11 August 2016 - Best Beer HQ
Mata Kapai Autumn Session Red IPA Review
On the coldest evening of the year Mrs Best Beer HQ set out on a desperate quest to the local bottle store to pick up a bottle of wine. When she returned, she gave me this bottle of Kapai Autumn Session Red IPA by Mata Brewing.
That’s what I call true love, my friends. Now let’s see if I can say the same about this beer…
ABV: 3.8%
Blurb on the bottle: A 3.8% malty session red IPA, dry hopped with American Amarillo and cascade hops. The perfect beer to enjoy on cooler days with mates around a fiery brazier.
Handcrafted beer of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The brewery: Aotearoa Breweries is a family run business in the sunny Eastern Bay of Plenty. With a love for great beer, in 2005 Tammy brought Mata beer to life along with her mum (Gloria), dad (Jouni), and Unlce Esko. With pride and passion, they continue to create and brew an innovative range of award winning flavoursome beers.
Tastes like: This beer may taste like autumn, but it sure still feels like winter to me. Instead of drinking Kapai Autumn around a brazier, I’m drinking it indoors in front of the fireplace.
And it’s going down very well indeed. The toasted malt flavouring of this beer complements the raging inferno in front of me, plus the beer’s fruity hops and moderate bitterness take my mind off the terrible weather outside.
Kapai Autumn is definitely a session beer, though. It’s light, slightly watery – definitely not heavy or oily as some red IPAs tend to be – with a delicate, dry, lip-smacking finish.
Verdict: It’s a real shame that Mata’s Kapai Autumn is a seasonable brew, because it’s a good drop. I’d be happy to drink it year-round.
Movie/beer pairing: I’m going to take a break from tradition and instead of recommending a movie to go with this beer I’m going to tell you about this new kick-ass television show I’ve been watching. It’s called Stranger Things and it’s amazing.
A throwback to the movies of the 80s – including ET, The Goonies, Stand by Me, Poltergeist, John Carpenter’s best films, and so much more – as well as the classic works of Stephen King from that era, Stranger Things is a stunning Netflix original show about, well, strange happenings in a small Indiana town.
I don’t want to ruin it for you. So check out the trailer or, better yet, just crack open a beer and start watching it.
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