Three wee kiwis

New Zealand contract brewers Yeastie Boys returned their beers to Irish fridges last year after a period of absence. It gave me a chance to catch up with one I missed last time around, and try a couple of new ones. Production has moved from BrewDog to West Berkshire Brewery.

"Like a Antipodean summer packaged in a can" goes the blurb on Bigmouth session IPA. It's just as well I drank it outside on a sunny January day, then. It pours a clear, pure, golden shade, the bubbles fading quickly to a thin froth. Its aroma gives me what I would hope for from kiwi hops: fresh and juicy mango and pineapple, without the grassy element that sometimes comes with. The texture is light and fizzy, unsurprising at 4.4% ABV, and there's quite a strong candy-malt sweetness: barley sugar boiled sweets come to mind. The zingy hops are still there, however, bringing a lemon zest bitterness as well as dry white grape and a satsuma juiciness. All-in, it's very good, and certainly delivers what it's meant to do as a low-cost, easy-going, sessioner.

Moving on, I wasn't sure what to expect from White Noise. It looks like it might be a white IPA (rarely good news) but they've just put "white ale" as the descriptor. Is it a straight witbier? The can isn't much help: it's brewed with wheat, oats, orange peel and chamomile so I guess it depends on how strongly hopped it is. Only one way to find out... It looks like a thin wit in the glass, a slightly hazy yellowish orange. It smells vaguely orangey, like highly diluted cordial while the chamomile comes into play in the flavour. Definitely not an IPA of any stripe, then. I guess they're going for something in the witbier vein but offsetting any risk of soapiness by swapping out the coriander. The resulting flavour works quite well: it's refreshing and meadowy but I think it falls down on the texture. Only 4.4% ABV again has made it quite watery and hollow. The carbonation is low as well, so it feels tired straight out of the can. While not at all a bad beer, it needs a bit of punching up, I feel, to give its interesting and unusual flavour profile more impact.

Pot Kettle Black has been around before though I never got to try it. Here we go then. It's described as a "South Pacific Porter", presumably to signify a higher than usual hop presence. Sure enough, there's a tangy citric effect — lemon and lime — in the foretaste that shifts it towards black IPA territory. No harm. Alongside it there's a stimulating coffee roast, spiced red cabbage and lavender bathsalts. 6% ABV suggests it should be quite heavy but the texture is surprisingly light and the finish quick and clean. This is another one where the flavour is good but unsatisfying in its lightness.

All three beers are balanced, accessible, and warrant another go: exactly what any brewer should be doing as their core range. Since I drank these I've noticed another new Yeastie Boys offering knocking around. I'll cue that up for a later post.