Trying to suss the authenticity of beer brands can be a tricky endeavour in this day and age. Often, what seems to be an independent line is actually owned by a large parent company, and arguably this isn’t ideal, especially if you’re the sort of person who vehemently opposes the notions of globalisation and loss of authenticity.On this note - today’s beer is an interesting one!Its roots stem back to African banana beer which is made from the fermentation of mashed bananas and various grains in central equatorial Africa. Mongozo means cheers in the language of the Chokw people based...

There’s a lot of action these days in the low to no alcohol beer category with new non-alcoholic brews seemingly popping up daily. So where does this leave the session beer?The term is another of those slightly subjective ones (the beer world is riddled with them) and appears to have different boundaries depending on where you are drinking. Generally speaking though, session beers are lower in abv.The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) has these definitions…Session-strength < 4% ABVStandard-strength 4-6% ABVHigh-strength 6-9% ABVVery-high-strength >9% ABV… which makes me realise just how much beer these days is high strength or above, which...

Cheeky by name and age worthy by nature, Tongue in Groove's only ever Clayvin Vineyard Pinot Noir has been released in small volumes as a library release this month and we are thrilled to have it in store now. The 2013 Tongue in Groove Pinot Noir costs RRP $55.99 and is a plush and powerful Pinot Noir from one of the great vineyards, Clayvin. This vineyard was the first hillside site to be planted with grapevines in New Zealand's largest wine region, Marlborough in the early 1990s by Mike Eaton. His visionary viticultural aim was to give grapes an elevated site on which to ripen...

More famous for The Godfather than for blood coloured red wine, Francis Ford Coppola has forged a name for both and this month we have one of his big reds on special. The wine is the 2020 Coppola Zinfandel Diamond Collection, which usually sells for RRP $36.99 and is now on special for $33.99.  Buy here The mysterious origins of this delicious grape were uncovered in 2002 when DNA fingerprinting confirmed that Italy’s Primitivo and the slightly trickier to pronounce, Crljenak Kastelanski, an ancient Croatian variety, are genetically identical to Zinfandel. One grape, three names and innumerable differences in winemaking styles, not to...

Selling Pinot Nero to New Zealand as it is a little like selling coals to you know where (Newcastle, in case you didn't). If it's not putting too fine a point on it, New Zealand is overflowing with good to exceptionally good Pinot Noirs and the shelves in store at Regional Wines definitely have a vast array, but since variety is the spice of life, we have created a new Pinot Noirs of the World section, on the shelves next to red Burgundy.  These wines throw a new light on the PInot Noir theme and are now home to three exceptionally interesting Italian Pinot...