Emersons Taieri George

Brewed by Emersons Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Dunedin, New Zealand

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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This has been a favourite of mine for a few years, so as soon as the 2012 vintage hit the shelves I grabbed some bottles. This is from tasting the new, young ale; I’ll likely re-rate in 3 - 6 months time as past experience has shown this ages wonderfully. Deep chestnut colour, big bilowy brown head. Lots of roasted nut aromas, and a strong tang of almost medicinal alcohol. There’s something else there, almost a bit of burnt rubber? Not unpleasant, but a bit rough. Smoothly sweet on the tongue, a sour note rolling underneath. The malt comes through rich and chocolatey. Overall, not as spicy or lush as I remember last year’s vintage being. I’m going to put this down to the age of this batch for now, but I’m not enjoying this as much as I might’ve hoped. Fresh is not always best!

Bottle. Drank just days after the 2012 release. Aroma: Spicy nutmeg, roasted chocolate, coffee, turpentine-like solvent, resin/mold, celery. Palate: Velvety smooth mouth feel. Flavor: Brown cake spices- of nutmeg and cinnamon; bready mid-palate with resin and mold character plus celery. Comments: Obviously too young to drink now. An extreme case of a beer that hasn’t come together yet. I have enjoyed this in the past and expect it to integrate and score around 37-38. Save it for at least 6 months, preferably a year.

One of my top three beers, just what it says on the bottle; just like drinking hot cross buns. Big and smooth with an assortment of flavors, it keeps well (if you can resist drinking it) and changes over nine months to a year. Don’t know beyond that because I keep drinking it all.

like hot cross buns in a bottle. Moderately sweet, malty, dark, spiced. Yum

My absolute favourite this winter (southern hemisphere). You don’t need a fireplace or woolly socks when you have Taieri George.

I have this beer over several years and several incarnations. Pours dark amber with a white head that subsides over time. The aroma is a fascinating mix of spiciness and cloves. Allspice, cinnamon, even vanilla. These aromas manifest themselves in a lush, warm, golden glass. This is a beer for a quiet frosty night with the dog and contemplation.

From a 500ml bottle on 2/7/2011. Pours amber with a decent head. There’s lots on the nose, including cinnamon, apples, cherries, raisins, and cola. All of these are also present in the flavour. This is like a sweet, spicy Christmas cake in liquid form, and there’s just enough bitterness to make it work nicely. A very different, interesting and worthwhile brew.

Wow. Really cool aromas of cinnamon ginger, allspice, clove, dark fruits, more cinnamon and just about everything else in christmas pudding. Totally nailed the spice / malt balance. Flavours are all of the above, with a dark sugar sweetness and hint of bay leaf spice. Creamy mouthfeel and lingering finish. Not an everyday beer but interesting and well put together.

Pours dark brown with a large, growing creamy head. Nose shows raisins, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Pretty much hot cross buns spot on. Underneath is some rich sweet malt. Spices are a little overbearing. Similar rich sweet flavours, with more raisins and spices, but some chocolate and booze also shows through. Carbonation is somewhat high, drying out the finish.

Cinnamon, raisins, spice and all things nice. Reminds of raisin toast. Malt-driven and strong, this has a thin body and smooth finish.