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Though a full 6.5% ABV, this is a little watery-looking in the glass, yellow and translucent. The aroma is hard and stony, suggesting full-throat Nelson Sauvin to me, with merely the faintest dribble of juice behind. Despite the appearance there's a decently full mouthfeel with a substantial alcohol heat, both of which help to carry lots of flavour. At this point I look at the label and see that what I thought was mega-Nelson is merely ordinary Riwaka, which makes a certain amount of sense. I've found this hop to be unpleasantly harsh in the past but here they've matched it with Mosaic which was a great idea. You still get the Kiwi's intense winter herbs and flinty minerals, but after the first bite there's a softer caress of mandarin and mango. It's very much a beer of two halves and doesn't go anywhere more daring than that. It tastes great, though. That's enough for me.
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All solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and I'm once again pleased to be contributing to the humanitarian effort in however tokenistic a way, but the Kiwi-derived Latvian collaboration is my pick of this pair. Both show Pinta's acumen when it comes to hops, regardless.
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