#230 Wanaka Beerworks – Lady

Name: The Lady
Brewery: Wanaka Beerworks
Style: Cherry wheat beer
ABV: 5.5%
Source: Victoria Park new World

I have never in my life bought a porn magazine, but now I think I might know what it feels like to do so.

I lingered around the beer fridge at Vic Park New World for a good five minutes before I finally plucked up the courage to pick this beer off the shelf.

I mean how pathetically predictable, I thought. The small blonde girl buying a cherry wheat beer called ‘Lady’. The beer with the picture of the peroxide-blonde on the front, seductively biting into a cherry.

“I don’t usually do this!” I wanted to say to the shoppers around me. “It’s just for research, honest!”

It’s probably not what Wanaka Beerworks had in mind when they came up with the idea for this beer. Instead they probably pictured girls in high-heels and pink dresses flocking to it on the shelf, exclaiming “Finally! A beer that’s made for me.”

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with marketing beer towards women. Just give us a bit more credit for Christ’s sake. “A wheat based cherry beer for the ladies with enough punch to please the gents too”, it says on the bottle. Why is it just men that want punch? Why does our beer have to be pink? Why not make us an Imperial Stout,  an IPA, or a Saison? Anything but cherry wheat!

Despite my irritation at the sexist assumption of what a Lady should drink, I really wanted to forget all that for a moment and review this beer fairly. I enlisted the help of my two sister’s, and didn’t tell them what I thought about the marketing until after we’d all tasted it.

We all thought it was OK, but nothing special. It didn’t taste obviously of cherries, but they gave a burst of sweetness and tartness at the forefront which I quite liked.  I was pleased it was dry and not overly sweet as I had expected, but it was one-dimensional. The flavour didn’t develop, the finish was flabby like most wheat beer is, and there was no real aftertaste.

Nearly all the ladies in my life drink beer, and they drink the same styles as the men I know. Many like bolshy IPAs best, others prefer stouts, and a few like me can’t make up their minds. The point is not that women don’t like wheat beer, it’s that we like all sorts of beer just like men do.

I don’t mean to be overly precious about this, it’s just frustrating that beers specifically marketed at women usually have some novelty feature, Like they’re low carb, or made with fruit, or in a dainty tiny bottle. And sometimes, when they’re really going for it, they do all three! Gahhhh….. 

#173 Wanaka Beerworks – Mìere

Name: Mìere
Brewery: Wanaka Beerweorks
Style: Golden Honey Dubbel
ABV: 6.5%
Source: Regional Wines

Oops!

OK, first of all let me just apologise for being about two weeks late with this post. I’m not quite sure what happened – I just got behind and then somehow this one got forgotten. (Thank you to the very astute readers who pointed it out.)

Anyway, it shouldn’t have been forgotten because it was actually really lovely.

I liked the Mìere the best by far out of all the beers I’ve tried in this range, for reasons which I will now struggle to recall.

I remember it looked warm and glowy – all orangey golden, and hazy like my memory.

It tasted like  sunshine in a bottle – flowery (I think it said something about that on the bottle but whatever, it was true), with a little gentle citrus bite, a hint of honey sweetness, and a smooth malt backing.

It was sweet but not too sweet, subtle but not too subtle, interesting but not… You get the picture. It was good.

Now, speaking of forgetting beers – I’ve been thinking about how there are a lot of beers on the blog which get almost no description whatsoever, other than something like “I can’t remember what this tasted like, but I think it was pretty good.”

I feel a bit guilty about doing that, especially when I think of the brewers reading it, and all the hard work they put into the beer… And so I’ve devised a plan to try and make up for it.

All will be revealed in a couple of months time, but for now I would just like to say to all you neglected beers on BFAY – Tsingtao, Croucher Pilsner, Townsend Cathcarts, I’m talking to you – your time will come again!

#106 Wanaka Beerworks – Miner’s Galore

Name: Miner’s Galore
Brewery: Wanaka Beerworks
Style: Doppel Bock
ABV: 6%
Source: Regional Wines (Welington)

I don’t bloody believe it. For what feels like the gazillionth (but I think is actually the fourth) time this year I am struck down with the some mysterious strain of lurgy.

OK, so struck down is probably a bit of an exaggeration. But I was in bed, watching Parks & Recreation, choking back the last gulp of asprin when I opened this bottle of Miners Galore. I thought it would be a good choice of sick-beer because it’s described on the bottle as “a crispy brown beer brewed with Rosehip blossoms, which the first miners seeped to make tea.”

Sounds kinda good for you, right?

To be honest I didn’t pay a huge amount of attention while I was drinking it due to me feeling a bit crap and Parks and Recreation being so funny and all (get past season 1 and it’s gold – trust me), but I did observe the following:

Smelled like a schizophrenic porter. Dark, bitter roasty notes contrasting with a punchy fruitiness. Rosehip? I don’t know. I’ve never eaten them, but I’ve heard they taste like cranberry. Did this taste like cranberry? Maybe a bit.

In the mouth it was quite sharp and tangy, which I guess would be the rosehip’s main contribution. It was well balanced though – with the roasty malty sweetness battling the rosehip/hop bitterness. The mouthfeel was medium-light, perhaps could have been fuller - BUT – I was hungry when I drank it, and when I’m hungry I often crave more body.

Overall I think it was a pretty solid dark beer. It didn’t knock my socks off (or miraculously heal my lurgy), but it did make me want to try more from these guys. Which is just as well – because I still have 259 more beers to find.