5 January 2016 - Best Beer HQ
Bach All Day Ale Extra Session Ale review
ABV: 3.7%
What: A very good mate of mine gave me a Bach Brewing gift pack consisting of four of the Auckland craft brewery’s finest beers for my 31st birthday. “They’re for drinking up at the bach,” he told me, which is exactly where I imbibed this little number.
It was a stunning day in New Zealand’s Far North, with nary a breeze nor a cloud in the big blue sky above. It was the kind of beautiful summer day that could only be made better with a craft beer in hand.
Blurb on the bottle: At Bach Brewing we think life’s too short to drink low alcohol beer, so we’ve made a mid-strength ale brewed with NZ Fuggles, Centennial and Chinook hops, and Canterbury malts from Gladfield.
Bach Brewing encourages responsible drinking and enjoyment of good beer.
Tastes like: I’m having my cake and eating it.
Though this 500ml bottle of beer boasts just 3.7% alcohol by volume – and is light in body as a result – it’s still tremendously tasty. We’re talking caramel, with slightly tangy, fruity hops, notes of orange and peach.
It’s also bubbly, dry, and reasonably well balanced, leaving a thin white lacing around the glass.
Like the name suggests, Bach’s All Day Ale Extra Session Ale is exactly the sort of beer that you can enjoy just before lunch if you’re on holiday – as I am right now – or you’re in the mood for a cheeky craft beer before most reasonable people would normally start drinking that won’t leave you feeling too tipsy, too early in the day.
Is it the best beer ever? While this beer is not the best that Bach Brewing has ever produced, it’s certainly a worthy addition to the pantheon of sessionable pale ales that are available in New Zealand right now.
Off the top of my head, only the session pale ale by Funk Estate would give Bach’s All Day Ale Extra Session Ale a run for its money.
I look forward to sampling some more of Bach Brewing’s crafty offerings as I make my way through the gift pack. Next up is the considerably stronger Witsunday Blonde IPA; check back in a few days for a review of that one.