Name: Little Armoured One
Brewery: Deep Creek Brewing Co. (Auckland, New Zealand)
Style: American Amber Ale
ABV: 5.7%
Source: Deep Creek Brews & Eats
I’ve titled this post as Little Armoured One, but truth be told I drank five different beers at Deep Creek and didn’t make useful notes about any of them so this will be fairly vague…
Deep Creek is a pretty new brewpub/restaurant on the waterfront at Browns Bay. I went there for the first time yesterday, and sat on a very comfortable leather seat near the fire and ate some calamari and drank a whole ‘paddle’ of beers. It was not the virtuous Sunday I had planned (which I think was going to involve buying running shoes), but dammit it was a good one.
6 x 200ml glasses for $22
They had run out of a couple of the Deep Creek beers, so the first one is a Moa Original and the third is a Moa Five Hop (which I really love on tap, not so much bottled).
I was really impressed with the Deep Creek beers. I wont try to tell you what they all tasted like (because I can’t) but they were all flavoursome and interesting in their own ways. Maybe my tastebuds were a bit off – but one unifying factor that they all seemed to have (particularly the pale ale and brown ale) was an distinct flavour that was part rubber and part almond essence. That sounds gross, but really they were good!
The Little Armoured One is the 5th one along (at least I’m almost 90% certain it is), and is an amber ale. It’s made with amarillo hops (which is where the name comes from – armadillos/armour, geddit?) and might have been my favourite. It smells and tastes sweet and desserty, like toffee and chocolate, but is balanced out with a hoppy, bitter finish. I wish I could say more, but both my notes and memory are a bit patchy.
Oh, and the calamari – they nailed it. Next time I’m getting the ribs!
Beer for a Year 