Cat altogether

A couple of years ago I was stunned when I encountered Robinson's Old Tom at the CAMRA NI festival in Belfast. The fullness of the flavour and the long long finish staggered me far more than the whopping 8.5% ABV. So when two bottled versions flavoured with interesting stuff arrived on the shelves I was very interested, and even when bad review after bad review came in I still needed to give them a try. Do they work?

First up was Chocolate Tom, and this seems to be a concoction closely related to the Chocolate Porter Robinson's do for Marks & Spencer, having the same 6% ABV, and which I hated. It definitely has that cheap and powdery artificial chocolate flavour, and really not much by way of beer character. All the fruit and spice of Old Tom is buried unobtainably. As with the M&S one, Mrs Beer Nut didn't mind it at all, and I was happy to let her take it.

Ginger Tom was better. I'm not even bothered that it doesn't really pretend to be a beer, not even a strong one. The nose smells incredibly sweet, like freshly poured white lemonade. The Fentiman's Ginger Beer adds a massive and totally unsubtle dry spicy burn and there's quite a bit of residual sugar left on the lips. I've never had Fentiman's Ginger Beer, so it could well be that I'd be better buying that and save my liver the work, but judging Ginger Tom purely on the basis of the glass in front of me, I really rather enjoyed it.

Reuben recently tasted the unadorned bottled version of Old Tom and it sounds like it's definitely a shadow of the cask version -- it shouldn't therefore be surprising that these flavoured Toms are totally different beasts to the one I met in Belfast back in 2007. I'll still chase that one.

And so to the pub

The fourth and final part of my observations on the beers of New Zealand: the brewpubs.

The Loaded Hog is a fairly ubiquitous chain and I visited branches in Wellington and Christchurch. Brewing is done centrally, in Levin, where they make four signature beers. Draught is the standard New Zealand amber ale. It's a little lacking in flavour but redeemed with a barely-detectable smoky caramel taste. Wheat comes with a slice of lemon, suggesting that they are going for a Belgian witbier. However, it's rather sharp and carries an offputting aftertaste of chlorine. They also make a dark, roasted, German-style dunkel, imaginatively titled Dark Ale. My chief criticism here is, like just about all New Zealand beers, it is served way too cold. Finally there's Gold, the best of the four. It's a rich, fruity, dry lager with a taste that just goes on and on.

On to Dux de Lux, a smaller chain based in the picturesque Arts Centre in Christchurch and less salubrious quarters in Queenstown. I didn't quite get to the end of the beer menu at the Dux, but there's quality there. Hereford Bitter is the least special in the range -- cold and fizzy with a dry bitterness. Nor'wester is similarly inoffensive, being a rather bland American-style amber ale. Ginger Tom is a whole different matter. It's a real ginger beer made of ginger and beer, making it very dry and excitingly spicy. The gold continues with Black Shag Stout, an incredibly silky sweet creamy stout of the sort brewed by angels. That set me up to expect big things of their seasonal extra-strong stout Sou'wester. I was disappointed, sadly, finding a rather fizzy and slight-tasting stout, despite its 6.8% alcohol.

The last brewpub I visited was the Shakespeare in Auckland. Nine homemade beers on draught led me to an unusual course of action: ordering a sample tray. Naturally they have a Draught, a slightly dull amber pale ale with a hint of smoke, and a couple of token lagers, one called Barraclough which has an interesting touch of lemon to the flavour, and the other called Bohemian which is sweet and malty but a little lacking in taste. The selection leans heavy on the ale side, including Pistol's Old Soldier an intense hoppy copper ale which I found a little overpowering. There's also Macbeth's Red Ale -- dark, toasted and bitter with a pleasant smoked cheese taste, and Falstaff's Real Ale -- floral and light with the tea-like flavour of English bitter. Getting heavier, there's King Lear Old Ale which is utterly black, heavy and very dry. The stout is a fairly easy-drinking affair called Willpower Stout which has gentle coffee and chocolate notes in the background. There's one last ale at the Shakespeare called Puck's Pixil(l)ation a mega-strong, super-sweet ale, much smoother than its Belgian counterparts like Bush, having a candy sugar foretaste and a wonderful toffee aftertaste. Satisfyingly complex.

Right, that's your lot from NZ. Long may its varied beer culture thrive.