Beer #51 - W/C 15 February 2016
BREWERY //
In 1989, after taking redundancy from a career working on oil rigs Mike Johnson took his life savings and opened a brewery in Urenui producing beer commercially in Taranaki for the first time in a generation. It took until 2000 to secure a consistent supply of organic malt and hops when Johnson achieved his goal of making mike's Mild the first accredited organic beer from the North Island. When brewer Ron Trigg and his family bought the brewery in 2007, only two beers were in production- mike's Mild and an organic lager. That didn't last for long as Ron rapidly added to the core range as well and began releasing seasonal beers throughout the year. The traditional beers are supplemented with more modern ones which don't always fit within standard style guidelines such as their Strawberry Blonde, Chocolate Milk Stout and Whiskey Porter. mike's are still committed to brewing with organic ingredients whenever possible and we think the beers taste all the better for it.
TASTING NOTES //
"electroacoustic folk reincarnated as intense tropical flavour".
We reckon that if you're only going to drink one beer a week, it had better be pretty special. Red IPA's (made well) have it all- bitterness, tropical hops and malty caramel sweetness. The sharp bitterness, lingering aftertaste and huge tropical aroma and flavour comes from the NZ heavy hop cocktail of Simcoe, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin. The blend of rye and malts give the beer solid body and sweet toffee notes which compliment the hops. Without Warning is beautifully balanced and one of our favourite mike's beers.
BREWERY // mike's
BEER // Without Warning
STYLE // India Red Ale
ORIGIN // Taranaki
ABV // 5.8%
TEMPERATURE // Cool/cold - 7-10C
FOOD MATCH // Smoked Cheese, Black Bean Soup, Venison (obviously)
GLASS // IPA Glass, Tulip
Beer Style Blog - Read more about different styles over on the BLOG.