Epic Larger

Epic Brewing Company (NZ)
Brewed at Steam Brewing Company
Style: Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils
Auckland, New Zealand

Serve in Dimpled mug, Footed Pilsner, Lager glass, Stein

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Draft. A golden yellow beer with a white head. The aroma has notes malt and spicy hops. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, caramel, and spicy hops, leading to a bitter finish.

Bomber from Pangaea. Pours gold with a creamy/bubbly white head. Aroma is mildly bready with citrus and grass. Med body. Flavor is fairly bready with a lot of noble hop spice. It’s pretty happy. Definitely bitter, and drinks nicely.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing. Body is medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (grain, husks), moderately hoppy (resin), with notes of diesel fuel, plastic, pears. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter, unclean, husky. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic. Phew. They tried to cover up the nasty fusels and phenols with a lot of hops, but the flaws still shine through! Horrible aftertaste. Strike three from Epic, the worst one I’ve had yet.

Bottle from Corti Brothers, Sacramento. Pours yellow with a fluffy off-white head and a banana and toffee aroma. There is a hearty, slightly harsh pale malt flavor with a dry bitter finish.

Clear gold pour small head carbonation weak aromas citrus stone sweetness of malt flavours crisp medium bitter citrus peach sweet caramel tastes like an imperial pils aftertastes hoppy fruit tropical sweet malt lasting bitter crispness bit light though

Bottle; into a snifter. Fleeting white cap atop an effervescent, sparkling medium gold body. First whiff is clean cut, resinous, tropical fruit punch hops with an edge of cotton candy and pear drops. Second whiff and there on in it offers up a medicinal, plastic and rubbery phenolic note that is tarnishing. Doughy in the mouth with a lot of ripe tropical adding a debting sweetness to it. Light bodied but oddly filling in the stomach. The alcohol is ’hot’, chemical and there is a rubbery phenolic linger. Dominant honeydew, pineapple and passionfruit notes just continue to sweeten as it warms. Awkward lasting bitterness adds to the furore; just too rough for enjoyment. Had high hopes but they were quashed quickly. Too many jagged edges to this one! (50cL, BB 05/12/12, Freo Doctor, Fremantle)

Bottle, 9C. Orange with a fine white head that lasts pretty well. Aroma of hay, spices, some lychees, gooseberries, a touch of alcohol. Taste is sweet and boozy with berries, hay, light caramel, grass and spices. A bit throat-burning at the end, but before that it’s pleasantly soft and slightly creamy in a very pilsener way. Bitterness comes to the fore after a while. Not my sort of beer.

UPDATED: AUG 28, 2012 Bottle from Mane Liquor. Clear straw pour with a small white head. Aroma picks up subtle herbacious and floral hops with an underlying shortbread tone. Quite biscuity in the taste. The same herbal and floral hoppage comes across. Everything is quite subtle but it all works well together for some high drinkability. A little grainy on the palate with a lengthy nutty bitterness to finish. A touch boozy. Not bad but was expecting a lot more from Epic

A - Pours a clear golden-yellow color with a finger of frothy white head. The head fades down at a normal pace leaving behind some lacing. S - Aroma is a mix of lemon and citrus hops, sweet grainy and cracker malts, and some floral hops. T - Starts off with grainy and cracker malts with some lemon and citrus hops and a bit of bitterness. Through the middle, some pine and floral come through with some more bitterness. The finish is a mix of bready and grainy malts with some lemon, citrus, and piney hops and some bitterness and lager esters. M - Medium-plus bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a grainy and lightly bitter finish. D - Very drinkable. Nice imperial pilsner with good overall malt and hop balance.

A big cold pint that I had to let sit to warm so I could smell it. Lovely golden colour with a white head that left in short order. Aromas tend toward big alcohols, dry hops, gooseberry , grassy dryness and greengages. The flavours attack in a rush of green fruits and then it dries becoming astringent until it offers up a lovely malty richness. An Imperial Pilsener. This made me think a bit as to the purpose of an Imperial Pilsener. I’m not having a go at the brewers as it is a laudable thing to explore styles and techniques, I wish more breweries would. But if I’m off to the pub for a couple of pints, do I have one or two of these and blow my head off or do I have three or four pints of other beers (Epic included) and wander home in a state of mildly blissful fuddlement? When I think of an Imperial tag, I think of a beer to end the night on - a porter, stout or barley wine. But this is a big cold pint and probably better suited to earlier drinking... but is it? Damn it. I wish I had better self-control.