Epic Beer

Epic Armageddon (6.66%) has a more resinous aroma with hints of red grapefruit. It fills the mouth with weighty complexity at first, then its herby bitterness emerges – and lingers with extreme prejudice.

This is 90-plus IBU, a beer so strongly flavoured it completely changes your palate, making it very difficult to go back to the brew you usually drink.

The question in the New Zealand market is: will anybody drink such bitter ale? Colin Mallon at The Malthouse reckons his customers will, and has taken as many kegs as he can get his hands on.

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I’M loving Epic Pale Ale at the moment.

The label claims to be "Making the world a better place with beer", and for once the advertising hype is true.

This beer is all good. It’s got a lovely aroma, not strong, of dust and old citrus rind with all the sweetness removed.

In the mouth there is a huge grapefruit character and bucket loads of hop power. Resin comes through as well, along with the grassy flavour you get from sucking on a grass stem on a summer’s day.

The Supreme Champion in the 2006 NZ International Beer Awards, Epic is just bigger than the average beer, more fruit in a curiously dry way because the fruit is citrus.

It’s too strong for delicate food, but a great match for flavoursome, salty meats and stews. I’m going to try this Auckland thriller with everything.

Full Article - Capital Times by Aaron Watson