Pale Ale - Taiheke
The Kernel Brewery

 

330ml bottle.
L: Hazy, yellow gold with clouds of micro bubbles and two fingers of fluffy head that never diminishes and lasts to the end.
S: Light, fresh and faintly tropical.
T: Pineapple, lemon, underripe mango and a hint of banana. Pithy, dry finish
F: Soft mouthfeel with moderate carbonation.
O: A beautifully delicate hazy pale ale. Looks glorious and is eminently crushable at 5.3%. This is from London, England. More like this in the States, please.

before this beer, i had never heard of these taiheke hops before, a new strain out of new zealand, if you couldnt tell by the name. its awesome to experience it for the first time in a single hop context like this, and i have to give huge props to kernel here for doing something like this, and for continuing to experiment with hops in their pales and ipas. its awesome. the base pale is simple and light, a basic crackery cereal malt complexion and fermented to near dry, so the hops really shine. i get everything from green tea leaf to lime, lemon basil, fennel pollen, noble type spiciness, lemongrass, marjoram, and citrus zest, its pretty insanely different, and while it sure smells and tastes like it comes from new zealand and fits in well with the better known hops from there, it definitely has its own personality and i really dig it. there is way more bitterness here than some of the other pale ales we had here too, higher alpha clean bitey bitter finish, which is a neat way to rather abruptly cut off this herbaceous and resplendent nuance. the tea element lingers nicely, and i immediately want more of this hop. i could see it being amazing as a dry hop in a bohemian pils type, but also think it could be fun in something a little less traditionally hoppy like and english brown. cant wait to see where this one goes. thanks to kernel for turning me on to a brand new hop varietal! i adored this beer, and could have just stood there sniffing it for hours! wow