Kiwi In A Pouch
Wig And Pen

 

Pours a pale golden colour, steady bead in the beer. Head is thin, whispy, fairly disappointing. Lace is okay, nice and sticky, but quite thin. Serves to elevate the appearance though, not bad.

Nose is malty and lightly hoppy; very floral with nectar, orange peel and sherbet or musk on the back. Nice caramel malt character as well. Subdued, but nice.

Taste starts off malty and gets hoppy early. Large floral characters with grassy edge, then gets quite phenolic on the back, with an aspiring bitterness and a hint of some citric rind. Maybe a slight bread yeast character as well, but yeah, that phenolic medicinal character is quite rampant, sadly. Not very refreshing, just dankly bitter. Not a huge fan.

Good body though, goes down smoothly. Possibly a bit flat, but enjoyable texture.

Not the best pale ale I've had. I expect more light and refreshing, I find this a bit harsh overall, and can't down this as I could others.

On tap at the Local Taphouse's ANZAC day SpecTapular.

Pours a bright, clear golden colour with a nice fine bubbled head of white foam, leaving some fantastic lacing. Looks really good in fact.

Nose is a bit muted, with some light buttery notes and a slight fruit acidity that doesn't stay particularly strong. Little input from the Kiwi hops, which I feel should be bombastically vocal. Still, some nice sweet caramel notes, just wish the hops were up a notch.

Palate is soft with a more robust bitterness coming trough on the back. Initial light butterscotch and menthol like resin characters mellow nicely to a light clean and crisp mod palate, before the aforementioned bitterness. Pretty nice overall, but it feels a little disjointed. Mouthfeel riddled with fine bubbling. quite nice.

Overall, a reasonable brew, the bitterness asserting itself perhaps a little too much. Without the pleasant fruit notes the back it up, it feels a little one-sided. Not a bad drop though, another interesting beer from Wig & Pen.