During the '70's Waikato was known as swamp water with the added advantage of being a laxative. Steinlager was referred to as Steingrenades due to the headache the next day
Fun fact, Steinlager classic won the Les Amis du Vin Award from 1976 - 1980. To prevent it winning a 5th year in a row, it was asked to not enter again, to give other beers a chance at the title. Which won Steinlager classic the title, of the best beer in the world, at the time.
Which isnt saying much unfortunately. The "competition" at the time was the local dregs marketed under parochialism to each region by the brewing duopoly, and it all tasted the same.....
Hi Folks, I am from New Zealand and the Beers you tasted are mostly from the Two Big Beer makers here in NZ. Most of those beers you tested I drunk as a young bloke and not drink now. Most of the beers drunk when and now have an effect ones body functions. Lion Red had that effect if you drink too much. Waikato Beer here was always said to be bottled Waikato River Water, a local river which runs through the City of Hamilton. If you really want to do a Beer tasting of Kiwi Beers try tasting NZ made Craft Beers.
Yeah we actually did a follow up video with more beers that are considered “craft” from Lion, DB, and Asahi with a future video in the works trying out independent craft breweries 😃🍻
@@donovankelly12 I think I've avoided all the main breweries and just want straight to craft when we moved here in 2018. Double Vision, Garage Project, Parrot Dog, looking forward to seeing what you think of those!
@@elbee909 haha that’s the way to do it! We had double vision at Beervana and featured garage project in a Wellington video too! I’ve had Parrotdog and I really enjoy, I just wish I made it out the brewery when I was there 😞
@donovankelly12 There's something about Steinlager. I drank two of their zero alcohol beers once at a work do. Somehow, still ended up with a ripper headache. I'd steer clear of that brand.
Haha great video. I'm definitely surprised with your reaction to Steinlager! My favorite is good old Speights.... solid all rounder ❤ Keep up the fantastic videos 😊
Thanks a lot, my friend!! Yeah I honestly am too, I thought it was going to be the Tui Strong or something. Speights seems to be a solid choice for the price!! Appreciate it, cheers 😃🍻
I was drinking export gold while watching this, i once had too many steinlagers and got a massive hangover the next day never again. Try speights old dark.
Nice!! Haha yeah these Steingrenade hangovers seem to be pretty popular. We tried Speights Old Dark at the brewery and it was pretty solid 🍻 thanks for watching!
We love it when you create vlogs together.💕 Donovan and Brittany, this vlog was incredibly funny. Some of the beer descriptions were hilarious🤣, and we had a lot of laughs watching you both. Donovan, you are truly a beer lover and so funny👏👍. Great job, guys! Lots of love.💖
Thank you!! Yeah that was my first taste of it and I’m surprised how much I liked it compared to others. This 7.2 %er didn’t feel that strong at all. Cheers! 😃🍻
Lion red, and speights would be your most common cheap beers in nz, the exports and tuis are popular among certain groups but defintly not as wide spread as the others, flame, ice and double browns are what we drank when we were growing up as they were cheap and easy to down, waikato river water is a notoriously mocked beer but has a cult following in the central north island it is very easy to drink and would be grouped with speights lion and tui classics as the less popular(but still sold at most liquor stores) Keep in mind that all of these beers are the cheap sort of thing you buy in boxes nz has a great craft scene with popular brands being garage project, moa, Mac, epic, Monteith, and founders there are many more but this is of the top of my head
Are you sure you didn't swap Steinlager and the Tui Strong around? description for the tui one definalty seemed more like a steinlagwr than the Tui Strongs
Yeah I’m sure. I drank the remaining Steinlager right after this was filmed and yeah that was definitely it. I honestly think the Steinlager gave me that reaction because it was just SO different from the previous ones and despite cleansing my palette with water it stuck out really negatively. I’ve drank multiple Steinlager classics in one sitting at an All Blacks game and I had no complaints.
Hey Just curious when you're trying out the beers are they chilled or normal does it make a difference?? And Im certain Steinlager cant possibly taste like Cat Pee when its cold 😅
I'm starting to think we may have gotten a bad/stale bottle of Steinlager though a lot of people seem to hate it anyway haha. Cat pee is a very common off flavour in stale beer.
Steinlager has a cult following in New Zealand the more you drink Steinlager the more nicer it tastes after 3 bottles that gas taste becomes lovely but the happy buzz you get from Steinlager no beer has that why its the best.
LOL. I do not love how this turned out. Giving Steinlager a 2/10 and Flame a 6/10 is insane. These people should be banned from rating beer on the internet. And that's even giving them the excuse that they didn't cleanse their palate because Steinlager first is good, but tastes hella yeasty after anything else.
@@AholeAtheist Isn't it weird how every single person has a different palate and likes different things?!?! What a revelation!! Thank god for free speech eh!! Take your hateful attitude somewhere else 😘
Waikato draught is hated by those even in waikato, they used to say they bottled it from the waikato river in hamilton hahaha only beer i think is worse is either steinlager or heineken
Weirdly enough (cause I don't usually put much stock in RUclips sort lists), I totally agree with your findings! Tui used to be pretty rubbish way back. But they seriously improved the flavour in the 90's and gave it massive ad pushes. It's actually a pretty decent beer now. Used to be a hard core DB Draught fan for a long time. But a few years ago they did something to it, tastes pretty rubbish now. May try it again at some point. But honestly, it's a hard beer to find at the best of times now - the correlation between the decline in quality and decline in popularity is not a coincidence. Which is a shame because nothing really comes close to the classic DB Draught flavour. Double Brown is noteworthy (historically) for simply being a cheap and nasty beer that's somewhat drinkable, lol. Not a "good" beer per se, but pretty good value for money at the price. (Though not sure how well that status has tracked with current alcohol prices.) ****** A noticable omission from the test!!! ****** Monteith's. (With a personal recommendation of their seasonal Summer Ale.) Was a true South Island classic until DB screwed them over and shut down the proper brewery, moving production to Auckland. Easy to taste the difference, not nearly as good as it was. But although I've been tempted to snub it purely out of spite against the closure (was absolutely the wrong thing to do), some of the range is still pretty decent. Definitely worth trying out.
Thanks for this awesome in depth comment! I would have liked to have grabbed some DB Draught(tried that at a pub 2 months ago) and Double brown (never tried it here) but I really didn’t want to buy a 12 pack haha Monteiths is interesting, you’re right. We have been out to Greymouth and into the brewery talking to those folks, did a little tour and tried a bunch of their stuff. I bought quite a few cases when we first moved here because it was cheap and pretty decent for the price. The summer ale is very drinkable, good to know it was even better at one point!! 🍻
Hey there im from new zealand and would just like to mention beers are better served cold and in cold glasses which would also change the flavour profile.
These are all total dad beers! I mainly go for independent brews and if I wanted a macro lager I would pick Asahi. I get a little nostalgic now and again and pick up some Lion Red but it tastes pretty rough.
Yeah the independent breweries here are 10/10 and we’ve been making videos about checking them out for almost a year now! It’s been a blast to say the least 😃😃🍻
Speights summit low carb is always my go to. It's the only one that dosent bloat you when drinking all night. Fresh crisp beer water 👌 easy to get your 2L of water a day with this one 🤣
SPEIGHTS.. Some People Enjoy It God Hates The Stuff, or Special Piss Enjoyed In Great Hotels in Southland.. they changed the Stienlager recipe way back.. the hangovers were life threatening lol
@@donovankelly12 awesome, I've never been there and it's literally 5 minutes drive from my house haha, I haven't heard of the bird dog I'll have to keep an eye out next time I buy beer!
This was kinda interesting; for the most part (Tui Strong is new, but the brand is old) these are the old regional breweries that have been around for decades. There's a few others you could add - like Canterbury Draught, Lion Brown (Wellington I think, Lion Red has an Auckland connotation for me for some reason). And they'd all be fairly similar quality, mostly inoffensive mass market beers. An interesting companion video to this might be a comparison of NZs older "craft" brands. Most have been bought out now - but i'm thinking Monteiths Original, Macs Gold, Gisborne Gold, Roosters. These were all small breweries in the late 90s early 00s that were available in many pubs a long time before the craft beer scene really took off. I'm sure others would know / remember some more of them. Maybe Tuatara was around back then too?
That’s a really good idea actually! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and that idea. I will say it was tough as hell trying to find singles but maybe if I start looking now I could get it done. Cheers!! 😃🍻
@@donovankelly12 yeah that would be a challenge, at least most of those would be sixers rather than a doz or fifteen! When I was in high school I’m pretty sure Tui only came in slabs of 24 stubbies, but if you asked nicely the pub would cut the box in half for a more manageable quantity! Small towns in the 90s, things were a lot more slack than nowadays.
Huh. With all do respect, I’m thinking a beer called “black ice beer” is going to be real cheap and strong AF haha doesn’t sound appealing to me but if I see it I will read the can
@@donovankelly12 my old man used to drink ice and black ice! It’s exactly what you think it is 😂 old school farm raised rugby boys sinking it and getting into fights 😂
export gold is usually the go-to for us around my part of the country, but my favourite has got to be pretty much anything Monteith's, tight lines if I had to pick one. I agree with a lot of what you said here, keep up the good content!
Yeah Monteiths are some of the first ones I tried here, I really enjoy their American pale ale. We checked out the brewery in our “Taste of the West Coast” video. Cheers!!
It's the preservatives. Steinlager Pure was created so they could sell beer in Germany as they have a four ingredient rule that Steinlager classic doesn't meet.
All those beers, apart from some Speights are beers I rarely had for 25 years. I prefer the craft beers. I avoid the old brands you tasted because they tend to be too sweet.
Couldn't agree with you more. The craft beer here is something special. I've made multiple that showcase a lot of the local breweries and different festivals, it's been an absolute blast! 🍻
My Dad drank Export Gold when I was a kid so I was allowed some (just like a small amount at the end of course). Needless to say whenever I get beer nowadays I tend to get Export Gold haha. That and its usually cheaper than the more fancy beers.
That’s interesting! I feel like a lot of people tend to not want to drink some of the first beers they tried when they were younger. You’re loyal! Haha And yes, the price point is quite nice.
I think the trouble with the review is it should be stipulated that these are: 1 - out of a bottle / can as these vastly change the taste of them as opposed to fresh on tap I.e in the bar (well you'd hope they were fresh and clean haha) 2 - although not overly significant some beers need the proper glassware and pour etc ( aeration can either enhance or dull your initial and overall experience) Going back to point one, you made a point of saying you didn't think you minded steinlager which made me think..well where did you have the one you didn't mind haha Anyway still enjoyed it was a fun watch :)
Great comment! You are very right, beer straight from the keg is much more fresh. Better glassware could of been used haha we just worked with what we had I bought a case in March of last year and that was pretty good. I then had 5 or 6 at the All Blacks game in Dunedin this past August too haha so I enjoy it when I don’t think about it so much. Thanks for the kind comment, so glad you enjoyed! 😃🍻
Awesome video. Love seeing your content on the NZ brewing scene. If you havent checked it out alrwady, try and get your hands on the book "continuous ferment". It is a great history (with spme cool old school pics) of brewing in NZ. Came out at the end of last year.
Thanks a lot, Sam!! I really appreciate that. Thanks for the recommendation, funny enough I’ve had a work mate and a friend both let me know about this recent release so I better get my hands on it!! Cheers 🍻😃
Stein Larger beer actually entered and won the Les Amis du vin award the most prestigious award in the world in 1977 the first time it entered and it won... Then won in 1978, 1979 and 1980 and was asked not to enter ever again
Brilliant I absolutely love Brittany’s tasting notes. I don’t think we get any of those over here in the UK. Great selection nice one cheers from over the pond 👍🍻
You picked my 3 favs that I've drank? drunk? for many years. So my taste buds were right lul. Tui and Speights as most pubs have at least one on tap. Glad you guys liked the NZ grog and have a very good palate like me :)
I wanna see you try Speights Summit Ultra now. It has gotten very popular. I wouldn't say many Kiwis are into the low carb option, but I see a lot of people buying summit ultra. A lot of these beers I would consider the good pub drink. Cheaper at the pub to have with some mates. Where as I see a lot of other beers brought to for the fridge at home. Heineken, Corona, Stella etc. Not to say that no one buys NZ beer for home though. One beer I've seen on the rise here is Isbjorn low carb Pilsner. I know not a Kiwi beer but its pretty good.
We tried it once at the brewery after the tour and it was alright. A lot of people in this comment section recommend it. A lot more low carb options here compared to Canada, it’s kinda cool. Is that the one from the northern most brewery in the world? I think I tried that last week actually
That explains why I've had to start drinking Pilsener Beer these days. I drunk the Steinlager Classic over Xmas and it was ok but not like I remember. Lion Red is one I've bought for a change but didn't like. Export is a decent Beer.
We typically only drink craft beers! This was us finally trying the cheaper beers. We have another video like this coming out soon and we tried Panhead...no spoilers LOL 😉
Mates! Sorry to say that you have now sampled the most common dirty water beers from New Zealand. There is a phenomenal craft beer culture in New Zealand and I would love to see you review a few of those. Perhaps a Tuatara, or a fine Garage Project beer? Understandable if they are not as easy to source. Just disappointed that this is the forward face of kiwi beer. Kudos for taking one for the global team though.
Hey Alan! Oh don’t be sorry at all, I’ve made over 20 videos about travelling New Zealand and checking out as many different craft breweries that I can, and the craft beer here is 10/10! You should check those out if you have a minute. Cheers!
Nah you're right Stein'y Pure is wayy better than Classic. And yeah DB Draught is a good classic in NZ. I love that you guys like Speight's it's the pride of the South for over a 100 years, I used to be a Speight's enjoyer when I used to drink.
Yeah the Speights has been solid for us. Had it at the brewery and I’ve bought a case here and there. Really easy to drink and it’s pretty good for the price. 🍻
If you’re asking for my 0.02c, I think NZ beers are at best average, at worst terrible, and I’m not surprised about the low scores. I switched to cheap European or Asian beer years ago when the supermarket started stocking it. And if you’re asking, I think NZ craft beers are rarely worth the money, and usually awfully overpowering with hops. Although I do remember having a lager from Sprig and Fern in Nelson that I like years ago.
I think it’s safe to say we’ve been really impressed with the beer overall. We love the craft beer scene here and have made a lot of videos about that but these particular beers are interesting to me because it’s so different from the Budweiser, Coors, Keith’s, Kokanee, etc. I grew up with. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Couldn't agree more. Bitburger, Krombacher. Why drink low flavour, high sugar when German is all natural full flavor. Even the Chinese do better than Lion or DB.
Yeah the Tui Strong was a surprise for sure! That’s a really interesting take, I can see your point considering most of these are available for purchase in crates, and sometimes they are consumed within 12 hours on the same day… Thanks for watching! 😃🍻
I would add Mac’s gold to the list. Went to a bowls club a few months ago the place is frozen in time and they had many on these on offer… Export used to be the student beer of choice. They also used to do export dry which to me was the best and like a premium version of export.
Waikato is brewed in Auckland, its not the same from Original Beer, yes the Water matters. If i lived in Nelson i would do some Gold Panning in the hills, thats a retirement hobby theme.
Haha fair enough. Honestly I had like 6 Steinlagers at the All Blacks game and I didn’t find anything wrong with it, the blind taste test really separated it in the worst way possible haha
Haha! For years we have said Waikato beer has been bottled straight from the Waikato river.😂😂
I used to think that too - when it was still brewed right next to the river in the Tron. I may be a Waikato supporter but I can't drink that stuff.
Haha that’s good to know, I completely understand why 😂 cheers 🍻
I drank the remaining 5 beers in the 6 pack since filming this video and that was enough for my life.
@@donovankelly12 you have big balls....should we say "bells" bro?😳🤣🤣
During the '70's Waikato was known as swamp water with the added advantage of being a laxative. Steinlager was referred to as Steingrenades due to the headache the next day
The fact you called Waikato river water made me laugh out loud because thats what people in nz call it 😂
Hahah yeah I think we might have hit that one on the head 🍻
Fun fact, Steinlager classic won the Les Amis du Vin Award from 1976 - 1980.
To prevent it winning a 5th year in a row, it was asked to not enter again, to give other beers a chance at the title. Which won Steinlager classic the title, of the best beer in the world, at the time.
Yeah that’s right! I was reading up about that the other day, very impressive!!
God knows how or why, I think it is a DREADFUL beer, tastes like chemicals and gives horrendous hangovers!
@@marksvideochannel3592Try Steinlager pure next time. It's one of our best beers for sure
Which isnt saying much unfortunately. The "competition" at the time was the local dregs marketed under parochialism to each region by the brewing duopoly, and it all tasted the same.....
Bro try a cold steiny from a can,stubbie, keg and a big bottle . Same beer different tastes. Big bots are a different beast.
Ha hilarious, Waikato has always been called swamp water.
Haha is that right? I completely understand why…
Canned beers taste like crap, always drink out of a bottle,
Hi Folks, I am from New Zealand and the Beers you tasted are mostly from the Two Big Beer makers here in NZ. Most of those beers you tested I drunk as a young bloke and not drink now. Most of the beers drunk when and now have an effect ones body functions. Lion Red had that effect if you drink too much. Waikato Beer here was always said to be bottled Waikato River Water, a local river which runs through the City of Hamilton. If you really want to do a Beer tasting of Kiwi Beers try tasting NZ made Craft Beers.
Yeah we actually did a follow up video with more beers that are considered “craft” from Lion, DB, and Asahi with a future video in the works trying out independent craft breweries 😃🍻
@@donovankelly12 I think I've avoided all the main breweries and just want straight to craft when we moved here in 2018. Double Vision, Garage Project, Parrot Dog, looking forward to seeing what you think of those!
@@elbee909 haha that’s the way to do it! We had double vision at Beervana and featured garage project in a Wellington video too! I’ve had Parrotdog and I really enjoy, I just wish I made it out the brewery when I was there 😞
Export Gold is my pick for cheap kiwi beer. As you said refreshing on a hot summers day.
Sure as hell surprised me!! But I can’t knock it, no too bad at all. Cheers! 😃🍻
I always preferred Export Dry.
One of the cheapest too
We used to call Steinlager Steingrenades 😅 back in the day, you would have a good night but wake up with a headache.
Yeah that’s really interesting how so many people have said that so far!! Not very enticing to continue to drink lol
@donovankelly12 There's something about Steinlager. I drank two of their zero alcohol beers once at a work do. Somehow, still ended up with a ripper headache.
I'd steer clear of that brand.
Haha great video. I'm definitely surprised with your reaction to Steinlager!
My favorite is good old Speights.... solid all rounder ❤
Keep up the fantastic videos 😊
Thanks a lot, my friend!! Yeah I honestly am too, I thought it was going to be the Tui Strong or something. Speights seems to be a solid choice for the price!! Appreciate it, cheers 😃🍻
Speights Old Dark is a good one for something a bit different. I quite like the low alcohol Mid Ale too.
Can't beat an ice cold speights after a hard rugby game tbh
Love a Speights summit great summer lager
I was drinking export gold while watching this, i once had too many steinlagers and got a massive hangover the next day never again. Try speights old dark.
Nice!! Haha yeah these Steingrenade hangovers seem to be pretty popular. We tried Speights Old Dark at the brewery and it was pretty solid 🍻 thanks for watching!
Try Tasman bitter ,each can contains a rusty nail , or at least that's what it tastes like.
Tasman tetanus in a tin.
Tasman bitter?? Interesting haha sounds offensive
We love it when you create vlogs together.💕 Donovan and Brittany, this vlog was incredibly funny. Some of the beer descriptions were hilarious🤣, and we had a lot of laughs watching you both. Donovan, you are truly a beer lover and so funny👏👍. Great job, guys! Lots of love.💖
Thank you so much!! Always appreciate your lovely comments 😃 so glad you enjoyed it 🍻😃 we will be doing more vlogs together here shortly!
For me it has to be speight proud of the south for over 150 years
Yeah Speights has been solid when it comes to the popular lagers and ales, no complaints. Brewery tour was awesome too!! 🍻
Steinlager - The beer of the All Blacks. You should try the hang over from it. We call it A Steingrenade...
Haha I don’t know if I want too! Sounds horrible 😂
As a religious waikato drinker, you are not wrong.
Hahaha that’s great 😂
love the content bro! Tui has always been one of my favourites, so happy to see you both liked it too!
Thank you!! Yeah that was my first taste of it and I’m surprised how much I liked it compared to others. This 7.2 %er didn’t feel that strong at all. Cheers! 😃🍻
Never heard of flame. Is that in the south island ?
No. Its in probably every liquor store in North Island and been around for at least 20 years
My work mate said a lot of people drank it in their early 20s because it was cheap and a bit different
I would not be surprised if flame was cold crashed DB. DB tasted like bananas to me. Don't mind the export gold though.
Lion red, and speights would be your most common cheap beers in nz, the exports and tuis are popular among certain groups but defintly not as wide spread as the others, flame, ice and double browns are what we drank when we were growing up as they were cheap and easy to down, waikato river water is a notoriously mocked beer but has a cult following in the central north island it is very easy to drink and would be grouped with speights lion and tui classics as the less popular(but still sold at most liquor stores)
Keep in mind that all of these beers are the cheap sort of thing you buy in boxes nz has a great craft scene with popular brands being garage project, moa, Mac, epic, Monteith, and founders there are many more but this is of the top of my head
Well said, Michael! Got another video coming showing off some of the ones you mentioned. Cheers! 🍻
Couple of things...When did you pour the beer and was it cold?...That first beer looked like it had sat for 10minutes
The beer was in the fridge for a solid 72 hours prior to be opened and it was served about 18 seconds after it was poured. Thanks for watching!
Are you sure you didn't swap Steinlager and the Tui Strong around? description for the tui one definalty seemed more like a steinlagwr than the Tui Strongs
Yeah I’m sure. I drank the remaining Steinlager right after this was filmed and yeah that was definitely it. I honestly think the Steinlager gave me that reaction because it was just SO different from the previous ones and despite cleansing my palette with water it stuck out really negatively. I’ve drank multiple Steinlager classics in one sitting at an All Blacks game and I had no complaints.
Beer no.5 "What is that..like Gasoline"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 and a touch cat pee🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Bro i aint even mad🤣🤣🤣
Haha so glad you enjoyed 🍻😂
Wow You guys were bangon ..wifes from waikato and i told her the water taste like pond water more than river water ..awesome review
Thanks for the nice comment!! lol it’s so funny because I don’t really relate beer to river water but it seems to have worked out
Steinlager is the nz go to. Was NZs 1st 5% beer
Hey Just curious when you're trying out the beers are they chilled or normal does it make a difference?? And Im certain Steinlager cant possibly taste like Cat Pee when its cold 😅
Chilled, for sure! Haha nah I can’t imagine it does. My blind taste test reaction made it look a lot worse than it was haha
I'm starting to think we may have gotten a bad/stale bottle of Steinlager though a lot of people seem to hate it anyway haha. Cat pee is a very common off flavour in stale beer.
Steinlager has a cult following in New Zealand the more you drink Steinlager the more nicer it tastes after 3 bottles that gas taste becomes lovely but the happy buzz you get from Steinlager no beer has that why its the best.
Oh yeah I could totally see that!
Monteiths is a good beer radlers or summer ale
Aparently 2x places keep steinlager being brewed, whangarei and gisborne or the eastcoast around gisborne
I think you're confusing Steinlager for Purple Goanna.
@@AholeAtheist Papakura kept the ole PG brand profitable for years
New Zealand lagers are so DELICIOUS! I love how this video turned out, great job. It was super fun to film! 🥰🍺
Thanks so much for all your help 😃❤️🍻
LOL. I do not love how this turned out. Giving Steinlager a 2/10 and Flame a 6/10 is insane. These people should be banned from rating beer on the internet. And that's even giving them the excuse that they didn't cleanse their palate because Steinlager first is good, but tastes hella yeasty after anything else.
@@AholeAtheist Isn't it weird how every single person has a different palate and likes different things?!?! What a revelation!! Thank god for free speech eh!! Take your hateful attitude somewhere else 😘
@@AholeAtheist 2/10 is a perfect score.
Love the comments from our Canadian cousins. Great vid guys (from New Zealand)
Thanks for writing a nice comment, appreciated!! 🍻
Cheers!! 🍻
Where'd u get these beers to taste?
Went to 8 or 9 different liquor stores and supermarkets looking for singles! Had to buy a lot of extra beer for this video
@@donovankelly12 ok which part of NZ?
@@pauldolan9077 just down in Nelson
Those few sips u took of the steinlager are the reason u woke up with a splitting headache FYI
Ahhh that’s why 😂 thanks for clearing that up for me 🍻
Waikato draught is hated by those even in waikato, they used to say they bottled it from the waikato river in hamilton hahaha only beer i think is worse is either steinlager or heineken
Hahaha yeah that seems to be the popular opinion for sure 😂
Weirdly enough (cause I don't usually put much stock in RUclips sort lists), I totally agree with your findings!
Tui used to be pretty rubbish way back. But they seriously improved the flavour in the 90's and gave it massive ad pushes. It's actually a pretty decent beer now.
Used to be a hard core DB Draught fan for a long time. But a few years ago they did something to it, tastes pretty rubbish now. May try it again at some point. But honestly, it's a hard beer to find at the best of times now - the correlation between the decline in quality and decline in popularity is not a coincidence. Which is a shame because nothing really comes close to the classic DB Draught flavour.
Double Brown is noteworthy (historically) for simply being a cheap and nasty beer that's somewhat drinkable, lol. Not a "good" beer per se, but pretty good value for money at the price. (Though not sure how well that status has tracked with current alcohol prices.)
****** A noticable omission from the test!!! ******
Monteith's. (With a personal recommendation of their seasonal Summer Ale.)
Was a true South Island classic until DB screwed them over and shut down the proper brewery, moving production to Auckland.
Easy to taste the difference, not nearly as good as it was. But although I've been tempted to snub it purely out of spite against the closure (was absolutely the wrong thing to do), some of the range is still pretty decent. Definitely worth trying out.
Thanks for this awesome in depth comment! I would have liked to have grabbed some DB Draught(tried that at a pub 2 months ago) and Double brown (never tried it here) but I really didn’t want to buy a 12 pack haha
Monteiths is interesting, you’re right. We have been out to Greymouth and into the brewery talking to those folks, did a little tour and tried a bunch of their stuff. I bought quite a few cases when we first moved here because it was cheap and pretty decent for the price. The summer ale is very drinkable, good to know it was even better at one point!! 🍻
They didn't even taste Tui though. They tasted their strong lager.
should try normal tui, and steinlager pure. also the taste in stienlager is green bullet hops
Yeah I gotta try the normal Tui, you’re right. I gotta look more into the green bullet hops!
Well done Donovan for not slurring your words & to you Brittany for not staggering with all that walking. Marvellous
It was a mission!! That Tui strong really catches up with you quick 😅
Haha thanks a lot. They were all fairly light, but that Tui will getcha!! Thanks for watching 😃🍻
Hey there im from new zealand and would just like to mention beers are better served cold and in cold glasses which would also change the flavour profile.
Thanks, Brian! I’ll keep that in mind 😂
Looked like Brittany was getting tipsy 😂
I almost never drink alcohol so yep, one beer and I'm pretty tipsy!! 😅
I'm a larger drinker
For me Steinlarger tastes of Sulphur My first choice would be a Export , Sparkling Waikato or a Rhinich for second
Kiwi Rod
Oh god a Rheineck, you bad bad man lol
😂 Gonna have to look into this Rhinich!
@@donovankelly12 Rheineck just so you don't go looking for something else. Cheap and nasty
Its amazing how accurate u are tasting the waikato draught.
The waikato litterally is dirty mud water
Haha
😂 thanks for watching!!
These are all total dad beers! I mainly go for independent brews and if I wanted a macro lager I would pick Asahi. I get a little nostalgic now and again and pick up some Lion Red but it tastes pretty rough.
Yeah the independent breweries here are 10/10 and we’ve been making videos about checking them out for almost a year now! It’s been a blast to say the least 😃😃🍻
did you ever try any of the low carb range beers? I often found they tasted better than the regular beers
We’ve had some low carb beers from craft breweries and the export 33. I think it’s cool how many low carb options there are in NZ!! 🍻
Speights summit low carb is always my go to. It's the only one that dosent bloat you when drinking all night. Fresh crisp beer water 👌 easy to get your 2L of water a day with this one 🤣
SPEIGHTS.. Some People Enjoy It God Hates The Stuff, or Special Piss Enjoyed In Great Hotels in Southland.. they changed the Stienlager recipe way back.. the hangovers were life threatening lol
Hahah I appreciate your insight. These hangovers everyone is talking about sound horrendous
Cool video i enjoyed that, personally speights is my favorite, i may be a bit biased though.
Thanks for saying that!! 🍻 Nothing wrong with Speights. The brewery tour and beer tasting at the end is a lot of fun 🍻
@@donovankelly12 a beer worth trying is Emersons, they have some nice ones, my favorite is the pilsner.
Yeah we have been to their brewery and taproom in Dunedin. I quite like their Bird Dog IPA! I’ve had a few of them 😅
@@donovankelly12 awesome, I've never been there and it's literally 5 minutes drive from my house haha, I haven't heard of the bird dog I'll have to keep an eye out next time I buy beer!
This was kinda interesting; for the most part (Tui Strong is new, but the brand is old) these are the old regional breweries that have been around for decades. There's a few others you could add - like Canterbury Draught, Lion Brown (Wellington I think, Lion Red has an Auckland connotation for me for some reason). And they'd all be fairly similar quality, mostly inoffensive mass market beers.
An interesting companion video to this might be a comparison of NZs older "craft" brands. Most have been bought out now - but i'm thinking Monteiths Original, Macs Gold, Gisborne Gold, Roosters. These were all small breweries in the late 90s early 00s that were available in many pubs a long time before the craft beer scene really took off. I'm sure others would know / remember some more of them. Maybe Tuatara was around back then too?
That’s a really good idea actually! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and that idea. I will say it was tough as hell trying to find singles but maybe if I start looking now I could get it done. Cheers!! 😃🍻
@@donovankelly12 yeah that would be a challenge, at least most of those would be sixers rather than a doz or fifteen! When I was in high school I’m pretty sure Tui only came in slabs of 24 stubbies, but if you asked nicely the pub would cut the box in half for a more manageable quantity! Small towns in the 90s, things were a lot more slack than nowadays.
Oh man don't subject the poor bloke to a Brown Bomber, those are about as rough as NZ Lager
i never buy export gold unless at a bar and its on Tap, same with speights, it makes it so much better on a hot day
I could see myself drinking both on a hot day… like today haha 🍻 cheers
black ice beer, i havent had it for years, forgot what it tastes like but i remember it was the nicest beer i ever tried
Huh. With all do respect, I’m thinking a beer called “black ice beer” is going to be real cheap and strong AF haha doesn’t sound appealing to me but if I see it I will read the can
@@donovankelly12 nah, its a light crisp beer, name doesnt make sense
It's owned by lion co
@@donovankelly12 my old man used to drink ice and black ice! It’s exactly what you think it is 😂 old school farm raised rugby boys sinking it and getting into fights 😂
export gold is usually the go-to for us around my part of the country, but my favourite has got to be pretty much anything Monteith's, tight lines if I had to pick one. I agree with a lot of what you said here, keep up the good content!
Monteith's Summer Ales have been going down a fucking treat up here in the Far North where it's been 30 degrees plus most days
Yeah Monteiths are some of the first ones I tried here, I really enjoy their American pale ale. We checked out the brewery in our “Taste of the West Coast” video. Cheers!!
Export gold yessss!! Classic Steiny gives THE quickest and worst hangover…so different from the Pure.
Haha it’s funny you say that, I feel like I’ve heard this hangover thing a few times now. Export gold coming in with a huge surprise! Cheers Mark 😃🍻
@@donovankelly12 Supposedly its the Green Bullet hops.
That's why they nicknamed them steingrenades as thats what your head felt like the next day - a thumping headache alongside the dry horrors. Lol...
It's the preservatives. Steinlager Pure was created so they could sell beer in Germany as they have a four ingredient rule that Steinlager classic doesn't meet.
All those beers, apart from some Speights are beers I rarely had for 25 years. I prefer the craft beers. I avoid the old brands you tasted because they tend to be too sweet.
Couldn't agree with you more. The craft beer here is something special. I've made multiple that showcase a lot of the local breweries and different festivals, it's been an absolute blast! 🍻
So you’re gay, obviously.
River water Waikato's finest he hit it on the nose
My Dad drank Export Gold when I was a kid so I was allowed some (just like a small amount at the end of course). Needless to say whenever I get beer nowadays I tend to get Export Gold haha. That and its usually cheaper than the more fancy beers.
That’s interesting! I feel like a lot of people tend to not want to drink some of the first beers they tried when they were younger. You’re loyal! Haha
And yes, the price point is quite nice.
I suppose it shows how good the beer is haha
I think the trouble with the review is it should be stipulated that these are:
1 - out of a bottle / can as these vastly change the taste of them as opposed to fresh on tap I.e in the bar (well you'd hope they were fresh and clean haha)
2 - although not overly significant some beers need the proper glassware and pour etc ( aeration can either enhance or dull your initial and overall experience)
Going back to point one, you made a point of saying you didn't think you minded steinlager which made me think..well where did you have the one you didn't mind haha
Anyway still enjoyed it was a fun watch :)
Great comment! You are very right, beer straight from the keg is much more fresh. Better glassware could of been used haha we just worked with what we had
I bought a case in March of last year and that was pretty good. I then had 5 or 6 at the All Blacks game in Dunedin this past August too haha so I enjoy it when I don’t think about it so much.
Thanks for the kind comment, so glad you enjoyed! 😃🍻
Great points! This was more for fun that a proper tasting but absolutely valid. Cheers 🙂
Great description of the Waikato draugh. "Frels loke I've licked the ground and drank water after it"
Awesome video. Love seeing your content on the NZ brewing scene. If you havent checked it out alrwady, try and get your hands on the book "continuous ferment". It is a great history (with spme cool old school pics) of brewing in NZ. Came out at the end of last year.
Thanks a lot, Sam!! I really appreciate that. Thanks for the recommendation, funny enough I’ve had a work mate and a friend both let me know about this recent release so I better get my hands on it!! Cheers 🍻😃
Gotta love a export gold in this summer here ☝️☝️
I did not think I’d be liking that!!
The Waikato comments were great
Haha thanks for saying that, I appreciate it 🍻
I was confused the entire time with the taste notes lol except the Waikato beer lol. That i got
I’m a Steinlager man forever, you should try some of our Rtds next
Glad to hear it! Best beer to drink is the one you enjoy the most.
RTDs eh… that’s interesting. There are A LOT here!
Stein Larger beer actually entered and won the Les Amis du vin award the most prestigious award in the world in 1977 the first time it entered and it won... Then won in 1978, 1979 and 1980 and was asked not to enter ever again
That’s right! I did read that online. Very impressive!
@@donovankelly12 in saying that I have never liked that beer I drink Heineken lol haha!!
Heineken, Carlsberg, Export Gold and Tui is my go to
Her Palette seemed sharp & thought her scores were close
She’s got more knowledge on tasting beer than me, that’s for sure!! Cheers 😃🍻
Thank you, that's such a nice compliment 🥰 I've done Cicerone level 1 and am always trying to expand my palate and learn more!
How do you you know what the ground tastes like though🤨
Waikato is called swamp water here in the Waikato. It is my favorite hahaha. I loved your reaction, it definitely has a dirty flavor.
😂😂 I guess it lives up to it's reputation!
Haha glad you enjoyed it! It’s so crazy to see everyone saying that it’s swamp water haha
We also have Monteith's & tuatara beers which are abit different 😊
We've got something in the works for those beers including a few others! 😉
They are indeed! Thanks for the recommendation, we just featured them in the new video 🍻😃
Not a beer drinker, but dont think you're missing much by not having a double brown...
Haha great to know, thanks a lot for saying that. May have saved me from buying a pack and letting it sit in the sun for a month before trying it.
Brilliant I absolutely love Brittany’s tasting notes. I don’t think we get any of those over here in the UK. Great selection nice one cheers from over the pond 👍🍻
Thanks a lot! I’ll have to check out your channel, Rick. Thanks for watching! 😃🍻
You picked my 3 favs that I've drank? drunk? for many years. So my taste buds were right lul. Tui and Speights as most pubs have at least one on tap. Glad you guys liked the NZ grog and have a very good palate like me :)
Oh cool! Great to know, it’s so interesting having a blind taste test to see what you actually prefer. Thanks for watching, cheers!! 🍻😃
I wanna see you try Speights Summit Ultra now. It has gotten very popular. I wouldn't say many Kiwis are into the low carb option, but I see a lot of people buying summit ultra. A lot of these beers I would consider the good pub drink. Cheaper at the pub to have with some mates. Where as I see a lot of other beers brought to for the fridge at home. Heineken, Corona, Stella etc. Not to say that no one buys NZ beer for home though. One beer I've seen on the rise here is Isbjorn low carb Pilsner. I know not a Kiwi beer but its pretty good.
We tried it once at the brewery after the tour and it was alright. A lot of people in this comment section recommend it. A lot more low carb options here compared to Canada, it’s kinda cool.
Is that the one from the northern most brewery in the world? I think I tried that last week actually
That explains why I've had to start drinking Pilsener Beer these days. I drunk the Steinlager Classic over Xmas and it was ok but not like I remember. Lion Red is one I've bought for a change but didn't like. Export is a decent Beer.
Yeah the export wasn’t too bad at all!! The NZ Pilsners here have been awesome, Emerson’s, Hop Federation, and Eddyline have stood out for sure 🍻
DB Daught is a good drop, as well as most of the monteiths range of beers and the standard Tui IPA
Waikato is gods green nectar 🤤
Haha so glad you enjoy 🍻
Tui was our fave van beer when we were there, but we also like a micro brew called Little Creatures in Auckland. Cheers!
Yeah we went to little creatures in Auckland as well, not a bad spot! 🍻 thanks for watching! 😃
Little creatures is indeed amazing, but it’s Australian.
Australian.
You Gotta try NZs huge range of Craft Beers. Panhead is top tier!
We typically only drink craft beers! This was us finally trying the cheaper beers. We have another video like this coming out soon and we tried Panhead...no spoilers LOL 😉
Just tried some in the new vid! You are not wrong. Thanks for the recommendation 🍻
Mates! Sorry to say that you have now sampled the most common dirty water beers from New Zealand. There is a phenomenal craft beer culture in New Zealand and I would love to see you review a few of those. Perhaps a Tuatara, or a fine Garage Project beer?
Understandable if they are not as easy to source. Just disappointed that this is the forward face of kiwi beer.
Kudos for taking one for the global team though.
Hey Alan! Oh don’t be sorry at all, I’ve made over 20 videos about travelling New Zealand and checking out as many different craft breweries that I can, and the craft beer here is 10/10! You should check those out if you have a minute. Cheers!
im heartbroken steiny classic is my go to lmao
Haha I’m truly sorry. It’s really not as bad as my initial blind taste test, maybe it didn’t help that I had Waikato and Lion red right before…
haha dont be sorry its not for everyone. glad you checked these out though awesome vid!@@donovankelly12
so funny they got the river water!
Steiny Pure is much silky smooth drop then the classic. Nice upload
Thanks a lot!! Appreciate it 😃🍻
Nah you're right Stein'y Pure is wayy better than Classic. And yeah DB Draught is a good classic in NZ. I love that you guys like Speight's it's the pride of the South for over a 100 years, I used to be a Speight's enjoyer when I used to drink.
Yeah the Speights has been solid for us. Had it at the brewery and I’ve bought a case here and there. Really easy to drink and it’s pretty good for the price. 🍻
Waikato drought = river water 😂 so true it's what many of us say
Haha yeah absolutely, a lot of people are saying it that’s for sure!!
If you’re asking for my 0.02c, I think NZ beers are at best average, at worst terrible, and I’m not surprised about the low scores.
I switched to cheap European or Asian beer years ago when the supermarket started stocking it.
And if you’re asking, I think NZ craft beers are rarely worth the money, and usually awfully overpowering with hops. Although I do remember having a lager from Sprig and Fern in Nelson that I like years ago.
I think it’s safe to say we’ve been really impressed with the beer overall. We love the craft beer scene here and have made a lot of videos about that but these particular beers are interesting to me because it’s so different from the Budweiser, Coors, Keith’s, Kokanee, etc. I grew up with.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Couldn't agree more. Bitburger, Krombacher. Why drink low flavour, high sugar when German is all natural full flavor. Even the Chinese do better than Lion or DB.
I was hoping use would do export gold saving the best for last it's definitely an easy an refreshing beer to drink
Glad you enjoy it! I didn’t think I would like it to be honest with you haha
hahahahha a good old classic Steingrenade 🤣
Great review guys, definitely fit double brown in another test sesh, i only say this as i"m drinking it as write this hahaha
Hahah nice. I just had my first DB draught (Not horrible) still gotta try a Double Brown! Thanks for watching 🍻
Read The Waikato Draught more like water from The Waikato River
I could see that! Sounds like a common saying here haha
Ads from the oh really old TV ads
I think the slogan is good on ya mate the voice-over cams in and say speights pride of the south for over 150 years
If you can't tell I'm from the south that is my beer
Now I gota try the Tui Strong haha! And tru I find most of the classic nz brews overly sweet n not much taste. Made to be consumed rather than enjoyed
Yeah the Tui Strong was a surprise for sure! That’s a really interesting take, I can see your point considering most of these are available for purchase in crates, and sometimes they are consumed within 12 hours on the same day…
Thanks for watching! 😃🍻
The Tui Strongs go pretty good, but the Tui bourbons are pretty bloody good too
You really needed Lion Brown to complete the Kiwi Classics. I thought the description of Steinlarger Classic was right on the money. Cheers
Well said, I’ll try and find it at a pub so I don’t have to purchase so many. Thanks for watching!!
I would add Mac’s gold to the list. Went to a bowls club a few months ago the place is frozen in time and they had many on these on offer…
Export used to be the student beer of choice. They also used to do export dry which to me was the best and like a premium version of export.
Macs gold is in Part 2! Drinking one of the leftovers right now haha
Dang, the algorithm got me! I arrived in Auckland this morning and I've had... five beers so far.
Hahah that’s awesome, have a great time 🍻🍻🍻
Tui's are ze BEST!
Steinlager is the best beer I'm sort of disappointed you rated steinlager a two five year beer champions
Hey I'm NZ with export you drink it with fresh Lemon slice
Good to know! I’ll have to try that 🍻
Bavarian Zero-alcohol IPA from Netherlands available in good supermarkets throughout NZ.
Waikato is brewed in Auckland, its not the same from Original Beer, yes the Water matters.
If i lived in Nelson i would do some Gold Panning in the hills,
thats a retirement hobby theme.
Thanks for watching, Greg!! 🍻😃
Drink speights have no mates. The trick with most of those is to have them super chilled to kill off the terrible taste.
Haha yeah I could see that for sure. Thanks for watching 😃🍻
You should try some from our smaller breweries. I’ll happily send you some Panhead and other good beers to try
All good! We’ve been making videos about drinking amazing beer in New Zealand for almost a year now 🍻
I was going to apologies to your tastebuds, but you knew what you were getting into - lol. There really are some diabolical beers in there.
Haha it’s all good fun. You’re not wrong though 😂 cheers 🍻
@@donovankelly12 next time rip into Rheineck, NZ Lager, Ranfurly Draught, DB Draught, Canterbury Draught, Double Brown and Lion Brown
Everyone has different opinions and entitled to them.
Very well said 🍻
I agree with your taste reviews except for Steinlager lol. Having said that, most beer is definitely an acquired taste other than Waikato 😂😂
Haha fair enough. Honestly I had like 6 Steinlagers at the All Blacks game and I didn’t find anything wrong with it, the blind taste test really separated it in the worst way possible haha
I agree totally with your comments, I was so surprised.
Stienlager tastes awful, but the stienlager pure is actually quite nice
I will definitely give it a go! Thanks for watching 😃🍻
Nice?….its putrid, Classic is the one !
Yeah, Pure is average AF. Classic is good if you drink it cold and on a fresh palate. After any other beer it tastes too yeasty.
Lion breweries only make Lion red and adjust the flavour to make Speights and Waikato
Haha that’s an interesting take