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Posted on 22/03/21
Oli Meade
I usually group this round up into darks, sours and hoppy beers.
But seeing as so many of my favourite new beers this week were from overseas, let’s try something different.
Ready?
Straight off the bat and claiming headline spot has got to be Equilibrium’s Deviation TIPA. The brewery promises even more juiciness and drinkability than its other TIPAs in this, and they’re not wrong.
Flavours of pineapple, fresh squeezed orange and fruit punch lead the way along with mango, lychee and lime in a big beast of a Triple IPA.
Come on!
And while we’re on the US, who’s in for a bit of Grimm?! Grimm by name, great by nature.
There are a few epic Grimm cans now in stock, but Black Forest is the pick for me. Here you have a dense, rich, cake-like sour, brewed with velvety dark malts, fermented with a mixed culture in oak, then refermented on tart Montmorency cherries, and finally conditioned on cacao.
Make no mistake, this is one very special beer.
Also in from the US are some outstanding brews from New York’s KCBC, including the tongue in cheek Iceberg Zombie Apocalypse Fruited Sour.
Packed to the rafters with strawberry, banana, peach & blackberry, then with just a sprinkle of Vanilla & sweet milk sugar, this is a sour fruit extravaganza.
Dark beer fans, you’re gonna have to get in on Thin Man’s Peanut Butter Jenkins Imperial Stout! This is an 11.7% peanut butter, chocolate, dark caramel & honey impy peanut butter cup in liquid form.
Aaand there’s no way I could close this section without mentioning Barrier. There’s Crowning Achievement BA Imperial Stout on the stout front, but what I especially want to highlight Kickin’ Knowledge: Horchata Style Milkshake IPA.
It’s hopped up with a wicked dose of Mosaic, Motueka and Citra, then finished with Vanilla, Coconut, Cinnamon and milk sugar.
Epic stuff!
There’s only one place to start when discussing the new brews from Europe, and that’s with Stockholm’s Omnipollo.
This is such a highly regarded brewery that just keeps on smashing it out the park. My pick of the new-in Omnipollo’s has got to be Anagram Blueberry Cheesecake Stout.
Comes with a 12% ABV warning.
Save it for the weekend.
If you can resist…
Garage chomp on Omnipollo’s heels this week with Spice DIPA, a DIPA that showcases what Barcelona’s leading brewery can do when given free reign on hop-of-the-moment Strata.
Grapefruit, tropical fruits, pear and wondrous dankness is the answer.
This really is superb stuff.
Then there’s new Kees, with a beer other Olly is a big fan of in the elegantly named Black IPA.
The black IPA is gaining quite a bit of traction at the moment, and this Kees number is about as good as it gets.
Dry hopped with out-there Sorachi Ace, Talus and HBC 472 hops, expect vanilla, coconut and a kinda oaky vibe too.
A new DEYA drop this week included both Saturated in Strata DIPA and Saturated in Simcoe DIPA – both as DEYA as ever, which is to say top drawer stuff.
Strata is hop of the moment right now, but I’m going to go ahead and highlight DEYA’s single-hop Simcoe effort. Murky as hell, juicy as a Sunny D, and tropical like those holidays we all used to go on. Like I say, top-drawer stuff.
Actually, on the subject of hops, hop-heads will surely be interested in Neon Raptor’s Suburban Hercules TIPA. Tropical, coconut-y, not to mention unbelievable value.
Thinking about it, the UK scene for me was all about the hops this week, and I’m gonna go ahead and say Polly’s The Feels Vol. 4 Oat IPA could well be the best hoppy beer I’ve had so far this year.
A juicy mango, pineapple, and tangerine beauty, it’s also brewed with a truckload of oats to make it all soft and fluffy.
Pressure Drop restock too! No, I won’t stop going on about their brews. Not when they’re as good as the ripe & juicy, dank & fruity 7 Crystals For Psychic Abilities & Intuition NE DIPA or the Understanding Whole Systems NEIPA anyway.
7 Crystals For Psychic Abilities & Intuition NE DIPA is the brewery at their best. A ‘ripe and juicy, dank and fruity beauty’ they say – and I couldn’t agree more.
Pastore, meanwhile, delivered the goods as far as sours were concerned. They always do, which is what makes Frutti di Bosco Acido so epic.
This is a pimped up impy version of Waterbeach Weisse, conditioned on raspberry, blackberry and blackcurrant.
One for sour fans, for sure.
And I can’t close this off without mentioning Three Hills’ Kitchen Sink TIPA.
Boozy, juicy, citrusy.
Can you see why I reckon UK brewers went full throttle on the hop-front this week?!
So much more. In fact, I’ve just checked and it looks like we now have more than 650 beers on the site.
It’s madness!
Obviously, I can’t talk about them all here, so just get stuck in and see what takes your fancy.
You might wanna check out the likes of Neon Raptor’s Nothing But Tents NEIPA. Or Left Handed Giant’s Inner State Hazy Pale Ale.
Or if you’ve got a special occasion coming up (or you’ve just sold your first NFT), how about Thin Man’s Life Is But A Dream BA Blended Ale?
Omnipollo entered the hard seltzer game with Neophresco Karpologi Hard Seltzer, Ārpus Brewing sent us Kiwi x Mango x Pineapple Imperial Sour Ale all the way over from Latvia, To Øl introduced us to their Mexican Hot Chocolate Imperial Stout, and Dig heard someone say ‘Mexico’ and pulled out their Cancun Mexican Lager.
It’s all there, all online, all awaiting so get involved!
And finally, as a little preview to everyone who’s made it to the end of the newsletter, we’ve been busy putting together The Choccy Box Beast Craft Beer Box ahead of Easter.
We aren’t saying too much about it just yet but if you wanna secure one early now’s your chance. It’s beery chocolate stuff, at about 20% less than you’d pay if you buy the beers separately. Just keep it to yourself for the time being – we’re not ready to promote it fully just yet!
As always, I hope you get to try some of these epic beers this week.
Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
