Off The Beaten Path: Benediction from New Zealand

G'day! Welcome to the second installment of Off The Beaten Path, where I sample beers from around the world. Although not entirely eschewing European traditions with this installment's beer, we are at least discussing a beverage that was brewed in a different hemisphere, as well as from a country that is not readily associated with beer. From the land that brought us Flight of the Conchords (which is funny) and Dead Alive (which is both disgusting AND funny), we have...a Belgian-style Abbey Ale? Sure, why not: Benediction by Ben Middlemiss Brewing from Waiheke, New Zealand.

Before I give the beer a proper description, I'd like to pass on this interesting tidbit. This beer was selected by Michael Jackson (him, not him) as one of the 10 Most Exciting Beers of the Millennium and was featured at Jackson's gala event at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in good 'ol Philadelphia way back in 2000. However, Benediction hasn't been back in the States since. That is, until 2010. That's this year, in case you haven't been paying attention to current events (is the date a current event? It certainly is current, but it's about as eventful as the sun rising). Without further ado, let's see if Benediction has lived up to its decade old hype.

In New Zealand, Miller Lite pours counterclockwise out of the vortex bottle. Unfortunately, it still tastes like piss-water.

Wherein I Describe The Beer
Benediction is a bottle conditioned beer, orange-brownish in color and slightly murky (which is mostly my fault, as I poorly decanted the beer and got some trub in the glass). It clocks in at around 8.7% ABV. Benediction's aroma first presents the malt with a touch of musty leaf hop aroma, but later gives way to funky cheese and then, unfortunately, a dirty sweat sock. Taste-wise, Benediction has an acidic bite to it (probably from acidulated malt), a slight hop character and an disappointingly light body. Normally you'd see several sentences worth of colorful adjectives describing the beer's taste, but all I can think to write is that this beer tastes bland.

While drinking it, I actually said aloud "How is this beer a Belgian-style ale?" Perhaps the brewer was going for a variation on a dubbel-style beer, but this bottle of Benediction lacked many of the characteristics I would associate with Belgian beer. The aroma was off-putting and the flavors were not present. The bottle's packaging suggest that it would benefit from 4-5 years of aging, and of course this bottle is from 2010. Perhaps with some time the flavors would come through and the sweat sock aroma would mellow back down towards a more pleasing funky cheese scent, but 4-5 years is a long time to wait for something I'm not sure is going to be worth drinking again.

Maybe it WAS this Michael Jackson. I wouldn't necessarily take his advice on good beer.
His advice on fashion? Well, that's a horse of a different color. Nothing but love for the one glove.

The Verdict

• Benediction smells bad and is lacking in flavor. Although this was a very young bottle, I wouldn't wait 4-5 years for another sip. Skip it.
  
• A lot can happen in 10 years. Perhaps this beer has undergone an unfortunate metamorphosis and is no longer the beverage Mr. Jackson sampled all those years ago. Regardless, Benediction hasn't lived up to the hype.
  
• Dead Alive is the best Peter Jackson movie. Better than LoTR. Yeah, I said it.