Yes, it’s that time of year. The sun sets brutally early, fog covers the city each morning and the heating in your rental doesn’t come close to cutting it. But what’s the worst part of winter in Melbourne? Every time you open Instagram, an old friend or former colleague is somehow spending this month on holiday, with a European summer looking both blissful and brutal to your weary eyes. But fear not, you don’t have to get on a plane to enjoy a sense of adventure, with Balter’s final stop on their New Zealand mouth holiday providing a soft and lush trip across The Ditch. It’s the third of such beers in three months and following NZ Pils and NZ IPA, we now have NZ Hazy.
Like the aforementioned IPA, this hazy pale's chosen hops are Motueka and Nectaron but unlike that beer, its appearance is incredibly dense. For this final journey, those Kiwi hops provide a whole lot of peach and other stone fruit, passionfruit and a touch of lime or lemon curd. Although it might be a hazy journey, much like your hope that maybe your friend's luggage might disappear when they touch down at Tullamarine, there's a slightly bitter bite that comes through on the landing.
Will Ziebell
Published June 30, 2022 2022-06-30 00:00:00
