#228 McCashin – Stoke Bomber Bohemian Ale

In hindsight I should have perhaps used the flash.

Name: Stoke Bomber – Bohemian Ale
Brewery: Mccashin Family Brewery (Nelson, NZ)
Style: Golden Ale
ABV: 5.3%
Source: Rakinos (Auckland)

Bah, humbug!

I don’t mean to sound like a grumpy old scrooge, but this beer was almost completely ruined for me by the fact that it cost a whopping $22. 

It’s not Stoke’s fault – I see it retails at Regionals for the much more sane price of $8.50, but for some crazy reason the bar that I drank it at, Rakinos, had bumped it waaaaay up.

“Why did you buy it then, you bleeding idiot?” I hear you ask. Good question. I bought it because it was five minutes to midnight, I hadn’t had my beer of the day, and this was the only beer at the bar I hadn’t blogged about. Desperate times indeed.

And what did it taste like?

It’s hard to say as I was busy muttering things like “Highway robbery!” and “Back in my day, you could buy a puncheon of beer for a ha’pence”, and shaking my cane at the bar staff and such. But I definitely thought it tasted like something I should be drinking in the sun, with a picnic, rather than in a loud dark bar. It had a little zingy citrus, a medium and quite dry mouthfeel, and some honey sweetness from the malt.

Not a very useful description, I know. But what can you expect? I was hurting people, I was hurting. 

#119 McCashins Brewery – Stoke Bomber

Name: Original Stoke Bomber
Brewery: McCashins Brewery (Stoke, New Zealand)
Style: Kiwi Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5%
Source: A bottle store in Kaikoura

Just like that I’m Cruising on the Interislander again, and with three days’ worth of posts from Craft Beer Heaven (an area which I have roughly marked out as the top of the South Island) to catch up on.

The first day did not go exactly as planned. I drove through Blenheim planning to visit the Renaissance Brewery (where the ridiculously good 8 Wired is also brewed), but it turned out there’s no cellar door as such. Apparently Renaissance beers can be tasted on tap at the pub next door, which to my dismay was closed for a Christmas function. Damn you Christmas, damn you.

Undettered I drove on to Kaikoura, where I expected I would find Renaissance and 8 Wired beer raining from the sky. Unfortunately the only thing raining from the sky was, well, rain, and there was nary a craft beer tap in town to be found.

No matter. I did find this vaguely local beer at a bottle store, and with the help of a plastic cup and a vaguely scenic beach, managed to have a pretty good time drinking it.

I read on the label that the Original Bomber tasted of stonefruit and biscuity malt before I tasted it, and I s’pose it did a bit – but mostly I thought it had a pretty ordinary ‘brown beer’ flavour. I feel guilty writing this because the brewer would probably have a heart-attack if he saw it, but it’s a taste that makes me think of, well… Tui.

On the other hand, It had a good mouthfeel, a nice caramel sweetness and a decent bitterness at the finish. I thought it didn’t showcase our lovely NZ hops as much as some of the other KPA/APA’s around at the moment, but it was perhaps a more easy-drinking example of the style.

Righto. Better hurry and get the next two posts down before the free beer on this ferry gets the better of me…