Often, when I’m practicing with my band, we’ll enjoy a beer or two. Fortunately, the other members of my band who drink beer (one member has Coeliac disease and therefore can’t) also appreciate fine ale and are able to share in my passion for craft beer. The drummer, Richard, has a particular fondness for Epic and their range of beers, so at our most recent practice I cracked open a bottle of their new stout.

Epic have made a name for themselves thus far by making ridiculously hoppy beer. Their flagship pale ale has approximately 30 times as much hops per bottle as your generic cheap New Zealand draught beers. One of their more recent offerings, the Armageddon IPA (a delectable beer indeed), has almost three times as much hops again. This hopheavy approach has left them with a range of very flavoursome beers, and is a characteristic approach in the New Zealand craft beer scene at the moment. Somewhat appropriate, given that New Zealand has some very good home grown hops to showcase.

Given this approach and the style of the rest of their beers, trying the stout promised to be interesting. Stouts get a larger portion of their flavour from the malt rather than the hops, which usually lend little more than a slight refreshing bitterness. Upon opening, the Epic Stout had quite a nice roasty aroma, but the flavour was not as full as I like in a dark beer. Whilst nicer than mainstream examples of the style, I’d probably opt for stouts from other New Zealand craft breweries over the Epic. I think I’ll keep to the hopheavy beers that Epic does best when I next buy their beer.