Moa Southern Alps White IPA

I love the idea of White IPA, and this is probably the most available one in NZ, by one of the early craft beer pioneers in the country, Moa. I remember when I first tried this years ago, before I had ever heard of White IPA, I thought it was amazing.

Rewind to go back a bit, a White IPA is a combination of a Belgian Wit and an IPA (well an American IPA really). Without going into a long boring rambling history, I'll spit out a few interesting and relevant facts. And they may not be quite right, but they're a version of a story that someone told me. The Belgian monks left Germany to escape the German Purity Law (Reinheitsgeboht); in Germany you can't call something beer if it has any ingredients other than malted barley, hops, yeast and water (except for a few specific exceptions, like wheat in a wheat beer). Ze Belgian monks apparently escaped Germany and started throwing all sort of stuff into their beers like orange peel and coriander seeds (the two classic ingredients in a Belgian Wit, along with a range of other bits like white pepper, sage, chamomile). The German wheat bears (equally bizarre in taste) get all of their banana and clove type flavours from a particuarly friendly and pungent yeast. Oh bugger, I've given the long boring rambling history - let's move on. White IPA came about after two American brewers from two very different breweries had a few beers and came up with a drunken recipe for a cross between one's favourite - Belgian Wit - and the other's favourite - American IPA. Both breweries then created the same beer, and apparently both tasted very different. I've never tried either.

Lots of craft breweries give this a crack as a seasonal thing, but as far as I know Moa are the only brewery in NZ that do this as a regular number. They use Nelson Sauvin hops, but I dont' think they really shine through - the beer is heavily bitter, but not a massive hop aroma; and there is some odd Belgian wit flavour in there, but not quite the Wow you get from a Hoegaarden (the classic but mainstream Belgian Wit). Overall I think this is a bit toned down to be quite nice and drinkable, but doesn't really scream big American (or NZ) IPA or Belgian Wit - but both are definitely present.

I'm planning to brew a White IPA soon, and my lesson from this beer is that I want less bitterness (White IPA is an official BJCP beer style, and they recommend IBU of 40-70 - quite bitter, but I'll be aiming probably around 40 maybe slightly lower), more hoppy aroma, particularly fruity (I'm thinking Wai Iti for the dry hops), and bigger Belgian Wit (my experience there is limited - I'm thinking a very warm fermentation to exentuate the yeast, and perhaps heavy on the orange peel, coriander and maybe chamomile - watch this space).

Whoops, off stream again, rambling about brewing rather than drinking. Yep, so I like it, I'd drink it again, but I'll keep on searching for white IPAs to find something that blows my mind.

moabeer.com

ABV: 6.4%
Brewery: Moa
Region: Marlborough
Style: White IPA
Wife check: "I kind of remember trying it, but I don't remember it." (Sorry I only asked her a few days later... but the point is that a White IPA should be memorable!!)