Waipa Kiwi Head

Bottle, pours a nice hue of amber but with no head. An earthy malt aroma, slight medicinal notes. A strong malty flavour. Quite a carbonated palate, that gets drier in the finish, but again with that minerally quality.

Another odd brew from a Rotorua brewer. The bizarre label has a seal with a crown of leaves on its head. Beermail me if you can explain why - I’d love to know. The beer itself was burnished gold and poured with a risibly excessive head that collapsed in under a minute, leaving barely a trace. The weak aroma had a peculiar Seltzer mineral quality that may be due to the local volcanic water. Also in there was some thin fruit cordial and Curacao. All four beers in this four-pack were under-carbonated. No visible ’best-by’ date on the pack or bottles so I don’t know if these were old beers. The flavour was all fruity acids - apple, orange juice - almost like a malted alcopop, aside from a harsh metallic hop. The alcohol was prominent for a 4%abv beer. All in all, undrinkable. (330ml bottle from a mixed four-pack from New World Supermarket, Rotorua)

Struggled to tell the beers apart. Marmite-type aroma was off-putting. Appearance was okay.

Drak gold in colour with big white head. mild malt flavour. no bitterness. Boring. dry finish.

Draught at the brewpub. Clear amber, brief head. Light strawberry aroma. Medium sweet with notes of caramel, clean mouthfeel. Low-medium btiterness.