Online

A lot of beer drinkers resorted to online drinking during the coronavirus lockdown and, at the same time, were exposed to the weird and wonderful brews lurking within and otherwise not seen on local shelves.

And there have been great specials with the likes of Renaissance selling 300ml bottles for less than $2 each.

Wellington brewery Kereru has just released a couple of winter warmers that will not be seen down here. The pair, 12% in strength, were aged for 14 months in wooden barrels.

Pie in the Sky is a barley wine which is sonamed because of its winelike strength. This one is infused with black truffles and has hints of sherry, walnuts, chocolate, spices and Christmas cake fruit. There is a lot of aroma with an overlying Marmite character.

Amberine Belgian ale has a toffee aroma and hints of wine and sherry flavour as well as the whisky residue. It is sweet (marshmallow) like a port.

They are not everyone’s cuppa and are more like a fortified wine — to sip rather than quaff — and are the latest in a range of several highalcohol (between 10% and 14%) brews aged in whisky barrels.

They cost between $29 to $50 for a 500ml bottle. Too much for a beer? It is about as much as we pay for a wine in a restaurant ($12$15 for 150ml) and the cost can be shared with a mate or three by treating it like a fortified wine — and at room temperature to allow all the aromas and flavours to escape.

Online is the best way to find these and Kereru’s nearly 30 brews (minimum sixpack which can be mixed). Recommended: Happy Little Trees maple walnut brown ale (5.8%) which, yes, has maple syrup and walnuts in it, but is not sweet.