The RateBeer website was created in 2000 which, in internet terms, was a very long time ago. Founder Bill Buchanan intended it to be a “forum for beer lovers to come together and share their opinions of beer and breweries.” It certainly became that – but probably on a much bigger scale than he imagined at the time.
Thousands of members have now rated and commented on tens of thousands of beers from over 60 countries. Two individual members alone are approaching 20,000 ratings each. RateBeer describes itself as “widely recognized as the most accurate and most-visited source for beer information.”
New Zealand has a small but active group of beer lovers reviewing regularly on the site and a large number of Kiwi beers have been rated. That includes all of the Tuatara range and we thought it would be interesting to see how the RateBeer community ranked our current selection. For each, we have also selected a sample (positive) comment from a reviewer:
Tuatara Pilsner – “It’s pretty hard to find clean, balanced pilsners. This one is perfect, my new #1 for the category. Sampled only in New Zealand several different times.”
Tuatara APA – “Rather nice pale ale, quite fruity in the aroma, with a nice floral kick. Taste is quite nice, rather heavy hops for a pale ale, but I’m not going to complain about more hops! Lemon, orange, apricot and sweet caramel, followed by a nice soft bitter finish.”
Tuatara Ardennes – “Pours a medium white head, with some lacing, over a hazy, golden (SRM 6) body... nose is light pear, apple, tiny bit of banana, slight clove, bit of hop floral... taste is light bitter to start, then bits of clove, allspice enter, becoming light pear, apple, bit of peach, leading to apricot, then a final bitter hop bite to finish.... mouth feel is medium, carbonation high, adding a pleasant spritz. This is a nice example of a Belgian Blond Ale. Initially in both nose and palate, it is reminiscent in some ways of a Pilsner, but then the esters and phenols from the yeast come in to change the direction. A worthy effort is this.”
Tuatara Hefe – “Pours a hazy gold with a fairly large frothy white head. Aroma of banana, clove, wheat, yeast, malt, lemon citrus and a dash of vanilla. Flavour is incredibly consistent with the nose. Smooth, medium-full-bodied, sweet, satisfying, and easy to drink. Nice hefeweizen overall.”
Tuatara Porter – “Large tan head, very dark red/brown porter almost mahogany. Aroma chocolate nice malt and good hops, vanilla caramel touch. Flavour roasted chocolate rich and smooth, yeast, taste, fizz, mild, nourishing porter, dark fruit taste. Finish smooth rich mild bitter and fizz - good porter.”
Tuatara IPA – “This India Pale Ale pours a light orange gold colour from a 33cl bottle. Medium sized white foamy head, with nice lacing. The aroma is biscuit and sweet, floral and herbal. Medium bodied IPA. The malts are caramel and bready, slightly sweet. The hops are herbal and earthy. Decent carbonation. A traditional English style IPA. More malty and somewhat sweeter than an American and maybe even an English IPA. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet with some bitterness in the background.”
Tuatara Helles – “Very light and clear with a very large deep rocky head that shows good carbonation. Crisp zesty citrus aroma with a flavour that is light on the palate with a slightly tart finish and long aftertaste.”
Here are our key observations on the RateBeer conclusions:
- We were somewhat surprised at the Pilsner beating APA even if it was only by a single point. APA is a hugely popular style with the beer aficionados these days.
- One of the biggest positives was the good numbers for Tuatara Hefe. It’s a difficult style to master and wheat beer drinkers are often quite particular about what they like and don’t like.
- The two highest rated Tuatara beers are indeed the two biggest sellers though the rest of the rated order does not reflect sales figures. Helles in particular is much further up the sales list.
- A number of the most recent reviews of Tuatara products were from international tastings, particularly in Australia and America. This is gratifying given recent efforts to move into exporting.
- It was interesting to read how reviewer’s palates differed or perhaps some of our batches differed.
- In the reviews, the grammar and spelling could vary but all the reviewers seem to take their role seriously and we appreciate that.
- A final revelation was that the Alpine Brewing Company in Alpine, California, USA make an APA called Tuatara. They also make an Emerson Lager with both beers using New Zealand hops. Tuatara and Emerson join the colourfully-named Alpine range which includes beers called Ugly, Great, Willy Vanilly, Ichabod, Boris, Ned, Smore and Bad Boy.
Cheers
The team at Tuatara
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