Venom Brewing Golden Ale

At a past Crafty Pint blind tasting, one of the panelists – someone from a brewery that tends to occupy the further realms of the beer flavour spectrum – remarked that golden ales tend to display restrained hop and malt character. "They're taking out everything I bloody enjoy in a beer!" he said. And while many contemporary takes on the style (if it even is one) do seem to strip out anything of interest at all, particularly those from the supermarket brands, there are some that go the other way and nudge the envelope a little without quite stepping into pale ale territory.

Venom's is one such beer, a golden ale that impressed from the first sniff and sip. Hazy yellow gold in the glass, it lets Kiwi hops Motueka and Nelson Sauvin take centre stage, offering up kiwi fruit and lime aromas and flavours, with a hefty dose of wheat adding softness to the body before it cleans up with a light, refreshing finish.