Beer #150 - Black Sands / Browns Bay Tea Party

Beer #150 - W/C 8 January 2018

BREWERY // Ian Hebblethwaite's first batch of beer earned him a severe caning. To be fair, the Pineapple Brew he brewed and sold to his mates at boarding school in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa was probably pretty bloody awful. Fortunately the beers he crafts with head brewer Mark (an Englishman who moonlights as Weezledog) are rather more nuanced affairs. Ian and Mark may both be immigrants but they are proud 'Westies" and Black Sands is proudly West Auckland too, down to the Lion Rock illustration on the label. The brewery is still relatively small with a 600L capacity meaning they are constantly brewing fresh beer to keep up with demand for the Auckland region.

BEER // A wonderfully intercontinental beer combining New Zealand & American hops, NZ malted barley, South African Rooibos Tea. This is New Zealand's first Rooibos beer. Rooibos tea is found only on the slopes of the Cedarberg Mountains in the Western Cape and delivers a delicious full-bodied nutty, tobacco flavour. It's a flavour which is somewhat of an acquired taste and we suspect this may make for a divisive beer among you Jerks. Tea and hops can make for great bedfellows and we reckon the combination works very well here to make for a nicely balanced, refreshing and utterly unique Pale Ale. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that Black Sands' Piha Lion Rock silhouette label has been swapped out for that of a more Tabletop shaped mountain.

BREWERY // Black Sands
BEER // Browns Bay Tea Party
ORIGIN // Kelston. West Auckland
ABV // 5.9%
TEMPERATURE // Cool. 7-11 C
FOOD MATCH // Biltong. Bobotie (vegetarians- try lentils instead of mince). Cape Malay Chicken Curry. Koose.
GLASS // IPA Glass

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