Monteiths American Pale Ale - welcome to New Zorkland

Ahh the land of the long white cloud - I haven't been there forever but on the 6 days I spent over there pretending I was pretty cool on my Contiki trip (I lied and told everyone I was a radio breakfast announcer with my own show...which happened a couple of years later so maybe I knew something?) and remember big nights drinking pint after pint of Monteiths Radler, copious drinking games and trying to get the attention of anything female that moved. Good times.

I had a picture on my phone of the one I drank but managed to delete it. Clever me.

(Oh and I almost forgot how sick I was for a week after, when my immune system tried to recover from all the damage I'd piled on it while over there.)
So will Monteiths American Pale Ale have me yearning to go back? Let's check shall we?



So what did I see when I was over there?: Er a lot of a bus, the Bay of Islands, Rotorua and some funky caves with a mini river system in them. That was fun. Not as fun as zorbing though, that was mental.

Right onto the beer. What can I smell?: Beer. Beer and toffee. Does this remind me of New Zealand? No not really. But then it shouldn't because it's an American Pale Ale. What was I thinking?

Initial thoughts: Pours a deep amber and each sip gives you some biscuity/nutty flavors with a dash of caramel and a hit of bitterness at the end. Not too shabby.

What did you try it with?: Pork sirloin and vegies. The pork was overcooked and under flavoured so thankfully this beer had plenty going on with it to help get me through it.

Overall: A couple of sips in and I was getting the vibe that this would be a pretty strong contender to cause some concern for the Pirate Life, sitting high and mighty on top of the scoreboard currently. But towards the end of it for whatever reason, the pull the Pirate had in wanting to head to the fridge and immediately open another simply wasn't there in the Monteiths. I enjoyed this for what it was but without the lament of only having one to try, it slips into 3rd currently in our craft beer challenge ladder.

3.5 out of 5 Kia Oras.

COURAGEOUS CLASH OF THE CRAFT CLANS SCOREBOARD SO FAR:

1. PIRATE LIFE
2. SINGLE FIN
3. This one (MONTEITHS AMERICAN PALE ALE)
4. BURLEIGH 28
5. MOUNTAIN GOAT STEAM ALE