There are four hops in NZ-Fu!, and not one of them is American. Manilita, Nectaron, Nelson Sauvin, and Peacharine all come from New Zealand, which is the entire premise of the beer and the reason for the name.
North Park Beer Co. is bringing the triple dry-hopped West Coast IPA back to cans on Wednesday at 7.4 percent ABV. The beer has taken gold twice: at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival and again at the 2023 World Beer Cup, both times in the New Zealand-style IPA category.
That category is worth a moment. It exists as a separately judged class at both competitions, which means the New Zealand IPA is no longer a West Coast IPA that happens to use imported hops. It is its own thing, with its own expectations, and NZ-Fu! is being measured against other beers built the same way rather than against San Diego's usual output.
What the hops are doing
Nelson Sauvin is the veteran of the group and the most widely known outside New Zealand. Manilita, Nectaron, and Peacharine are all newer varieties, and the last of those was named for the peach and nectarine character growers found in it.
The tasting notes North Park supplies are unusually specific about the split between nose and palate. Aroma: tropical papaya, watermelon, and white grape. Flavor: vibrant apricot, watermelon, and purple grape.
Two things stand out in that pairing. Grape shows up on both sides but changes color, going from white on the nose to purple on the palate, which is a strange and rather precise way to describe a hop impression shifting as the beer warms in the glass. Watermelon is the one note that stays put through both. For a dry, triple dry-hopped West Coast IPA, that combination would sit well next to something salty off a grill - prawns, or halloumi, or anything that benefits from a beer finishing clean rather than sweet.
North Park suggests it as a beer for after a long day at the black sand beaches, which is a New Zealand reference and, in San Diego in September, an aspirational one.
Cans arrive Wednesday at the taprooms. Pre-orders can be collected in person, and the brewery ships within California.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.