North meets South. Norwegian hops meet New Zealand hops. As far as North of New Zealand goes, that narrows it down to 192 countries and everyone in the world except for some penguins freezing their asses off in Antarctica*. The can depicts what I think are the northern lights, in Antarctica they have a light show too. Is it called the Southern Lights? Of course not, in Antarctica it is simply Aurora Borealis, which translates from Latin as Northern Goddess of Dawn. Bit of a misnomer for a South pole festival of lights , but I am sure the penguins aren’t losing any sleep over it**.
So what happens when you combine Norwegian Kveik hops with New Zealand hops? Well it isn’t the hopfest you might think. This brew poured golden and hazy, with a thin ice cap head and a lighter bottom than top! Aurora Borealis in a glass. The aroma is fresh with a bit of tropical fruit, just a slice not a fruit salad. The taste is mild fruit with bitters, it is different. Not hoppy or zingy but some bitters in the finish. The bitters started to subside and with the fruit it reminded me a grapefruit finish. Fresh bitters. The bigger the swig the better me thinks. My theory*** is that there is the same amount of bitters on the finish so a larger swig means a smaller ratio of bitter to fresh, makes sense to me. My theory rang true as the bitter evolved into a mild hop finish with a mild tropical fruit body. Interesting and refreshing.
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