Cook Islands (NZ)

9th January 201930th January 2014 by William Adams

Date Consumed: 22nd January 2014
Beer: Matutu Mai Lager
Brewed: Titikaveka, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Size: 330mL
Alcohol Content: 5.0%
Sourced: Matutu Brewery, Titikaveka, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
World Beer Rating: 8/10.
Notes: This bottle of beer was fresh filled from the brewery itself, so fresh it wasn’t even capped! A lovely beer from a hot and humid island. Slightly citrus, a tiny bit malty. Very drinkable, I would pick a few bottles of this up if exported to Australia!

Date Consumed: 21nd January 2014
Beer: Matutu Kiva Pale Ale
Brewed: Titikaveka, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Size: 330mL
Alcohol Content: 5.0%
Sourced: Sunset Resort, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
World Beer Rating: 4/10.
Notes: Not particularly good. Very malty, bready, not really a Pale Ale. Only had one of these, that was enough for me.

Beer! The world's most widely consumed and oldest alcoholic beverage. Such is the importance of beer in modern society that beer is the third most popular drink in the world, behind water and tea. As such, beer is produced in many of the world's countries, with little variation on the ingredients used; water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Despite the simplicity of just four ingredients, there are huge variations in the taste of beer.

Whilst it's true that many countries produce many beers, it is a rather more difficult challenge to consume a beer from every country that produces the stuff. The beer must be brewed in the country of origin and not brewed under license overseas.

This challenge started on 6th March 2011. Each country has it's own blog post. You will often see multiple beer entries in each country. This is because either 1) the original beer was so horrible the country deserves a second chance 2) I picked up a very obscure beer and it deserves to be listed 3) I wanted to review a spectrum of beers over the course.

If you have access to a beer from a country that I have not been able to drink yet, drop me a line at william@wkadams.com and we'll sort out a reward in exchange! I live in London, United Kingdom but started this challenge in Sydney, Australia.