Roosters Brewery

Had a fantastic day yesterday, thanks to Frankly tours. Went to four wineries and then a brewery, with the locations all held a secret until we arrived. The day finished with Roosters Brewery, a brewery not quite like any craft brewery I've been to in New Zealand before. The brew pub is really more of a working man's pub; there were no craft-beer-hipster-beards in this place. And that fits really well with the types of beer they make, which are quite diverse and delicious, but all steer away from the typical NZ craft brewery with overwhelming hoppy beers full of NZ and US aroma hops. None of the Roosters beers screamed hop aroma, and yet all of them were good solid stand up beers that delivered quite a delicious tasing paddle. Their styles were perhaps not quite typical of an NZ craft brewery either, with a good selection of German styles (German style lager, which really tasted like a Bavarian Helles; Hefeweizen and a dark lager, which was like a Bavarian Dunkel), as well as a British style IPA and a good classic Draught.

Right to left, the first beer was simple called "Draught". The description on the menu described it as "New Zealand style beer". Not the type of beer I would typically drink, but I think this is actually a kind of beer that's quite hard to do well. A good solid draught beer, nothing unpleasant about it, and a perfect balance of malt and hops to make something that goes down easily on a hot day, quenches thirst, and yet doesn't taste bland or flavourless. Yum. If I owned a bar I'd happily have this on tap permanently as a regular for the non-craft-beer drinker. Next was the "Lager", described as "A German style lager with good aroma". I recently wrote about the Jerry Rig Helles by Zeelandt brewery, saying that it didn't quite take me back to the German beer halls; well in contrast this beer actually did, I bought a bottle of it to take home to see how I like it without a day of wine tasting beforehand (I might write about it in the next few days). Next a german style Hefeweizen (wheat beer), which is not my favourite style, but I did really enjoy as it was reasonably subtle on the banana and clove type flavours (but enough to let you know it was a Weizen); then an IPA, which was delicious and refreshingly different from a typical NZ craft brewery IPA, being much more a classical British style IPA, and finally the "Dark", described as a "Rich, Malty Lager". Dark lagers aren't super common (with most local dark beers being ales), so again I really enjoyed this; it reminded me of a Bavarian Dunkel.

I've had a few of their beers before, they sell at the Hastings Farmer's Market, as mixed four packs with 330mL bottles. Here's the fridge of what they had to take away.

Overall, none of these beers are what I had imagined when we said we'd finish our day in a craft brewery, but I was pleasently surprised and really enjoyed each beer on its own merits. I would highly recommend this place, but don't expect the mightly US/NZ hops aroma of most other NZ craft breweries. Rather expect to sample some great Kiwi takes on classic German and British beer styles.