Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude

Yeastie Boys
Brewed at Invercargill Brewery
Style: Smoked
Wellington, New Zealand

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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Every time I try a smoked beer I generally feel like I’ve been assaulted. In a good way. This beer is no different. Having tasted and enjoyed their Pot Kettle Black Dark IPA, I was looking forward to this beer. Yeastie Boys are known for pushing the boundaries of brewing and this beer is no different. The nose is exactly what you’d expect. Smoke and tobacco. It’s almost overpowering. I say almost because there’s still something enjoyable about it. It’s like being forced face first into an ashtray by an angry punter who thinks you’ve been eyeing of his missus but when he realises you stare that way because you have a bung eye, he decides to buy you a beer and shakes your hand. Colour wise, it has a brilliant golden hue. This is the main source of confusion. I generally associate the smoky hobo-ashtray like aromas with dark, sullen ales or porters but in this case it comes from a fantastic and bright looking beer. If I was to ever be tongue pashed by a chain smoking super model, this is what it would be like. It’s terribly smoky but the hops comes through and leaves a nice spicy flavour with a lingering finish that reminds me of barbeque lamb chops. This is a man’s beer. If you are a man and you don’t like this beer then frankly, you are NO man in my books. A truly unique beer.

Pours amber with a small fading head. Nose shows bandaids, camp smoke, burnt hair, burnt plastic and faint caramel. Imagine a plastics factory caught on fire and someone put it out with beer. Pretty comparable to the aroma of this stuff. It’s amazingly potent too, strong enough to be detected from the other side of the room. Tastes like charcoal. Seriously. And more burnt plastic. With a little sweet malt underneath. This was difficult to rate - on the one hand, it was very interesting and unique. On the other hand, it was a serious hassle to drink and I never want to try it again.

Smells like a good Islay whisky. Second time i have had this on tap and I had 2 pints which considering the beer is a good effort i think. Very phenolic but i love peaty whisky so that is a good thing. Took me a few swigs to let my tastebuds adjust to the taste but after that it was awesome. Marked down for poor head retention and having to let tastebuds adjust.

Bottle. Pours a light golden and smallish white coloured head. Aromas are dominated by smoke but no where near as much as I anticipated. More medicinal than the smoking bacon I usually get with beers of this type. Flavour wise I dont get a lot. A little smoke comes through and there is a little light caramel sweetness. Mouthfeel is relatively thin. Other than that not much else. No where near as over the top as I expected.

The Rex is sex. Tap at Beervana, poured by the creator, full on peat, mild citrus notes, very drinkable, one of the best beers in NZ.

really smoky beer. brave step to make something this unique. a bit of an acquired taste for this one. I like it.

For the last few months Stu has filled with Twitter feed with tweets about this beer, so it’s only fair that I get him back by rating it. :)
Smells like cheap watercolours and gauze - just like primary school. Actually it smells a lot like one of the security guards at work, which is a little unusual. Overwhelmingly paint/hospital. It tastes a lot softer and less egdy, but no less weird. Like spicy French saucisson, with all the big chunks of fat. Doesn’t taste like whisky at all to me. Baffling beer, really. One-dimensional in the extreme. I’m not sure I get the point. I mean, I could make a double IPA where all the fermentables come from watermelon juice, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for a large-scale commercial release.

Frankly Vile Aroma and flavour of Formalin and other antiseptics undrinkable and psychologically scarring

Drinks alright which was a surprise for me after hearing reports it was awful, loads of peat in the aroma with smoked ham in the taste.

Small head straw colour aromas very peaty smells like a hospital ointment flavour yep just like the aroma terrible mix like a bandaid whiskey and peat no thanks