BREWERY // There wasn't a huge range of craft beer around in 1996 when Glenn & Virginia Meikle sold their house to start a brewery. Initially it was just Glenn with a little help from his mum on the books but the family business has steadily grown into a Bay of Plenty institution with a team of 40. The brewery was recently passed down to the next generation as Glenn & Virginia's daughter Briar (who was 6 weeks old when Mount was founded) and her partner Niall have taken the reins. Their head brewer Pawel and team are steadily cranking out the core favourites but also spending more time on interesting seasonal releases, we've heard rumours of a fledgling barrel ageing programme that we're excited about. Their brewery taproom, The Rising Tide, is a must-visit when you're in the BOP with a rotating selection of 38 taps from Mount Brewing as well as guests.
BEER // Nonstop Dry Hop Cold Session IPA. There's a lot of information in that beer name. Hopefully I'm safe in presuming you know what an IPA is and you can also probably work out the Session part. Cold IPAs are a pretty new development, basically it takes a lot of learnings from the king of beer styles - lager - to result in an extremely light bodied, clean and crisp beer with hops being at the forefront. This beer was fermented and conditioned at a cold temperature while being subjected to a 'nonstop' dry hopping regime with a selection of NZ & US hops. The result is a very technically impressive beer, it's a serious challenge to successfully pull off a beer like this and we reckon Pawel has nailed it. IPAs at lower abvs are tricky as there's less character from the malt and the alcohol also really helps with mouthfeel and supporting the flavour of the hops. The extended dry hopping gives this IPA layers of hop complexity in aroma and flavour to this fantastic Session IPA.
BREWERY // Mount Brewing Co.
BEER // Boardies
STYLE // Nonstop Dry Hop Cold Session IPA
ORIGIN // Mount Maunganui
ABV // 4%
TEMPERATURE // Cold - 7-9C
FOOD MATCH // Oysters. Paprika Crisps. Spiced Ginger Loaf. Aged Brie.
VESSEL // IPA Glass