Waiheke Island Brewery Taster Set

by Fez Broadbent
(Auckland, NZ)

Waiheke Island Brewery Taster Set: will test your taste buds and pronouciation skills to the max

Baroona Original: Bottled in the most attractive beer bottle I have ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. The first of the Waiheke Island Brewery Taster set did not disappoint in terms of high expectations.

When faced with a bottle shaped like something straight out of the Pirates of The Caribbean, you tend to assume the brew will follow through with an original taste to match.

The first sip was strangely enough; exactly what I was expecting. Rich, yet smooth and with an envious honey finish that begs your taste buds to have just one more.

Billed as a German style beer with a firm, dry malt palate; the imagery created by my tastebuds first impression was anything but German. Perhaps it was the New Zealand grown Saaz hops or the pure Waiheke water but there is a definite feel of home and the islands about this drop. Recommended to accompany spicy food or as a session beer, I can confidently state that it will go down well with pretty much anything including your grandpa's flour-based pancakes.

I know that if I were a millionaire and had a private beach I'd be downing these by the dozen while laying on a recliner underneath a palm tree taking in the peace and tranquillity of the islands. Fuck, this winter must be getting to me.

Wharf Rd Wheat Beer: Like a flawless set played by your favourite band, the Wharf Rd Wheat continued on where the Baroona left off. As a song may share the same rhythm to start off with but ultimately shift beat to determine something entirely different, this drop picks up the similar velvet taste of the Baroona but changes its tone soon after.

A mixture of hinted fruits washed into a smooth seemingly honey based finish, yet completely different from its counterpart with its slightly more bitter finish. Described as a classic German style wheat with 50% malted barley and 50% wheat, it's the barley that gives the similar malty thickness shared in the Baroona.

Its unorthodox fermenting gives it the cloudy finish common in traditional wheat beers and is this drops way of paying homage to the brew craftsmen of old. The Wharf Rd Wheat Beer is the one of the set to be respected as a true imitation of something traditionally German, but it was not definitely not my favourite.

Onetangi Dark Ale: An almost atypical port in every way with supreme emphasis on "almost". Like most ports the roasted malt coffee taste comes through strong but a mirrored and unique heavy oak finish.

Brewed from East Kent Goldings hops which lend the alluring dark texture, this is a drop best had with something preferably thick and red (of the steak variety). Its namesake, Onetangi Bay, is the largest and most beautiful bay on the island. A place I visited recently in the winter on a quick one day tour of the island. The weather was pretty bad, it being winter and all, but we had a really great time and the bay stuck out in my mind as a kind of place I could live peacefully for a time while experiencing what it really means to be alive in a spiritual sense. There are few places like that in New Zealand that I have come across and this was one of them.

The beer follows along that line in being the more natural and earthy of the three, definitely the best choice to have last in the set.

So in conclusion I could definitely see myself picking up a six pack of Baroona quite regularly, if I could find a more convenient source of supply than the island and would highly recommend it to any local or visiting beer enthusiast.