Yeastie Boys: Rex Attitude (New Zealand: Smoked Golden Ale: 7% ABV)
Visual: Light gold with a short lived rise of white bubbles.
Nose: Smoked ham. Peat. Erm, smoke. Very meaty. A friend noticed leather in it.
Body: Smoked ham again. Touch of iodine and salt. Barley. Chewable texture. Slight cheesy puff crisps.
Finish: Dry smoke and..kippers maybe? Brown sugar touch. Slight dry wood at the end. Hickory?
Conclusion: To re-appropriate a phrase from Mick Foley and apply it to beer. Most beers are like a circus variety act, lots of elements and if you don’t like one, say the acrobats, then you will like anther, say the animals. This then is the beer equivalent of watching a guy get shot out of a cannon 20 times. No variety, but a lot of shock.
It’s basically smoked meat and peat all the way. Slightly dry and medicinal at times, but yeah basically just peat air and chewable meaty body.
To be frank any golden ale character, or heck any hop character is lost before the peated malt influence. The texture is the main discernible “beer characteristic”. So not a complex beer then, but it is actually fun. I wonder if this is somewhat like what a non oak aged “Bitch Please” would taste like?
I’m actually enjoying my time with the beer. The weird texture makes me wonder if a touch unusual yeast isn’t being used, which gives it an extra dimension the hops can’t manage(And would be very appropriate given the brewers name)
Probably not a beer to have often as it is very single note, but it is a resoundingly fun rejection of your standard expectations of Golden Ale, or in fact just an ale in general.
Background: Part of the kind gift package of beer my sister brought back from New Zealand. This was one of her suggestions, a golden ale made entirely with peated malt. Intriguing. Plus it has a dinosaur on the front, which as anyone who read the recent q and a session I had knows means I am well inclined to it. Heavily peated malt tends to be a a mainstay of Islay whisky of which I am quite the fan.
Alcohol And Aphorisms 
Thanks for the thoughts… I see it’s got you almost contradicting yourself, which happens to quite a few folk. One dimensional in one breath but complex in another.
So many people they couldn’t drink more than one in a sitting… I find it hard not to open a second.
xeRRex, the 10%abv “big brother, is probably more approachable and is worth hunting out.
Cheers
Stu
Erm, I’m not sure where you get the contradiction from, as I said “Not a complex beer” – the only extra dimension mentioned is the yeast characteristic, but that doesn’t make it complex.
Anyway thanks for the comments!
Incidentally, since from your gravitar it looks like you are the Stu from Yeastie Boys can I ask if you know any way of getting xeRRex in the UK? As mentioned I only got this as part of a care package brought back by my sis, and otherwise I haven’t seen your beers around here. While I did find it one note I did enjoy drinking the beer and a bigger beefier expression would be interesting to try.
We exported an entire batch to Impex Beer in Italy but I’m not sure how much, if any, has made it to the UK.
Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out but I’m guessing its unlikely to come this far. Best of luck with your brewing, I’ll have to see if I can get my sis to bring back a few more bottles next time she comes back here.