has just been released in time for the coming summer holiday season. Brewed as a session IPA, it is SMALL (4.7% alc/vol) and MISCHIEVOUS (generously dry hopped like an IPA. It has more dry hop than the Epic Armageddon IPA). When poured the aroma hits you with sweet ripe summer stone fruit and citrus as you look at its brilliantly polished pale copper colour. The flavour is of fruity citrus peel intertwined with a juicy caramel note, which finishes with a sharp but brief slap of bitterness. It drinks as though it’s much bigger than a responsible 4.7%, due to...

I just read this positive review about the new Epic IMP on the blog "buzz and hum". You should not only check out the other posts on this blog, but follow it to, as the reviews are thoughtful and a good read. I still need to finish writing something official for the release of this beer. This last week has been consumed by Taste of Auckland (which hasn't gone so well due to the weather). Quickly, the beer is a Session IPA, 4.7% alc/vol, 35 IBU. Dry hopping is greater than Armageddon IPA. It was officially released on Friday night...

Hop Zombie was arguably New Zealand's most successful craft beer release of 2011. With its invasion, Epic continued to push the hop envelope. Ravaging hordes of craft beer drinkers scoured the shelves of every bottle they could find, hunting them down via word of mouth and social media in what one could only compare to preparation for a coming apocalypse. Unfortunately, the supply of top secret special hops for this highly aromatic beer were exhausted - not only at the brewery but on the whole planet!! No one had any. Not only had the hops run out, but the next...

Epic Apocalypse Black IPA will start rolling out this week in bottle. So why a Black IPA? When this style started becoming popular in the USA I become fascinated by the style, which at the time was being referred to as a Cascadian Dark Ale (named after the Cascade mountain range, which also gave its name to the hop, because the beer style was being made in Oregon.) In 2009 we started bottling Armageddon IPA. The same year, Apocalypse was brewed for the first time. The key behind making a Black IPA is to keep all the hop aroma and...

How many hops can you fit into a bottle of beer? Does fifty seem like too many? Most of the beer produced in New Zealand today uses the equivalent of less than one hop per bottle. Auckland’s Epic Brewing Company have done exactly the opposite and utilised this intensely perfumed flower to the greatest of their ability. Epic, founded by Luke Nicholas in 2006, is known for its big hoppy beers, especially their Epic Pale Ale and the boldly hopped Epic Armageddon IPA. They’ve now taken hoppiness to a whole new level with their new double IPA, the Hop Zombie....