Ashton BrownIn this month’s Crafty Corner column, ASHTON BROWN discovers that his allergy wasn’t caused by beer after all and gets stuck into some super-fine brews.
Isthmus. Meaning: A narrow strip of land bordered on both sides by water. Oh, and a brew company creating exceptional quality craft beer!
It’s the perfect name for an Auckland-based microbrewery helmed by the husband and wife duo of Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward. With a string of industry awards behind them, despite facing off against some of the industry’s biggest craft beer players it’s no surprise that this brewery is fast becoming one of the best in the country.
Originally established in 2012, they laid low for a few years due to other commitments (Hamish was also head brewer of the now-dissolved Deep Creek) only to return, with force, in 2018. Their motto is “flavour first” and it’s one they clearly live by given that each of their beers was excellent from the first to the last sip.
GONE TROPPO – Kettle Sour
The first beer I was fortunate enough to sample from Isthmus was their most recent award winner, a kettle sour beer aptly named Gone Troppo. What makes this stand out from a lot of the pack when it comes to sour beers is the fact that it doesn’t have added flavouring. The flavour profile, a mix of mango and passionfruit, is the result of the brewing process itself, being fermented on a huge amount of mango and passionfruit pulp. This was recently awarded the trophy for best beer in the British & European Ale category at the 2024 NZ Beer Awards – a massive feat for such a small brewery going up against some truly formidable competition. A deserved win.
From the second Gone Troppo hits your lips it is filled with an incredible blend of flavour. It’s well balanced, it’s light, it’s refreshing, quenchable. The mango and passionfruit are incredibly well-balanced and the subtle sour aftertaste is divine. The way it’s crafted means that people who consider themselves seasoned sour drinkers would love it, but it also provides a welcoming, gentler sour taste than many of its competitors, meaning that even those who don’t traditionally like sour beers would be unlikely to pass this up. Incredible.
3D – IPA
The beer I’m always the most critical of is the IPA. Often I feel that brewers just go hop crazy on an IPA, which isn’t a bad thing by default, especially for me as a dank hop lover, but it doesn’t always equal the best drinking. This is an very hoppy beer but the way it’s balanced by its malt base is incredible. I’m usually put off by the presence of an abundance of malt, so am sensitive to being able to specifically taste it. However, what is going on in this incredible beer – the way the West Coast hops both collide and work with the presence of malt – means that it’s genuinely one of the nicest IPAs I’ve had to date. Strong on the tongue, 6.6% and with a warming quality that is hard to fault, it’s not too dark, it’s super-refreshing and a really, really good beer.
Placed in the Top 30 in the New World Beer & Cider Awards in 2021 for good reason.
STRATUS – Hazy IPA
Named after the layered, wispy clouds, Stratus is a Hazy IPA with an alcoholic content of 6.5% and features as part of the Isthmus Cloud Series.
Holy crap, this is a hazy beer done right. Motueka, Mozaic and Citra hops roll around together creating a delightfully fruity and smooth symphony of tantalizing tastes. Cloudy without tasting rough. Fruity without tasting sweet. Gentle but kicking a subtle punch.
Honestly, if this was in a 6-pack it would be hard for me not to purchase for almost any occasion. It’s just so damn good. What more can I say?
No Man’s Land – XPA (Extra Pale Ale)
I find XPAs a bit boring. I feel like they are lite versions of beer I actually want to drink. Similarly, I don’t dislike Pilsner, and I find them a bit dull compared to IPAs and Hazys, so I was surprised at how well this XPA went down.
Aptly named No Man’s Land for the fact that XPAs don’t fit into any style guidelines, I found that I couldn’t quite place it myself. I would best describe it as a hoppy Pilsner. There’s a fruity element underpinning its NZ Pilsner malt base and the combination of flavours means it’s friendly without being boring. An accessible and pleasant beer. A very sessionable drop and at 4.7% it’d be rude not to.
LAGER
Look, I don’t like lager. It’s a shit beer. It’s boring. The taste gives me flashbacks to my horrendous GAP year and the smell of my flat at uni comes back to me every time I drink one and cracking open this lager incurred the same reaction.
Like all lagers, I’d never buy this one and it would be the last beer of the Isthmus range I’d ever optionally drink. But I’d still drink this over some IPAs and Hazys from other breweries, and I honestly don’t think I could compliment a lager more than that.
It absolutely has an audience. My Dad would adore this. It’s a boomer beer. Lager is a boomer beer, and at least if he drank this I would know he’d at least be drinking a lager that had been brewed well. If craft beer is an art form (which it is) and IPA is the Sistine Chapel, then lager is a drawing a child brought home from daycare. This lager is a picture my daughter brought home from daycare. It’s nothing compared to the Sistine Chapel, but at least this one is going on the fridge.
If you must drink lager at least make it this one.
RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE SOUR ALE
A raspberry chocolate SOUR ale? What the hell? Who are these mad brewers!?
This beer sounds very sweet. But it’s also a sour? What does that even mean? Is it going to taste like bright orange Chinese chicken (spoiler alert – it doesn’t).
The first thing I noticed – it’s not a sweet beer. Which is good, because I don’t think beer should be sweet. I want a beer, not a sundae. Don’t let the raspberry chocolate title fool you – it is first and foremost a sour beer. Well, actually in terms of flavour profile, it’s secondarily a sour beer because the first thing you taste is a surprisingly accurate mix of chocolate and raspberry. Despite these ‘sweet’ ingredients being the first thing you taste, the ‘sour’ element is the stronger of the two. I reiterate – it’s not a sweet beer, it is however a very interesting drink. I am surprised how well the sour works with the sweet. The flavours don’t collide, they appear on your tastebuds one after another. First, you get a hit of chocolatey raspberry beer, which is immediately followed up by a delicious sour beer aftertaste. I don’t know how or why this works, but it does. I wouldn’t have more than one of these in an evening, it’s certainly not a session beer, but it’s the perfect dessert for a night of drinking or a great beer if you only have room for one.
