In the years I’ve been writing about a beer I’ve lost count of the time people have asked me “what’s you favourite beer?”.

I’ve never really been prepared to stay categorically what my favourite is; in truth it can vary from day to day or even across a night.

As a beer writer and historian about to embark on a second edition of my book Beer Nation – The Art and Heart of Kiwi Beer I thought it was timely to acknowledge what I’m calling our greatest beers. They are not my favourites. They are a mixture of your favourites, those preferred by judges, those that have set a path for others to follow and, yes, some that I like.

To define New Zealand’s 50 Greatest Beers I’ve trawled websites such as Untappd, Ratebeer and Beer Advocate, documented 10 years of Brewers Guild of New Zealand gold medal winners, tried to assess the influence of the beer as well it’s enduring quality. And there’s a hint of personal preference based on many pints.

And one more thing: I’ve restricted any one brewery to a maximum of three entries.

But before we get into the first 10 beers on the list here’s a list of five beers that might have made the list had they still been around!

NZ’s Top-5 retired  beers

Twisted Hop Red Zone Enigma Barley Wine: The story is legendary. Twisted Hop brewer Martin Bennett had a barley wine in the conditioning tank when Christchurch was hit by a huge earthquake in February 2011. The inner city brewery was destroyed and the beer sat in tanks for six months until it was able to be rescued. It soon became a collector’s item – not just for the story but because of the delicious toffee, treacle, cherry, plum bomb of a beer.

Cock and Bull Monk’s Habit: A multi-award winning beer that was prematurely retired when the Cock & Bull chain of pubs was bought by the Nourish Group which ditched a bunch of much-loved beers for those made by Lion. Defying its Belgian-leaning name, this was a 7 per cent IPA bursting with American hops – grapefruit and pine – with an underlying toffee sweetness. It was an industry leader and something of a pre-cursor to Epic’s Armageddon.

Three Boys Aftershock: Three Boys was brewing its well-loved Golden Ale in the weeks after the first September 2010 Christchurch earthquake when an aftershock hit, cutting power and interrupting the brewing process. The brew was improvised to a 7.1 per cent beer (the original quake was 7.1 on the richter scale) and the bottle cap had a piece of smashed brick affixed. The Canterbury Museum’s holds a dozen of these in its earthquake collections.

Pink Elephant Mammoth: Roger Pink’s famed Blenheim brewery became a global icon when Michael Jackson featured him in his Good Beer Guide – alongside Kiwi beers made by Emerson’s and Galbraith’s. Pink’s 7 per cent robust English-style ale was miles ahead of the craft beer curve when it debuted in January 1990 and it stood the test of time. Fruity, toffee, hop-spicy, vinous, malty, warm and generous.

Garage Project Cockswain’s Courage Double-Barreled Edition 2014: I’m including this in retired beers because, as a barrel-aged beer of a certain vintage, once it’s gone, it’s gone. Garage Project may yet bring back another version – and there have been other variants – but for now, this 13.2 per cent bourbon barrel aged beauty takes its place in the archive as just the third beer from New Zealand to win a medal (silver) at the famed World Beer Cup, where only three medals per category are awarded. It stands on a podium alongside Monteith’s Black and Speight’s Triple Hop Pilsner.

New Zealand’s 50 Greatest Beers Nos 50-41

50. Monteith’s Radler – the beer that put the Society of Beer Advocates on map as it helped define beer trademark law (in a bad way) and spawned a heap of knock-offs. For those who don’t know (IPONZ we’re looking at you) radler is a German term for cyclist and the beer style – half beer, half-lemonade – is what said cyclist would consume after a long ride on a hot day. It holds its place in the hall of infamy but remains one of Monteith’s most popular drops.

49. Speight’s Gold Medal Ale – The beer that guided me through the twilight zone between adolesence and adulthood, also known as the university years. At one time I could have recited every word on the label by heart. But it’s also representative of a stable-full of beers including the under-rated Speight’s Old Dark and the World Cup silver medal-winning Triple Hop Pilsner. Speight’s is this country’s most significant and oldest brewery – and one which transformed itself from struggling regional favourite to a national emblem.

48. Tui East India Pale Ale – The beer that gave us the “yeah right” advertisements is reason enough to be in any Kiwi beer hall of fame but this much-loved, though dubiously-labelled, brew also consistently picks up gold medals at the highest level. And the Mangatainoka Brewery has become a landmark in its own right.

47. Sunshine Brewing Gisborne Gold – The beer that launched a craft beer revolution in Wellington. Sunshine is one of New Zealand’s oldest craft breweries and its original founders, Geoff Logan and Gerry Maude, helped make Wellington the craft beer consumption capital with Gizzy Gold, a little beauty full of the East Coast sun, creating waves in the 1990s.

46. Dux de Lux Ginger Tom – Back in the early 1990s when I was living in Christchurch, the Dux de Lux was brewing the likes of Hereford Bitter and a Nor’ Wester Strong Ale. But the Ginger Tom was the beer most people identified with a Christchurch landmark before it was destroyed – taking the recipes with it – in the 2011 earthquake. Ginger Tom remains a unique inspiration for many other ginger-infused beers.

45. Cassel’s Milk Stout – At a time when New Zealand brewers weren’t making this style, Cassel’s led the way with a heart-warming drop best consumed on a winter’s day in front of an open fire. It has become a multi award-winning benchmark brew but also has personal significance as it was the beer I drank while interviewing the Terry McCashin on a cold August afternoon for the first edition of Beer Nation.

44. Bach Brewing Czechmate Pilsner – When Bach Brewing burst on to the scene three years ago with their beautiful labels picturing idyllic New Zealand coastal scenes, this beer (along with Hopsmacker Pale Ale) threw a time loop back to the 1990s as the recipe was based on one developed by Chris O’Leary (now at Emerson’s) when he and Craig Cooper where at Limburg Brewery. Limburg’s Czechmate was an award-winning brew ahead of its time.

43. Harrington’s Big John Special Reserve – Harrington’s has been a flagship brewery for 25 years and one their most enduring beers is the bourbon-barrel aged Scotch Ale named for founder and icon, Big John Harrington. Big John has evolved over the years but it continues to symbolize the West Coast working-class ethic on which Harrington’s was built.

42. Mike’s Mild – Having taken redundancy after working on oil rigs, Mike Johnson used his savings to set up a brewery which kicked into life in September 1989. I first tried Mike’s Mild when I picked up a bottle at what must have been a farmers market in the New Plymouth in the early 1990s, mainly because it was called Mike’s! This biscuit-chocolatey, sweet malt-driven beer remains a flagship brew even though the original Mike is long gone from the brewery.

41. Galbraith’s Bob Hudson’s Bitter – There’s something special about going into Galbraith’s at the top of Mt Eden Rd in Auckland on a wintry afternoon and having a pint of Bob’s on handpull. It is representative of the amazing array of English- and European-inspired beers conjured up Keith Galbraith and his various brewing cohorts over more than two decades.

Next up: Nos 40-31…