TrHOPical Paradise NZ XPA Review

1 August 2018 - Best Beer HQ

TrHOPical Paradise NZ XPA Review

I cast my eyes on this bright, summery beer label at my local Glengarry’s liquor shop and I immediately knew that I’d be drinking Bootleg Brewery’s TrHOPical Paradise NZ XPA tonight.

Sure enough, I am.

ABV: 4.7%

Blurb on the bottle: We love the Kiwi summer, roadies, and beer… This sessionable citrus laden tr’HOP’ical Xtra Pale Ale is jammed full of all Kiwi hops. Chuck some in your chilly bin, grab your jandals and Bootleg it to the coast asap.

Bootleg Brewery: I’ve never heard of this Hamilton-based brewery before, but a quick Google search tells me that it was founded in November 2016 by two friends, Jaden and Fraser, who wanted to brew great beer.

That sounds pretty good to me.

This beer tastes like: Summer time in New Zealand’s Far North, where I holiday every year with my whanau. But for you, dear reader, (yes, you!) I guess it might taste like whatever you most associate with summery good times.

I mean that as the highest compliment, of course, because summer rocks — and so does this beer.

Its tropical fruit cocktail palate transports me to a tropical paradise, even though it’s the middle of winter here in Auckland. TrHOPical Paradise pours light yellow, with only a wee bit of whiteness, which sticks to the side of my pint glass. And its grassy, citric aroma is reminiscent of summer, too.

The verdict: In the interests of fairness, it’s worth noting that I’ve got a growing fondness for XPAs that are packed with flavour, yet aren’t so packed full of alcohol that I won’t still be a functional human being afterwards.

That being said, Bootleg Brewery’s TrHOPical Paradise is an uber refreshing, tropical XPA that ticks all the boxes. In fact, I wish I’d bought two bottles!

Beer/movie combination: Although it’s obviously winter here in Aotearoa, we’re well into Hollywood’s 2018 summer blockbuster season at this point.

The biggest movie by far has been Avengers: Infinity War, but that movie doesn’t really suit this beer (it might suit an IPA or an APA, but definitely not an XPA). As far as this summer’s crop of super-hero movies go, this beer is much more of a Deadpool 2 or Ant-Man and The Wasp.

I haven’t seen the latter, so let’s go with the former:

Craft Beer New Zealand / review /