On the eve of rugby's famous Bledisloe Cup, B&B packs down its own scrum of trans-Tasman tipples.

AUSTRALIA

Mountain Hightail Ale – 4.5%

The beauty of this beer is in the bottle conditioning. Like it’s splendid older cousins the Coopers Pale and Sparkling Ales, the Hightail is filled to the gills with yeasty particles. From pallet to palate, these tiny cell flakes imbue the brew with flavour and complexity and, here, lend cloudy lustre to a beautifully burnt amber colouring. Crack the cap and they then detonate a blend of earthy, herbal aromas on the nose. On first taste, the Hightail’s rich malty body immediately comes to the fore but soon the nutty, caramelised flavours recede into savoury tinges as satisfyingly homespun as Vegemite on toast. It’s a trip/trap, trip/trap but by then this Goat is down your throat…closely followed by another.

Bluetongue Premium Lager – 4.9%

As kids we used to lure garden snails to their death by half-filling tubs with beer and watching the poor critters slither in and die pie-eyed. The reason? Bluetongue lizards love nothing more than a malt and barley-marinated mollusc. This simple equation comes full circle with Bluetongue beer, a sweet sister sipper to Bondi Blonde and Bondi Red and one similarly easy on the palate. Like most Bondi blondes, Bluetongue is light-headed, thin-bodied, slightly herbal, relatively unsophisticated and never more desirable than post-swim on a hot summer’s day.

Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale – 5.2%

From the malt and barley magicians at Matilda Bay who brought us Redback and Dogbolter comes the latest in fresh-faced, new-age neck-oilers. Taking it’s name from a rare strain of hops curiously high in iso alpha bitterness, the Alpha Pale Ale tests the outer extremities of boutique brewing. Hops are added to the boil early and late and then slow-fermented, thus upping the bite of the citrus while underpinning a full malt palate with a symphony of herbaceous notes as zesty to the nose as they are to the tongue. While better on tap where it’s fruit is allowed the air it needs to breath, the mail on this Alpha is that even in the bottle it’s a top quality quaffer.  

NEW ZEALAND

Brewski – 4.9%

A supreme gold medallist at the New Zealand International beer awards a few years back, Brewski deserves all the kudos it receives both here and over "the ditch" despite Beerworks being a tiny operation who only brew in small (700 litre) batches with crystalline spring water drawn from 75m underground. A bohemian pilsener with honey-colourings, rich floral notes on the nose and a malty sweetness which goes gangbusters on the palate when it bumps uglies with those oh-so seductive Saaz hops, Brewski is a crisp drop best savoured with light and spicy fare where it’s frisky floral tones cut through ground paprika or lime and coriander infused chilli dishes as easily as Jonah Lomu through English fullbacks.

Maris Gold – 4.5%

The Dunedin-based Emersons brewery has tripled in size in the last five years. Why? Because their beers are bold, radical and endlessly interesting. There’s the sublime Organic pilsener which positively bursts with passionfruit and lemon. Not far behind is the hoppy, fruity India Pale Ale and the sweet but syrupy Bookbinder. But it’s Maris Gold which shapes as their flagship. Old gold in hue and brewed in the European wiess bier tradition, it’s name refers to Maris Otter, the velvety sweet pale barley malt from England which competes so vigorously with the zest of the homegrown Saaz and Cascade hops on the nose. Complex yet eminently drinkable, this one will last as long on the palate as it will in the memory.

Montieths Original Ale – 4.0%

Already renowned for their ‘family of fine beers’, the Montieths are fast becoming New Zealand’s equivalent of the Cooper’s dynasty in Australia, with a broad arsenal of bold, complex beers rooted in traditional brewing methods yet forging new ground in 21st century neck oiling. The Original Ale carries the prefix ‘Highly Hopped’ and that it is with voluptuous explosions of fruit and citrus notes from the first sip. However, the beauty of this beer is it’s darker half – the creamy notes of butter and caramel so reminiscent of olde worlde English ales and musky taverns inhabited by Hobbits and halflings. Copper in the glass, gold on the palate.

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