Einstök: Icelandic Toasted Porter

How often do you see beer from Iceland?  Around here, I have seen it... once, that I can recall.  That time led me to this intriguingly named Toasted Porter.

Classy label

Nice and dark.

It does taste toasty, and it hits your standard porter notes, but I found the flavour a little too light.  It didn't linger on the palate like I want a porter to, and I was tempted to quaff it rather than drinking slowly.  Now, that isn't always a bad thing, and I would be happy to drink a few of these, but when I have a porter, I often want to sit and savour it, and soak in the flavour.  That kind of approach wouldn't be right for this beer, I don't think.

Harviestoun: Old Engine Oil

Not the most appealing of names, I have to admit.  But the beer makes up for that by being very good.  It is hoppier than I would have expected, and very smooth, rich and chocolatey.  Has a good thick mouth-feel, which goes some way to explaining the name.  Nice and dark, to boot. They don't have the most link friendly website, but what are you going to do?

Emerson's

One of the things I missed while in Australia was the craft beer scene in New Zealand.  Australia is catching up a bit now, but they are years behind NZ in the quality and variety of craft beers and small brewers.  In NZ, Emerson's is a leading name in delicious, delicious beer.  Some of them I have had since getting back are...

This is a special one, small batches, adventurous style.  The 2012 JP is everything the label above says it is, with the bonus of being tremendous.

 A simpler beer, this.  Basic porter, nice flavours, refreshing and dark. (Yes, I am calling a porter refreshing)

It hasn't really been the weather for the Weissbier, but I like the style too much to pass it up when I see one. Too often the southern hemisphere variations on weissbier miss the esters, or do not emphasise them enough.  Emerson's do not make that mistake.