Beer Friday! - Yeastie Boys Brewery

Hello folks, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday!. This week, I'd first like to share a fantastic discovery I made. Here, in Dunedin, there is a CRAFT BEER STORE. Yeah. A place where I can go to pick up all sorts of NZ (and international) microbrews, as well as delicious scotch (if I could afford it) and fantastic wines (if I was Peter Dinklage). SO, I raise my literal and metaphorical glass to Castle MacAdam Wine. May we have a wonderful, alcohol based friendship over the next 100 or so (is that a hint as to my return date? MAYBE?) days.

As for the beer(s) this week, I went with two selections, purchased from the aforementioned Castle MacAdam, from Yeastie Boys Brewery. Based out of Miramar in Wellington, YB was founded by Stu McKinlay and Sam Posseniskie. They exploded onto the craft brewing scene in 2009 with their fantastically named Pot Kettle Black porter (winning two trophies at BrewNZ 2009), and have since been putting out top quality brown pops and making it rain, PACMAN JONES STYLE, international beer awards. Everything I've heard and read about these guys had been overwhelmingly positive, so I'm very excited to review TWO of their beers for you, as always, after the jump.


First up is Rex Attitude, a "Peat-smoked Strong Golden Ale." Before I start, full disclosure: one of my favourite beers/brands is Innis & Gunn. The "whisky beer" concept (short story: beer aged in whisky barrels) is one that I'm certainly a fan of, and I&G do it very well. This beer takes that concept to another level.

And holy shit is it wonderful.

I think this is perhaps my favourite New Zealand beer yet, and by quite a long stretch as well. Right off the top, it smells amazing. I poured it out into a glass and just took a sniff of the empty bottle, and was hit immediately with a STRONG smoky smell (various descriptions, written by better writers than I, describe it as "kissing your grandpa." CREEPY? You bet. ACCURATE? Mostly). I guess I should have expected it based on the provided description, but I wasn't really prepared for how smoky it would be. It smells like a combination of scotch and charcoal BBQ, and it is absolutely incredible. As for how it actually tastes, that smokiness remains in the beer itself, and combining with that malty flavour of golden ales, makes Rex Attitude something special indeed. It's got that deep golden colour that's so appealing to the eye, a flavour that is unique to anything I've ever tatsed in a beer before, and a T-Rex on the label. Not sure what else a man could ask for in a beer (did I mention it's also 7% ABV?). The label mentions that many would have considered a beer made with 100% heavy peated distilling malt to be "undrinkable", but I'm over the moon that Yeastie Boys gave those folks the metaphorical middle finger and made it anyway. Remarkable.

Words can't even describe it. I'm smuggling some home.

Next up was Red Rackham, Yeastie's spin on a traditional red ale. The beer is heavily Belgian-influenced, and while not outstanding, was certainly a good beer overall. It didn't pour as dark as I expected from a red ale (I suppose being used to Rickard's Red, which is more of deeeeeeep red), but rather a lighter amber. Taste, as I said, was not spectacular, but had nice combinations of spice, cinnamon and hops. I suppose my experience with Red Rackham was diminished due to what came before it, and thus I can't really give it a review taht does it justice. I certainly liked it, and I'm sure it is a wonderful beer, but compared to its compatriot, was nothing too far out of the ordinary.

That wraps up another Beer Friday!. Sorry for the lack of activity this week (I think this is the first time I've had back-to-back Beer Friday! posts), I'm well and truly stuck into school mode now and haven't had the chance to much "fun" stuff (I find teaching fun, but not the best subject to blog about). Hopefully that changes soon, I've got some visitors (!) hopefully swinging down Dunners way in the next few days, and have been agitating for a trip out to the Otago peninsula as well. So maybe this blog will be a little more interesting in the next few weeks. Cheers!

Dave