8 Wired Brewing Company- Hopwired IPA: A True Original From Half Way Around The World!
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 6:49PM | by Jason 
Ahh yes, some serenity. Well at least to me. The younger two kids outside chalking up the driveway, the older one hidden away in her room and the wife at school...this is my peace. I figured it was time to throw on the Decemberists new CD, crack a brew and take a brief sabbatical from my new found Google+ addiction. BTW, you can find us there as The Greatest Beer Of All Time. I recently picked up this brew while in Iowa City and it hails from half way around the world from a brewery in New Zealand. To say that I was stoked is an understatement, I love getting my hands on imported Craft Beers. Better yet, it is another IPA that I can add to my list. It will be interesting to see the twist these kiwis put on the style. I for one know I am more than ready to find out if 8 Wired Brewing Company’s Hopwired IPA is worth all my excitement.
8 Wired Brewing Company classifies this brew as an India Pale Ale (IPA) and their website describes Hopwired IPA as, “We're pretty sure HopWired is the first bottled new world India Pale Ale made with NZ grown pale ale malt and 100% unique NZ hops. We bet you'll find nothing else like it on the shelves.
Although there's plenty of malty sweetness, this beer is all about the hops. But unlike an American IPA, which will mainly challenge you with grapefruity and pine-like flavours and aromas, the kiwi hops used in HopWired produce something more like a tropical punchbowl: Passion fruit, limes, oranges and Sauvignon Blanc grapes to name but a few. A local Marlborough winemaker even said it smelled like gooseberries... Gooseberries? When did you last actually smell a gooseberry??
Decide for yourself, or just enjoy it without further complication. Cheers!”
Hopwired IPA pours a dark caramel color with a ½” tan head. The aroma is as they say, passion fruit, grape, orange with some earth hops and it smells more like a fruit juice with a hoppy twist.
By this point I had to switch CDs and I decided to switch to a band that resides a little closer to New Zealand, The Barons of Tang from Australia. Now back to Hopwired IPA, this is a one-of-a-kind, original and kick ass IPA. I have never had anything like it. Hopwired IPA has an earthy flavor that is piney and resinous with a subtle sweetness that forms a most harmonious union of flavor excellence. It is hoppy but not in the sense we are use to in American IPAs, as described, there is a Sauvignon Blanc tannin quality to the flavor which appears in the finish. All I have to say is that I’m highly impressed with Hopwired IPA and the original Kiwi spin put on it by the folks at 8 Wired Brewing Company. I’d tell you to go out and get this beer but according to their website, I can’t find a US distribution lists. I probably shouldn’t be spilling my secrets but I will tell you that I found this one at Dirty John’s in Iowa City. Find it, drink it, fall in love with it. I know I did.
ABV: 7.3%
Consumed: New Belgium Globe Glass
Verdict: Buy A Case
