Like a barley tsunami, beers from certain countries tend to introduce themselves to Malaysia in waves, crashing into our lives as the best of one country arrive at once. It started with Belgian and German traditional beers, followed quickly by UK traditional and then US and UK craft ales. Since then we've had Scandinavian, Australian and Eastern Europe. But one of the most interesting waves, a few years ago, was from New Zealand, who landed on our shores like an angry pack of hopped up forwards, scrummaging towards our beer glasses.
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Renaissance were the first to arrive; pioneers for NZ craft beer in Malaysia as they had been back home. But their visits were fleeting; a batch here, a batch there. What we needed was, well... an invasion. And that's exactly what we got.
Deep Creek, Behemoth, Parrotdog, 8 Wired, Epic, Tuatara and, of course, Urbanaut, all arrived within quick succession, striding through the saloon doors to enter the bars with a swagger that belied their "new world" status. Big flavours, unique styles and eye-catching designs were backed up by marketing that most companies rarely bothered with in a new market like Malaysia. Deep Creek created a team of ambassadors carrying armfuls of t-shirts, glasses and even umbrellas, all bearing the company's impressive artwork.
Urbanaut landed with a mixture of well produced classic styles and curious ideas like cucumber gozes and taping together two individual beers, like an ale sherbet double dip (remember them?) which could be torn apart and either drank separately or poured together to create a third beer.
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| Urbanaut Beer Blender - The Sherbet Double Dip of the ale world |
But it was their core range of traditional styles which proved most popular. Amongst them, Williamsburg IPA, a straight up, old school IPA; no gimmicks, no bandwagon jumping. Produced using local NZ hops and malts, it has a fresh citrus aroma and earthy hints of grass. It has a bold, bitter flavour with a dry finish; a proper IPA, closer to a traditional UK style than more recent trends. But it's still a big beer at 7.2%, despite it's refreshing nature. Perfect on a hot KL afternoon.
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It's well worth trying any Urbanaut beers when you see them. I have a soft spot for their Brixton Pale Ale, which is also just a great beer on a sunny day.
Are you an Urbanaut fan? Have you tried all the NZ craft arrivals? Let me know which is your favourite.
You can read about other IPAs available in Malaysia, here.
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