Name: Anvil
Brewery: Harrington’s (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Style: Pilsner
ABV: 6.5%
Source: Regional Wines (Wellington)
Woah woah woah… WHAT is this beer? It is delicious!
The reason I sound so incredulous is that I’ve never seen it/heard of it before, yet it tastes like it deserves to be famous (and I don’t just mean famous among beer-geeks). Maybe it is and it’s just somehow slipped my radar?
It reminds me of Hop Zombie and Hopwired, in that it manages to be massively hoppy (citrusy but sweet, like fruit jelly) while still being malty and luscious and not at all like drinking paint stripper. I guess that’s because (as the label says) it’s largely dry-hopped, which would lend lots flavour without too much bitterness.
There is some bitterness though – just the right amount. In fact everything about this beer seems just right somehow.
Apologies that I can’t say anything more constructive about this beer than “Go! Go buy it now!”, but I was drinking it while watching the goddamn Leaders Debate and was too tense/distracted to make any notes.
Actually, it doesn’t need any notes. It’s just straight up “Yum”, and you don’t need to think about why to enjoy it.
Now go! Go buy it now!
PS – sorry about the slightly aggressive, overly punctuated tone of this post. I imagine there will be many more of these around election time. Bear with me.
Beer for a Year 
Harringtons have been a beer institution in Christchurch for many years. A range of over 20 beers available at their own bars and bottle stores around town. Most of these were not very challenging beers but I believe that recently the brewers at Harringtons got the nod to make something that they would to brew… and here you have their Anvil!
Yeah, I haven’t had a Harrington’s beer for ages so I can’t remember what the others are like… But this one seems to be branded quite differently so I imagined it must be a special one.
Riggers of Ngahere Gold were a staple during my high school years. It was good for having a high ABV, I wasn’t really looking for much else.
Then there was the one time we foolishly got their Big John (I think, details are hazy here) instead because it was stronger. I think it may have been an imperial stout or something but, regardless, that only happened once.
Glad to see they’re doing some good things, I knew they had it in them.
I really enjoyed Anvil. However I don’t really agree with the assertion on the label that dry hopping is more stable than late hopping. Its the first of the Brewers Edition series. There is a decent Baltic Porter to follow and an IPA of which less thats said the better.