Macs Sassy Red

Brewed by Macs Brewery
Style: Bitter
Wellington, New Zealand

Serve in English pint

Love the novelty of the pull top. Nice hops on the nose, citrusy tropical fruitiness to it, passionfruit like, APA-like indeed. Pours a clean amber body with offwhite head and lace. Body is a bit leaner than I hoped but palate has decent length with a decent amount of biscuity nutty malt and a complexity of zest citrus and tropical fruit hop character; i’m reminded of pineapples, passionfruit, lychees, grapefruit, lemon, unexpectidly fruity. Finishes reasonably dry and bitter. I quite like this one, some extra body would make it very nice indeed.

UPDATED: JAN 9, 2007 Tasted 23/01/2005. Rerated 09/03/2005. A "Pint" at the bar in the brewery. Pours a red amber with an off-white almost creamy head. Temperature of beer at the brewery is too cold to release the full aroma, but the nose hints of berry fruit, wine and some floral notes. Flavour is caramel, aniseed and has a soft hoppy bitter bite. Palate is left very clean. A good kiwi red quaffer but another Wellington Brewery beer chilled well down below maximum enjoyment. Re-tasted 06/01/2007. New branding. Lovely drop. Hop sack indeed! Tropical fruit, a little strawberry and subdued earthiness on the nose. Then fresh grated chocolate and pale malts come through. Fairly highly attenuated for a "Best" but a nice caramel and toasty malt presence, plus lovely strawberry, papaya and lemon hop aromatics make it a winner. I’m almost digging Saaz B. Bottle beats tap, for me. Possibly the most balanced of all these new world ales coming through in this part of the world. I guess that’s why it’s winning best Amber Ale every year at BrewNZ.

Looks good with a deep copper red hue and a generous though short lived beige head. Initial mixed fruit hop aroma followed by some smooth chewy malts. On tasting it is dry and fresh in the mouth, then a bit of a sweet burst during the swallow, then followed by a long dry bitter finish. Interesting the first couple of times but a bit of a jumble after. Nice depth of body and pleasant drinking made easy with a good level of carbonation. It seems like a bit of a dogs breakfast, but it is interesting and more-ish.

Pint @ Honest Lawyer - Nelso,. Rich bronze, thickish head but thins later. Malty, caramel & toffee. Big on hops, nice drop

UPDATED: JUL 17, 2011 I was a little bit harsh on this beer last time. In addition to the lovely coppery colour and white head, there’s a distinctive hoppy grassy nose on top of a bold, brassy malt. The flavours follow that similar run with a lovely lingering bitterness. Easily in my top two mainstream beers along with Hoprocker. Not a bad drop at all.

On tap at the brewery bar. Pours copper red, off white head. Aroma is quite hopped, fruity and has a soft spice. Full bodied flavour, a good hop bitterness came through with this tap version (bottles can be lacking in hops). Soft spice, biscuty. Quite nice.

Bottle - Clear red. Light tan head. Medium carbonation. Sweet , caramel malts, fruity, woody, quite hoppy. Moderately bitter.

Aroma: fresh hop caramel and crystal malt. Appearance: red with a smallish just off white head. Flavour: hint of chocolate with a nice balanced hop overtone and plenty or malt.