Garage Project La Calavera Catrina Lager

TASTING NOTES

La Calavera Catrina, The Elegant Skull. The little sister to their original dead head is as blonde as Day of the Dead is dark, but don’t be fooled, she’s no lightweight. Brewed with maize, an ingredient you’d normally associate with much blander lager offerings, Catrina is fired up with an assertive chili heat from a generous addition of Habaneros, and spiked with rose water and yes – watermelon. The result is cheeky, complex and fiery – what more could you want in the Lady of Death? The elegant skull helps us remember that ‘Death brings this neutralizing force; everyone is equal in the end. This was the driving force behind brewing this beer, come celebrate and rejoice in the cycle of life and death.

BREWERY SNAPSHOT

Based in Wellington, NZ, The Garage Project is Pete Gillespie, Jos Ruffell, and Ian Gillespie. When they started out, they were tiny. Garage Project wasn’t even micro brewing; it was a truly nano brewery. When brewing on such a small scale, one can afford to take risks. That suited the guys from Garage Project, always on a quest to try something new. Three years have passed and they’ve grown, but that same ethos still shapes how they do things at the Garage. Whether they’re brewing 50 litres or 2000, they’re still there to take some risks, to have a bit of fun and to try something new.

DID YOU KNOW?

Brewer Pete Gillespie had worked for a decade in English breweries including Brakespear and Hepworth. He moved from Australia to Wellington before launching Garage Project with his brother Ian and a former video game designer, Jos Ruffell.