Tuesday Booze: Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude

My partner and I picked this up at Farro – I had already picked up a Moa brew that I wanted to review and in order to even the odds (as it would be) – I helped him pick out this one as it was stated to be a Golden Ale and I didn’t really read much else into it other than that.

Oops.

He took his first sip and his face instantly transformed into something resembling Margaret Thatcher chewing on some salty liquorice.

THIS IS SHITTTTTT.

My bad.

I took the bottle from him and intoned his advice to do a review on it. Now before I begin – I don’t mean to be harsh, we are the culprits here for not reading the description on the bottle first; but this drop is definitely NOT for the faint of heart.

Want to know what it promises on the label?

“They said it couldn’t be done, that it would be undrinkable, that we couldn’t use more than 5% heavy peated malt in a beer. So we carefully considered their advice and went with 100% instead.”

As much as this description appears to be in jest – it is entirely true. This beer tastes like they fermented it in a smoker and then strained its contents through a dirty coffee filter. It very nearly was undrinkable. But I – as always, relished the challenge. It took me until halfway through the bottle until it became bearable.

But in all seriousness – further to its detail the label continues:

“Rex Attitude is inspired by French techno and the whiskey of Scotland’s west coast. Like the ‘Auld Alliance’ it combines a little Scottish rogue with a dose of French ‘je ne sais quoi’. It is as far as we know, the world’s first beer made from 100% heavy peated distilling malt.”

Yea I am pretty sure nothing good has ever come of a Scottish and French union (though Mary Queen of Scots did try) and as for French Techno – I don’t see Daft Punk digging this one.

For those unaware of peated malt and its wares – feast on this:

Peated Malt is a malt style that has been treated by being smoked over a fire made from peat moss.
This malt provides a pronounced smoky, spicy aroma and flavor to your beer. Please note, this malt should be used in moderation as a little goes a long way.
Traditional use of Peated Malt is in Scottish Ales.

Note the part where it says “should be used in moderation”.

To be fair this was my first ever Scottish Ale – so I am probably being very naïve and unduly harsh. But in conclusion this was not my cup of tea, or coffee or smoked coffee flavoured golden ale.

BONUS ASIDE: In the months since this review was originally written I have since been to the annual New Zealand beer festival with some friends – throughout the day one of them kept saying how he wanted to try the real strong hoppy or malty beers – something with a real kick. Growing tired of not finding him one that suited I eventually got him to try this. His words “holy shit this is like malt whisky pretending to be beer”. He could not taste anything else for the rest of the day – so I guess if you want to prank your mates and ruin their taste buds for a few hours – give them one of these.

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