew.They claim to be chemical free,but i had 2 sips of hoppys bitter lager and nearly spewed,It tasted strongly of betadine or something like that.
Anyone else tried their stuff out there?

I couldn,t even email them to have a whinge as they,re not on line and don't have a website(bit of a mum and pop show me thinks).

 

[tdh]

BB did some consulting work for them, maybe he can help.

 

[phantom]

BB did some consulting work for them, maybe he can help.

Do you mean backlane brewery?

 

[Gulf Brewery]

No, its bradmcm

 

[bradmcm]

Yes, I consulted for them at the very early stages.
They are a couple of retired EWS workers/farmers
that got hold of some diary equipment and thought it would
be great to suppliment their soft drink line with beer.

They certainly didn't have ANY knowledge on how beer was made.

Last I heard, they got a mate who had made "Heaps of Coopers Kits"
to be their "brewer".
That may or may not be true.

 

[dicko]

The above posts made me grin, "heaps of coopers kits"
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers

 

[phantom]

That would explain it then,they probably used the yeast from under the lid.
You'd think if someone was going to get a licence,bottle and sell they would at least make a product that tasted ok.

 

[Andrew]

I've tried their brew, and I can support the earlier email by Phantom. The post may have made you grin Dicko, but tasting the stuff would soon wipe the smile off your face.

I'd like to say more, but personally think it would not be fair if their 'brewer' was unable to have the right of reply, ie not really nice to bag the brewing of others on a forum if they can't have a say in return.

Cheers

 

[phantom]

I,d love to get em on here but you can't even contact em by email/no website,so their brewer probably has'nt been exposed to the plethora of info for brewers of all levels and standards.The great thing about brewing is the constant learning and experimentation.And the drive to make the next one that little bit better.

 

[Andrew]

Absolutely, Phantom.

BTW my anti-bagging stance doesn't cover the major megaswills....

Cheers!