In this limited edition brew, the rye grain’s spicy shrills duel exhilaratingly with the fruity west coast hops, while deep dark malts plug away in the background.
We love the Tuartara Brewery as we would put it in our top 10 from New Zealand. To snag a limited edition is ever better. Poured into a shaker glass we see a massive 1 inch tan coloured head that retains beautifully to form a 10-15mm sudsy thick cloud-like head with impressive lacing on the glass. Mat black colour here. On the nose, we get roasted malts, hints of chocolate, spice from the hops/rye, and dark stewed tropical fruit along with strawberry which is interesting and pine needle. Flavour profile in the mouth is very tasty. Nice contained bitterness on the palate which drops away slowly. There is a crispness to it. Malts are balanced so well with the alcohol content of 7.5%. Tastes like a 6%. Body is moderate at best with mild carbonation. Very smooth to drink. So luscious. The combination of coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla, spice, and ash make up the body, and there is pine resin with hints of passion fruit and citrus with undertones of toffee. Very true to style of a black IPA. So well balanced with the combination of virtually no booze heat means this beer is a keeper. We had a peak on ratebeer.com and it is 98/100. We have to agree. It’s excellent. Maybe with slightly more body and we couldn’t fault this. We have finished the bottle coated with the ‘skin’ of the ancient Tuartara reptile and we just want another. Those kiwi’s know how to brew craft beer alright.