United Nations of Beer

Moa Blanc

by Fez Broadbent
(Auckland)

Moa Blanc: looks like wine...

Moa Blanc is made by a wine brewer's son in the South Island and found in a wine sized bottle; this drop has a refreshingly hoppy yet smooth flow.

It appears to be brewed following traditional lager guidelines but with hints of spices, my flatmates agreed that Coriander seemed to be in there and that this would definitely go well with either seafood or a spicy meal.

Moa beers are brewed by Josh Scott, the son of Allan Scott of the Allan Scott family wines. There was definitely something different about its taste and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. According to their website, it's brewed using a similar wine fermenting style. Allowing a second round of fermentation during the bottling process.

I was never very good at math but 65% wheat and 35% barley malt sounds like a winning equation, after consulting with my former-brewer flatmate I obtained a thorough analysis of its quality.

In his own words it ranks higher than the Macro-brewed Exports and Tui’s (Not my opinion, Tui will always have a place in my heart no matter how mass-produced it becomes) but lower than the Micro-brewed Emerssons Organic Pilsners, so on a scale of one to ten it sits around about the seven mark.

Value for money in that a wine-sized bottle will probably set you back $11 in a supermarket (I can confirm that Pack and Save definitely stocks it).

Still I would treat this one as more of an "every once in a while" more than an "Oh god what a day at work somebody give me a beer now."