Aotearoa Mata Manuka

Brewed by Aotearoa Breweries
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Kawerau, New Zealand

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Tasted on tap @ The Great Kiwi Beer Festival 2012 in Christchurch. Sweet taste with a strong honey base (of course!) Really tasty, delicious if you like "sweet" beers.

Golden yellow with a white head that is steadily receding in the glass. Plenty of bubbles. There’s aromas of honey and something a little funky there. I’m not sure what it is, but it is slightly vegetal - almost like overcooked brussel sprouts. It tastes better than it smells, but for me there’s an overdose on the honey. It’s perfectly acceptable as a light quencher, but the honey seems to mask any other flavours. There’s plenty of mouthfeel but not a lot of body and the finish is fairly short. To be honest I’m not a fan.

330ml bottle. Pours a clear golden amber with a fluffy white foam crown. It looks good in the glass and the honey edged aroma makes your anticipation grow. The aroma is moderate with a maltiness that struggles to come through. Fills the mouth and is smooth on the palate. Lightly bittered flavour is like the aroma and struggles to find it’s way. Not bad for a golden ale.

330ml bottle at Thai restaurant Gisborne NZ. This was to me just like a watery oxidised cheap macro brewery lager with some cheap smelling honey added to it. There is potential with this beer but it’s nowhere near that potential at the moment - just my opinion, the bottle has 2 medals on it so some beer competition judges must have liked it a lot more than me.

Bottle 330ml. Not bad, but not very tasty. Aroma has honey, and floral touches. Tastes sweet, with light bitterness, and average duration. Fizzy palate, and thin-to-medium body. Dark yellow, with a fizzy non-lasting head.

Bottle. Strong honey and fruit aroma. Light pale orange color. Thin body, huge honey flavor. Cloying

Easiest way to sum this up is a general lager with a bit of honey. Aroma is a sweet hint of honey, appearence amber with white head. Flavour profile is woody sweetness with almost a hint of american oak!! There is not a lot of bitterness here and mouthfeel is very coarse and finish is a bit short.

not much going on here but pretty clean. the little flavor and aroma is mainly malt with the faintest hint of the manuka honey. slightly oxidized was this one.

Not bad this. Honey is quite pronounced in the aromas (dark honey of the non-industrial variety) yet shows good subtly as well. Unfortunately the palate is a bit of a non event; bland lager-ish style but the flavours are suprisingly Asahi-liek dry. Still, I think it plays better than the percentile suggests.

Bottle. Golden with a small white head. Aroma and flavour of grain, grass and honey. Light bodied. Moderate bitterness. It’s just like most mainstream lagers.