Review: The Sheriff, The Mayor & Dog Days

Author: James Smith, The Crafty Pint
Original Article published on 16 June 2025

The label notes for White Bay's amber ale The Sheriff pay tribute to the Balmain brewery's "legendary carton wrangler, now ridin' off into the sunset". Given they released a hazy IPA featuring the same comic strip stylings and a gun*-totin', keg-ridin' mayor, one hopes the wrangler wasn't hounded into said sunset. That said, if they were, they've got fine liquid company.

The Sheriff (the beer) nails the amber ale brief. There's plenty of rich toffee and biscuit malts courtesy of a quartet of specialty malts, yet they're delivered with a crispness, plus dark citrus flavours and and spicy bitterness, not to mention a long finish combining both. All while looking very amber.

Companion piece The Mayor goes heavy on a US-NZ hop combo featuring Mosiac, Motueka, Rakau and Superdelic in order to serve up a glass full of juicy as citrus and juicy fruits gum. There's a touch of sweetening toffee malt but not enough to distract from the fruitiness in a beer that sits on the palate as a modern hazy should and isn't noticeably 7.6 percent ABV.

Taking its visual cues from Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's iconic series of paintings, Dog Days could almost be the lovechild of the two. It's a red IPA in which another quartet of toffee-esque specialty malts are set to work alongside another collection of US and NZ hops. It looks as gorgeous in the glass as these beers often do yet presents rather differently to many red IPAs.

Sure, there’s plenty of that rich caramel / toffee sweetness meets citrusy hops, as well as a shot of feisty, lingering bitterness, but there's a less expected top note too: something floral and rose water like, as if they upped the ante, dipping into the kitchen garden to layer an atypical herbal addition alongside the hops.