Oli Meade
This week, a few new brews from the wicked little Spanish craft brewery Garage Beer Co. really caught my attention.
As you’ll see from the list below, there’s a Garage TIPA, a single-hop Garage DIPA and a chewy Garage summer stout that are all outstanding.
Only one place to start this week’s list though: with Pomona Island’s 500th beer.
Pomona Island’s 500th brew This Dynamic Could Go On Indefinitely QIPA is here, and it’s a massive four-hop celebration of Mosaic, Sabro, Citra and Strata!
A huge hoppy beer that tips the scales into Quad IPA territory, expect thick, expect rich, expect juice – it’s Pomona Island after all!
We received so much Garage this week it’s laughable.
Soup IPA is back, then there’s Triple Soup TIPA which is bound to get the headlines, but it’s their single hop series of Citra Face Off DIPA and Mosaic Face Off DIPA that blew me away.
Each of these uses just one hop but is loaded with said hop in four different varietals, added THREE TIMES throughout for a screaming showcase of the Citra and the Mosaic hop in question. My favourite is this Mosaic – pineapple, mango and dank, this is what Mosaic alone can do!
Meanwhile Almasty are back with some corkers, the best of which for my money has to be Sherblato DIPA. Citrus aromas backed up with layer after layer of tropical fruit, it’s what all hop lovers love – a good beer done great.
And I can hardly leave the hop section without mentioning DEYA’s new TIPA. DEYA fans, grab a spoon for this one – fruity, smooth and creamy, DEYA’s DEYA’s Pure Unashamed Luxury Triple IPA is aptly named.
Sour geeks will no doubt be chomping at the bit to get in on the new Sydney-based Wildflower brews, which is why we went out and sourced FIVE their rich wine-like wild beers recently, all waiting for you to get stuck into.
St Abigail White Peach Wild Ale is both my favourite and theirs: mixed ferm, barrel-aged and made with 1100kg of white peaches hand picked from Thornbrook Orchard in Nashdale, NSW.
It’s a vanilla-peach dream with a sherbety, funky peach finish that just goes on. Not cheap, but one hell of a treat.
A week rarely goes by when Pastore don’t come out with something brilliant, and this week that brilliance is Raspberry & Strawberry Waterbeach Weisse.
A mixed fermentation berliner weisse conditioned on raspberries and strawberries, just in time for summer. Yes please!
Now De Struise Brouwers’ 15% Black Damnation X: Double Wood is not for the faint hearted, but as a dark lover I am all over this regardless of the season!
Black as hell, stonking rich and aged on sherry casks! Christmas has come early. What, you want something stronger?! Ardberg whisky barrel aged Black Damnation IX: Beggar’s Art is 18.1%.
Next, Garage’s Into The Long Grass Stout is more of a stout that obeys the seasons, which you may well be grateful for if you’re in on those De Struise monsters!
Roasted malts make for a big, chewy, malty beer that oozes dark chocolate, coffee and chewy biscuit, but somehow ends with a refreshing finish. Beautiful.
Holy Goat’s Foehammer Imperial Stout, meanwhile, does nothing of the sort, instead smacking you in the face with an unashamed Russian Impy stout. Charred and smokey, this is a big, grown up beer.
Finishing the Garage haul this week are their new sours which include Deeply Strange Barcelona Weisse and RV-3004 Fruited Sour. Is there nothing this brewery cannot perfect?!
There’s a wicked Papaya and Mango sour from Almasty too. Even DEYA are in on the action – My Phone’s On Snooze Berliner Weisse is pure, tart raspberry. 3.5%.
BBNo continue their quiet brilliance with new 55 DIPA: Citra & Sabro. New season Citra and Sabro hops make for an intensely juicy, full and creamy tropical trip.
There’s new Polly’s in the form of Circle Foam DIPA, the double dry hopped Petal IPA and Outside The Rumour Mill DDH Pale; Pressure Drop are back with hazy Catamaran NEPA; Lost and Grounded broke convention with their hoppy red ale and check out this border-defying German/US/Greek Triple IPA from three world-class brewers.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
It’s been hop madness once again on the new beer front this week, with QIPAs on top of TIPAs piled on DIPAs piled on IPAs. Some beautiful new pales too – it’s been a bonkers beery bonanza!
Which were best??
I’m glad you asked.
Here are the very best new beers I’ve discovered this week.
Polly’s recent Spectrum range was pure genius, and Polly’s have taken Spectrum TIPA and made it even bigger!
Fleeting Sound Triple Dry Hopped TIPA boasts the brewery’s biggest EVER dry hop bill, and the result is a pure flavour bomb of pink grapefruit, gooseberry and lychee, tangerine, mango and berries. Insane!
There’s only 9 of these in stock at the time of writing – you’ll need to be quick to get in on this one!
Then you’ve got Northern Monk’s new Fresh From The North QIPA 002 – I told you this week was hop madness!
This beast’s giant hop bill is pineapple drowned in pineapple (yep, thats’s how juicy-pineapple laden this thing is), finished with giant squeezes of orange and lime juice, all tossed into a mega fruit salad. Take care – it’s 12.2%.
Next, Howling Hops definitely don’t get as much attention as they deserve, and I’m going to do my best to rectify that by recommending Howling Hops/Floc collab Gentle Storm DIPA as a must-try hoppy beer this week, in a week of very special hoppy beers.
This epic Double IPA leverages on-trend Strata hops to their tropical max, which means you get rolling waves of passionfruit, lime and mango plus a big hit of dank from the mountain of underlying hops.
We all need more beer like this!
Even sour specialists Vault are in on the hop action this week – the wicked OJ IPA combines a huge dose of mandarin juice with Simcoe and Mosaic hops for another of Vault’s famous Sour IPAs.
This incarnation is as thick as a blended bucket of juicy ripe oranges, and about the same colour as your morning OJ too.
Refreshing? You bet. Check this out.
And a mega 21% of Gipsy Hill’s Squashed: Smoked Grapefruit & Rosemary Sour Ale is pure fruit, which gives you a good indication of what you can expect from this!
You’ve got all that fruit paired with a base of beechwood smoked malts too, making this a smokey sour grapefruit spectacle. A lovely hint of rosemary adds a fresh dimension.
Phantom Brewing Co’s Soak Up The Sun Peach & Apricot Sour might be more down the line, but trust me, that doesn’t make it any less special!
What you want when the sun is out is a refreshing and soft fruit sour, and with the sun finally joining us this year this sour – brewed with peach and apricot and a lovely dusting of sweet vanilla – is one you’ll be glad you’ve got up your sleeve.
Left Handed Giant’s Solitude Vanilla Hazelnut & Coffee Milk Stout is back, and it’s better than it’s ever been before! This year, dark wizards LHG have switched up the coffee beans in their silky chocolate ganache milk stout, with New Cut Coffee beans complimenting roasty chocolate malts, then a healthy wave of hazelnut and vanilla finishing things brilliantly.
Northern Monk/Emperor’s Brewery collab Culinary Concepts 2.0 Imperial Banana Cronut Stout isn’t half bad either!
As a 14% pastry stout, there’s mega bite to this oozing pain-au-chocolat of an imperial stout, with peanut, biscoff and cacao nibs all supporting a huge dose of banana puree.
This decadent beer is sweet foam bananas, cased in roasted chocolate malt. A brilliant beer.
Finally, Kernel’s 2021 edition of their eminently popular India Double Porter: Mosaic & Sabro came flying out the blocks this week, new and improved just a you’d expect.
Mosaic & Sabro make for layers of coconut and blueberry, and the strong roasted malts keep the whole thing nice and toasty. This is a great brewer brewing at their very best.
Howling Hops dominate the hop haul this week. On top of the magnificent Gentle Storm DIPA there’s all sorts of hoppy fun to be had, including the smooth pineapple and blueberry tinged Flash Pump DDH Pale Ale.
Sticking with the hops, there’s some wicked new stuff from Arpus just in, including a DDH Galaxy & Vic Secret TIPA. How many times can I say it? This week is slathered in hops!
Amongst the QIPAs, TIPAs and DIPAs, To Øl’s hazy session IPA is a welcome change of pace, as is their Snublejuice Gluten-Free Session IPA. Meanwhile, Brew York’s Calmer Chameleon American Pale Ale is just 3.9% (and perfect for those on a budget – just £2.95 a can).
Gipsy Hill’s First Orders IPA is everything that’s awesome about the craft beer industry – with each can’s QR code you can nominate your local to win a free keg of Hepcat. Gipsy Hill are doing their bit to help pubs out.
Over on the sour front, there’s a Summer Pudding Pastry sour from Pastore. It’s Pastore, so you automatically know is gonna be good.
Fuerst Wiacek are a new-to-CM brewery based in Germany. Berlin, to be exact. Best try their Fuzz Fruited Berliner Weisse, then. They have a decent IPA out too, if you’re interested. Sounds Good Imperial Stout might just be the best of the lot – complete with Pecans & Cocoa and brewed as a To Øl collab.
Northern Monk’s OFS series continues with West Coast DIPA. They’ve also done something special with Death By Strannik Imperial Stout, and their Hazy Rhubarb Shandy proves small beers can come with knock-out flavours.
There’s a cocktail sour from Vault to get to know, Arpus’s Lychee, Passionfruit and Mango Imperial Sour Ale, Left Handed Giant’s latest IPA, a smooth pale from Phantom, plus a trio of unfiltered, refermented Belgian saisons from Belgian family-owned craft brewery Brasserie de Blaugies. You’ve got La Vermontoise, Saison d’Epeautre and La Bière Darbyste. All as refreshing as you can get. Get stuck in!
As always, I hope you get to try some of these new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
It’s bank holiday week this week in the UK… and craft brewers have been pulling out all the stops in anticipation!
TIPAs, Pastry Sours, Bourbon Oaked Milk Stouts… we’ve all got a smorgasbord of wicked new stuff waiting for us this week, so let’s look at some of the very best.
Overtone’s new Crystal Ball TIPAis a bangin Triple IPA from a brewery at the top of their game.
A triple dose of dry hops packs this 11% beast with tropical fruit, plus some serious dankness as things play out!
Next up, I obviously keep a close eye on anything new from Polly’s, and this week We’ve Lost Dancing DDH IPA should be on every beer fan’s radar.
Characteristically hoppy, featuring their trademark pyramid hop from 20kg down to 5kg of Mosaic, Citra, Galaxy and Vic Secret, this is a Down Under/US mash up… you’ve got pithy grapefruit, tangerine, berries, peach, and passionfruit, plus a kinda bubblegum sweetness wrapping things up.
Beautiful stuff.
The stuff DEYA came out with this week is naturally epic, but Other Side IPA is a kinda tribute to DEYA customers following the reopening of their taproom (trust me – I know where they’re coming from!).
Brewed with input from taproom staff, you’d expect this to be a juice monster, and DEYA deliver.
Other Side IPA is for those of us who love DEYA and have supported them throughout the last however many months of madness.
Sour hauls this week should be dominated by Yonder, who’ve smashed it with the triple set of Raspberry Fool Imperial Pastry Sour, Gooseberry Fool Imperial Pastry Sour and Rhubarb Fool Imperial Pastry Sour.
It’s impossible to choose between these sharp, sweet and velvet-smooth gems. Best to do the sensible thing and collect the full set…
Neon Raptor Passing Piranhas Brambleberry Lassi Gose!
Thick, sweet and sour, and packed with raspberries and blackberries, this beer pours as a crimson gloop you’d mistake for a smoothie – get involved!
And I know it’s not technically a sour, but Brew York’s The Mangolorian Mango & Lime Milkshake IPA deserves some praise!
Super juicy with tonnes of mango and lime, then finished with lashings of vanilla to keep things creamy and smooth, this is the kind of quality you want for the Bank Holiday Weekend!
On the dark front, Overtone’s Dusty Miller is back!
The original brew was basically Ice Cream in a can, and the latest incarnation is just as good. Expect vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, vanilla syrup and malted milk.
Overtone are going from strength to strength.
Then checkout that set from Sussex Small Batch!
Inside those four wicked cans above you’ve got the Salted Caramel Chocolate Stout, you’ve got the Ruffles White Stout, you’ve got the White Mocha Stout, then there’s the Zucotto Stout.
Fans of the series, get reacquainted. Those new to SSB fill your boots – they’re all decent but if you have to choose just one then… I dunno… can you really say no to the salted caramel chocolate?!
Last but not least, I was impressed by the new beers from new (to CM at least) brewery Up Front this week, and there’s a big impy Passionfruit Gose and a big-hitting IPA (hopped with Citra, Mosaic & Strata, no less) to get stuck in to, but Up Front’s Bourbon Oaked Imperial Milk Stout really is a gem.
This is like a boozy layer cake, with layer after layer of coconut, bourbon and sweet cream, all topped off with sticky Tongan vanilla bean icing. Oh yeah!
S43 continue reminding us not to take beer too seriously with their Imp Bizkit Imperial Biscoff Pastry Stout, a brew with no less than 20kg of biscuits in the mash.
Too sweet for ya?
Well, Dog’s Grandad impressed with their Black IPA – all the malty roastiness but with a nice hop hit. Talking of hops, Pressure Drop continued to show what they can do with Lunar Park NEIPA. “Dream. Hop. Combo.”, they say. You be the judge.
Pressure Drop are far from a one-trick pony, mind, as the sessionable Ida Raspberry & Basil Sour proves. At 7%, Overtone’s Boogie Nights Sour has more bang, while Track’s Past In Present Raspberry, Strawberry & Blueberry Sour sits somewhere in the middle.
New in the Northern Monk OFS series is OFS037 West Coast IPA. It’s not as experimental as some of NM’s other OFS stuff, but fans of West Coast IPAs will want to check out what NM have done here. Those that are loving the experimental OFS beers can get in on OFS038 Californian Common, a kind of biscuity, malty, lager-esque treat.
Overtone have also released something for lager fans in Kolschella Kolsch, while Little Monster joined in the fun with Finding Ways Köln-Style Lager. Craft lager is on the up!
Ending on the hop front, be sure to check out the new-in hop drops from Overtone, there’s new hoppy stuff from Boxcar, you’ve got hoppy Little Monster stuff to explore, DEYA I’ve already mentioned, Polly’s, and let’s not forget Neon Raptor’s How Do You Sleep At Night? DIPA.
Ha – I was worried I wouldn’t have enough to talk about this week. What do you reckon? A valid concern?!
Hope you get to try some of these new beers this week. As ever, cheers & happy drinking.
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
This week, in my roundup of the best new beers out, yeah, I highlight some wicked new beers from brewers here in the UK. But why stop there?!
With so much exciting brewing going on state side right now, it seems only right to discuss beers from further afield. So this week, get ready to meet some of the best beers coming out of the USA right now, starting with…
Equilibrium hit us with… like… 5 new hoppy treats this week, the majority of which were DIPAs, and a strong contender for best of the bunch has to be the new Equilibrium Solar Fluctuation DIPA.
Equilibrium are known for being experimental, and onto a malt base of flaked oats and wheat they poured a hefty mix of both classic and out-there hops to make up Solar Fluctuation. The resulting brew is packed full of citrus, passionfruit, melon, and pear. Fruity-hoppy sophistication… bleeding wicked stuff!
New-to-CM brewery Sloop deserve much praise for the two hoppy heavyweights they came over with this week.
Cashmere Bomb is more your classic juicy number, while Not In My Dojo is of the same ilk with but with twists. In the latter, there’s oats in the body for that soft mouthfeel, and then lime zest and lychee and – boom! – sweet, candied ginger.
Not only it Grimm’s Zonk TIPA a beautifully hopped up TIPA, it’s also TRIPLE dry hopped, guaranteeing an extra dose of hoppy goodness!
The juicy hops we all love are all on display – you’ve got mosaic, you’ve got simcoe, there’s your citra and truck load of galaxy. Flavour-wise, this is an epic melon-strawberry medley with a big, oily dankness to boot.
Sours are what New York’s KCBC guys do best, and bust into KCBC’s Snackin’ Kracken Sour and in just one sip you’ll see what all the fuss is about!
Packed with raspberry, tart cherry, apricot & plum, you have to wonder how the hell they manage to squeeze so much fruity goodness into one epic, epic can.
It’s such a tough call to say which of Untitled Art’s just-in brews is the stand out, but Yuzu Raspberry Sherbet Sour really is immense.
It’s a Berliner deep down, only electrified through Yuzu Lime, Sour Raspberries, Sweet Vanilla, and Milk Sugar.
Sherbet is the perfect word.
Breaking away from the US for a bit, you might wanna check out Anspach & Hobday’s quietly brilliant Pineapple Gose.
100kg of pineapple juice combined with the intense fruitiness of Bru-1 hops is responsible for the lashings of pineapple, then coriander seeds give it this sweet spice, and a little sprinkle of salt seals the deal.
At 3.6%, it’s nice and sessionable. Oh, and the price point? £3.50 a can!!
You just cannot go wrong with any of the FIVE chapters of Brew York’s Freaky Franchise! Each brew tells one chapter of a running story, each is brewed as a collab with one of Brew York’s favourite breweries, and you could really do much worse than collect the full set.
This Amundsen collab is as good as any. A New Beginning Imperial Milk Stout is a coffee and blueberry chocolate pancake stout, and it’s as immense as you’d expect. (Take care – Chapter 3 reaches a mega 15%!)
Talking of Amundsen, the dark beer legends are back at their best this week with Depths Of Perception Imperial Pastry White Breakfast Stout.
There’s something about a white stout that’s just pure magic… and when you find one, first, by Amundsen, and, second, laced with vanilla-cinnamon-chocolate-coffee, well, you know how good it’s gonna be!
Finally on the stout front, Neon Raptor released their 13% Abandoned Dragons Maple and Hazelnut Imperial Stout to basically everyone’s delight recently, and it has all the characteristics of a massive NR stout you’d expect.
This gem is rich, it’s dark, it’s sweet and it’s sticky.
A mega hazelnut and maple mix make this, once again, an outstanding brew.
On the subject of Neon Raptor, Bananas Foster Stout is what happened when Neon Raptor met Untitled Art. Very limited in quantity – if you want one of these, be quick. (There’s also Untitled Art’s Black Forest Cake Smoothie Stout if you fancy the double.)
While KCBC might be best known for their sours, The Ravenmaster Imperial Stout, Superhero Sidekicks IPA and This Is Your Brain On Hops IPA prove they know what they’re doing across the board. Plus, This Is Your Brain On Hops surely wins props for a wicked name.
Anspach & Hobday’s The 2nd Variant IPA, though, is equally brilliantly named. What happens when you take the two most wine-like hops going and cram them into one IPA? This winey-gooseberry IPA is the welcome answer.
There’s the usual fresh-as-a-daisy update on the Verdant and Polly’s front this week so rummage around to see what takes your fancy. You know you’re in for a juice-fest on the hop front, but you might also wanna check out Verdant’s Dropped Limb saison while it’s fresh – it’s Verdant pushing themselves into new brewing frontiers. Need I say more?!
That said, Alpha Delta’s Vesta Spectrum NEIPA rivals pretty much anything on the juice front this week. Super low bitterness too, keeping things drinkable.
If it’s drinkability you’re after, Jeffersons Interfusion Fruited Gose With Raspberry & Lactose is on hand. A sour that’s not lip-smacking or eye-watering, with lactose for a velvety mouthfeel. And if you like the sound of that, you’ll probably want to move on to Double Fusion Double Raspberry Gose at some stage.
Amundsen’s Tropical Rush Rider Sour is just as fruity, but with more sweetness, while In Cafruits #5 Apricot, Raspberry & Plum Crumble Sour is sweeter still.
There’s new hoppy stuff from the always excellent Left Handed Giant, including Directional Dance Hazy DIPA. There’s a wicked new Double-Barrelled pale, here’s you’re pilsner fix and Untitled Art finish the stack with their Black Cherry Hard Seltzer.
Really hope you get to try some of these new brews this week. Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
After a subdued week last week, this week’s new beer releases have pretty much been the polar opposite!
A mega drop from Maltgarden! New hops from DEYA! Verdant! Polly’s!
An epic sours haul, and barrel-aged goodness over on the dark front… all in one good week of new beer releases.
The only question is, in this week’s roundup, where do I begin?!
Oh yeah – with something pretty special from Northern Monk…
If you’re going to try just one beer this week, you could do a lot worse than make it Northern Monk’s The Pilgrimage TIPA.
Wicked can art thanks to a collab with the street artist Smug One. A base loaded with oats and wheat, double-mashed for a sugar-laden, rich, silky wort, then hopped up with Idaho 7, T90, Citra Cryo and Incognito.
Truly tropical, think mango, pineapple, papaya and orange and you’re along the right lines. A 10% belter. Great work!
Meanwhile, everyone’s favourite Cheltenham-based juice-pilots DEYA have teamed up with brewery of equal prestige Wylam for a wicked new fruity DIPA!
DEYA / Wylam’s Suitable Fruit Mirage DIPA… well, it’s all in the name, innit? Juicy and intense, expertly balanced, another belter from two breweries at the top of their game!
And finally on the hop front this week, I’m recommending Track’s To Live Is To Fly Gold Top DIPA.
Extra pale jumbo oats, flaked and malted wheat plus a big hit of lactose make this unbelievably soft. Citra, Taiheke and Eclipse all bring the joose – expect guava, peach and mango, all intermingling in the soft, smoothy and pillowy, velvet goodness. Yes!
Vault’s Key Lime Pie tops the sour bill this week. So rich you could cut it with a knife, Vault reckon, which is an accurate description, with a zing factor reminiscent of a barrel of Tangfastics.
Hello Maltgarden! As well as coming out with a host of new DDH hop-offerings (check out the hazy – you won’t regret it), Maltgarden have launched a series of serious sour sensations!
Pick of the bunch is First Level Poetry Pastry Sour, a double fruited pastry sour. With raspberry. And strawberry. And blueberry. And marshmallow. Yes! Sweet and sour and sensational from a brewery you need to check out.
I also gathered up a big old haul from BBNo this week – including some great IPAs, lagers and whatnot, and I can tell you now BBNo’s 19 Solaro Gose should definitely be on your repertoire this week.
BBNo have swung to recreate the fabled summer ice-cream here, smashing it out the park!
This beer has it all – a smooth, sweet and saline, triple-fruited sour sorbet filled with mango, guava and passion fruit. And the colour on this – toxic waste orange! It’s the shade Donald Trump wishes he was.
Above, my friends, is none other than Maltgarden’s special dark to celebrate the brewery’s 2nd birthday!
Maltgarden are first and foremost dark geniuses, and Funky Garden Vol.8 Imperial Pastry Stout proves as much. First off, the numbers. 10.3%. As is customary, 500ml.
Munch your way through this chocolate, coconut, caramel, cinnamon & coffee birthday cake stout, dusted off with a sprinkle of vanilla. It might not be the traditional season for darks, but this is a dark you don’t want to miss.
Double-Barrelled’s Reach Imperial Stout is an espresso martini inspired beer and, at 12%, pretty much just as strong!
Indulgent, sweet and silky, it’s a celebration of coffee. Made with specialist coffee roasted by Girls Who Grind. Plus, a charitable donation with every purchase.
Finally on the dark front, I had to make a call between the serious new Belgian Tripel just out, and something altogether more bonkers… and on this occasion the child in me has chosen S43 Brewery’s Imperial Coconut Snowball Pastry Stout as victor!
You remember those coconut snowballs you used to get as a kid? Milky chocolate casing, topped with coconut, that cracked to give way to sweet vanilla marshmallow underneath? That’s what you have here… a brilliant fun beer.
On top of all the above, this week saw more fun from S43 in the forms of Pineapple Upside Down Milkshake IPA and their Cherry Bakewell Pastry Sour. S43 are developing a following for their madness. The interesting thing is, the brewing is actually first-rate.
I’ve already mentioned I gathered up a load more of the ever-popular BBNo’s latest offerings this week, supplementing 19 Solero Gose with 19 Pina Colada Gose and also 05 West Coast IPA and even 30 Organic Lager. Fill up.
Verdant joined the lager charge this week too, with Helles… plus Cornwall’s finest treated us to Sniffing the Wrong People IPA (which is receiving rave reviews), and there’s a restock of some trusty favourites including Fruit Car Sight Exhibition DIPA mark 3 and Even Sharks Need Water IPA.
The customary new Polly’s drop is in so, fans, have a scout around, and be sure to check out Totally Not Enormous DDH IPA when you do – the number of hop varietals on offer is bonkers, even by Polly’s standards.
That other hop stalwart Burnt Mill has come back with their unique takes on, first, the West Coast Pale in Grapefruit Bitter Falls, and also the West Coast IPA Skärgård. A much-loved brewery that know what they’re doing.
There’s a banana-clove Hefeweizen from Double-Barrelled, there’s St. Mars of the Desert’s Raspberry Fruit Stingo, tons of Drop Project including Sliced Triple Fruited Sour, an upmarket smokey Barrel-Aged Peated Imperial Stout from Kees, Pastore’s Passionfruit & Guava Waterbeach Weisse is a delicate 3.8%, and remember that Beligan Tripel I mentioned?
Kleinbrouwerij De Glazen Toren’s Ondineke Oilsjtersen Tripel showcases proper, grown-up, new frontier brewing.
Really hope you get to try some of these brews this week. I’ll be able to get orders in the post marked next day delivery so long as they’re placed by 1pm.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
This week, there’s a Triple IPA I need to tell you about that’s as keenly priced as a Triple IPA has ever been. If you’re yet to get in on the TIPAs, you need this in your life!
There’s also a banging Imperial sour from Polly’s, and a Salted Maple & Pecan Fudge Stout from everyone’s favourite island-based funsters. So when you’re ready, let’s begin!
A new West Coast IPA from the hop masters Polly’s!
Polly’s have brought their unique magic to a style we all already love, ‘pyramid’ hopping Monstercat with progressively smaller amounts of Simcoe, Chinook, and Columbus hops. The technique allows each hop to shine. What it all means in taste terms is a dank murk monster full of resinous, piney, earthy notes. Oh yeah!
Elsewhere, Gispy Hill, after becoming employee owned, brewed up some wicked specials to mark the occasion.
Employee Owned IPA is the commemorative number, but there’s also their Big Baller TIPA to sink your teeth into – complete with huge juicy, tropical flavours and a smooth, pillowy mouthfeel.
Pressure Drop’s Karate NEIPA is of the same ilk as the above, albeit with a dialled down ABV. Karate is an amalgamation of Idaho-7 & Citra hops, which makes for a juicy overripe mango & luscious pineapple NEIPA, complete with a touch of orangey citrus.
Again, lovely and soft. Hop magic.
We all know what Polly’s can do in the hop arena, so it’s awesome to see them experimenting outside of their comfort zone… especially when the results are as epic as Tidal Reveals Peach & Apricot Imperial Gose!
The peach and apricot are deliberate choices, to reflect the sweeter notes you’d likely find in a Polly’s hop bomb, but then they’re expertly soured to balance the sweetness. A healthy dose of local sea salt wraps things up – wicked stuff.
Our newly employee-owned neighbours Gipsy Hill, meanwhile, also came out with a special sour this week in the form of Squashed: Lychee, Gooseberry & Elderflower Sour.
A gloves off, gung-ho, no-holds-barred approach eventually saw 22% of the whole bleedin can as pure fruit here! And outstandingly assembled fruit it is.
Layers of lychee, then waves of gooseberry, then a smattering of elderflower.
This is one you’ll want for summer days.
On the subject of summer, rising stars Beak have teamed up with Forest & Main to produce Cliff Saison.
Wheat and pilsner malts are a traditional nod; the truckload of Saaz and Motueka hops are most definitely not.
Complex, slightly tart with a touch of apple, it’s clean, dry and very, very drinkable.
Let’s all just take a second to appreciate Pomona Island’s wonderful Mr Moustache Imperial Salted Maple And Pecan Fudge Stout, pictured above, shall we? Salted, sweet, nutty & indulgent, it’s everything you could ever want from a fudge stout and more.
‘I’m not proud’, say the brewery of drinking such a beer.
And that is where they and I differ.
Pressure Drop’s Choice Of Dessert Choco Banana Imperial Milk Stout, of course, is a banana split of a dessert stout that’s silky smooth, creamy, rich, loaded with banana and cacao. It’s already made a name for itself. Even non-stout drinkers are drawn in. Incredibly given the flavour profile, this baby contains no artificial flavourings whatsoever.
If you’re tempted by any of the above, good news!
We recently moved warehouse – which means I can now get all orders placed before 1pm in the post marked next working day delivery. Delivery is free on orders over £60.
So I hope I can send you some of these soon!
Cheers & happy drinking as always,
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
When a beer’s called Gooey & Nutty and has a big old Snickers bar on the front, can you really turn it down?!
Or what about when a beer is labelled a Candy IPA?
Peppered amongst the innovative this week there’s also the tropical fruit cocktails and lip-smacking sours we all know and love, so let’s dive in!
No surprises a new DEYA DIPA tops the list this week! DEYA hit the world with their two new DIPAs, As I Walked Out One Spring Morning DIPA and Swam The Straights Of Johor DIPA.
For me, Swam The Straights just about edges it I reckon… calling on Southern Hemisphere hops Nelson, Motueka & Vic Secret for a juicy, clean and delicious Double IPA.
None of us can ever get enough Verdant, who just seem to add to their outstanding range with new brilliance every time.
Dipper’s Delight DIPA is the latest Verdant I’ve been enjoying, it’s creamy, it’s tropical, it’s piney, it’s epic.
Keep Left DIPA, meanwhile, is already adored by all, thick and smooth mango-pineapple vibes meld into dankness.
Boxcar deserve some love for their hop-forward creations this month, particularly Lupulin Candy IPA.
They’ve used the hop currently named HBC 630 here, which has been described as supplementing tropical fruit concoctions with cherry candy notes. (If that sounds too out there, Citra Meditations DIPA celebrates a much more established hop.)
Have you introduced yourself to 360° Brewing just yet?
From their base down in Sussex they’ve brewed up two identical NEIPAs with just one difference – the yeast.
Mor Mist NEIPA is fermented with a yeast called Verdant, from a little brewery you may have heard of based down in Cornwall. London Fog is fermented with well… London Fog!
Reasonably priced, grab em both to see the difference yeast can make. (And I know it’s technically the hops section, but fair play to 360 for championing Best Bitter too!).
Welcome back Vault City, who have made my April with Blueberry Lemon Drizzle Sour!
A rich, sweet blueberry frosting opening is balanced by zingy lemon acidity – lemon drizzle cake style. (Apple Cranberry Vanilla Sour isn’t bad, either.)
And is it just me, or have Pomona Island reached a point where their sours outpunch their hops?! Don’t get me wrong, the latest Ibuki Sorachi Ace and Yuzu DIPA is better than it’s ever been. But if you’ve only got time for one beer and you have Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes I Do Rhubarb Sour available, can you really turn the rhubarb sour down?!
Danish powerhouse To Øl has realised the fun to be had in sours it seems, as their new Mammamamma Double Strawberry Cheesecake Berliner Weisse testifies. As well as the strawberry cheesecake face-full, the colour of this is just glorious. Really well priced for the quality too.
The early May bank holiday, thankfully, hasn’t put Northern Monk off brewing dark decadence, because OFS036 Sweet Decadent Stout is glorious.
Rich, dark, cacao-laced liquid conditioned on brazil nuts, Fazenda Rainha de Paz coffee, flaked coconut and luxury cacao nibs makes for a silky smooth celebration of Brazilian ingredients.
Along with a truckload of To Øl this week arrived Lauters of Magnitude, brewed with real maple syrup and cold brewed coffee.
Heaps of oats make for a thick mousse-like foam with a velvet soft mouthfeel, milk sugar dials up the creaminess and maple syrup adds subtle sweet maple to balance the layers of cold-brewed coffee. Mega!
Yes, Seven Island’s Gooey & Nutty imperial pastry stout with peanut butter, chocolate, butterscotch and toffee, isn’t as suave. But craft beer is fun, and fun is exactly what Gooey & Nutty is!
If you’re picking up To Øl’s sour and dark, rest assured there are hoppy numbers awaiting too. A good tip is Clearly Opaque West Coast IPA, which showcases what this brewery can do with a much-loved style. There’s even a Pils. Collect the whole set?!
There’s a load of new stuff from Germany’s Frau Gruber just online too, including a DDH IPA, the collab with Dry & Bitter Trading Places DIPA and even a well hopped Helles.
Big shout out to new Bristol-based brewery Newtown Park, who are definitely worth checking out. Expect fruity IPAs and pales in Always In Motion Is The Future (love the can art) and Five Point Six IPA. Oat & rye infused Shape The Future Pale Ale is nonconformist.
I continue to champion our South London neighbours Brick, whose brews always smash people’s expectations. Hibiscus Tea & Lychee Sour shows off Brick’s experimental side. West Coast IPA: Chinook & Columbus shows what they can do when armed with hops. Sabro Pale proves they know how to tropical.
There’s bound to be stuff I’ve missed this week but that’s the beauty of it – dive on in and see what you can find!
Northern Monk’s Berliner Weisse awaits.
As does their Fruited IPA.
Or how about their CBD-infused Green Heathen CBD NEIPA??
Hope you have fun working through a few new beers this long weekend.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Hope you get to try some of these wicked beers this week. As always, stay safe out there.
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
Mother Earth’s Cali Creamin’ Creamsicle and the same brewery’s Imperial Salted Caramel Oatmeal Stout are going to be of interest. But Polly’s experimenting with liquid hops?! To produce a Quadruple IPA?!!
There is, clearly, only one place to start the list this week. So let’s go!
Polly’s have always been at the forefront of great brewing, and their experiment with liquid hops has added a level of complexity to their new Spectrum range that even Polly’s have never been able to achieve before now.
There’s a IPA, a DIPA, a TIPA and even a fabled QIPA to tuck into! Only 6 of each in stock. Seriously limited.
But, if you’re quick, you can collect the whole set.
Update: Spectrum sets are now sold out. For notifications every time we get good stuff in, jump on our newsletter.
We welcomed new brewery Belching Beaver to our shelves this week, all the way from Californ-I-A (sorry).
The sexy can-art on the Deftones-inspired Phantom Bride IPA is a decent indication of the quality inside. A four hop mega-blend of Amarillo, Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic hops dial up the citrus, hoppy goodness. Want more fruit? Well, then check out Here Comes Mango IPA.
Track’s brew Down Is The New Up IPA has been going down a treat this week, with its supposedly ‘simple’ malt bill of extra pale, wheat, oats and pale rye for a delicate mouthfeel, then fistfuls of kiwi, lime, orange, white grapes and even sweet honeysuckle on the finish!
While I was busy restocking Verdant’s Allen and Ceiling this week (both glorious, obviously), I thought I’d take a ‘chance’ on new Verdant brews Horizon Balance IPA and Enjoy the Uncertainty IPA. It’s official. Verdant are a brewery that can do no wrong.
Horizon Balance IPA was probably my favourite. It’s super pale with a light, creamy body, packed with pineapple, orange and our old favourite grapefruit resin.
Oh my word, Polly’s have not only smashed it with the Spectrum range, but while they were at it created this week’s hands down best darks in The Rivalità Russian Imperial Stout.
I wasn’t too bothered about trying this tbh, it just seems so down the line, but crack it and wait as it slowly seduces you with layer after layer of roasted coffee, dark fruits, and rich dark chocolate.
Rivalità has a beautifully sweet edge and aftertaste, yet no adjuncts. Incredible.
Mother Earth are a US brewery that caught my attention this week when I spotted their special 4Seasons: Winter ’20 BA Nitro Imperial Mocha Stout and then their Imperial Salted Caramel Oatmeal Stout.
Yeah, maybe a bit out of season, but an 11.2% barrel-aged salted caramel oatmeal stout?! I couldn’t say no!
I’ve also been enamoured by Belching Beaver’s dark classic Peanut Butter Milk Stout this week. Awards might not always indicate quality, but this has received no fewer than 13 since its inception… which surely says something.
Then there’s Viva La Beaver Mexican Chocolate Peanut Butter Milk Stout from the same brewery – which takes the beauty of the classic to even more experimental heights!
Is ‘other’ a good word?!
Probably not, but when you’re starting out with Mother Earth’s Cali Creamin’ Creamsicle Cream Ale it seems entirely appropriate.
Here you’ve got hints of vanilla and a citrusy creaminess that’s sweet yet refreshing all at the same time – it’s mad!
Yonder never fail on the sour front, and this week their Self Care Plum & Violet Sour has rightly been turning heads.
Remember parma violets? Mix those with fizzers and you’ve got this beer.
Lager fans, rejoice! We may be underserved in craft circles, but Burning Sky’s Luppolo Pils is absolution in a can!
This is brewed with classic pilsner malts but packed to the rafters with German hops for a truly modern take on a forgotten classic. Fermented cold then dry hopped and lagered for an extended period, you get a big hop punch, yet refreshment with a clean, crisp finish.
On the subject of lagers, Yonder/Donzoko’s Sundial Foraged Lager is worth a peak. Brewed with wild Somerset nettles, which are apparently a close biological relative to hops. Add to the list Dry & Bitter’s Bob Helles Bock and suddenly lagers are looking somewhat special. Could 2021 finally be the craft lager year?!
Back over in staple craft-land, Howling Hops’ Single Hopped Triple Citra DIPA is magnificent. I wonder if they sell them on the sea shore?
Wylam’s Sticky Bud is back, and is as dank as it has ever been. Plus Pressure Drop are in with new trio Welcoming Committee NEIPA, Invisible Audience NEIPA and Rocks Rivers Trees West Coast IPA.
Polly’s might eschew adjuncts, but you can be sure Amundsen don’t. Root Of Darkness, Wired and Cereal Killer are all gloriously big and boozy decadent dark beers. Come to think of it, LHG’s Feels Like Heaven Chocolate, Vanilla & Walnut Stout might be dialled down but it’s of the same ilk.
Finally, if you do manage to bag Polly’s Spectrum QIPA this week, you may well be interested in the alcohol-free goodness of Lowtide for balance – DIPA Toe in is the juiciest of the lot.
Hope you get to try some of these wicked beers this week. As always, stay safe out there.
Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
DEYA, Polly’s and Beak are all usual suspects, granted.
But a smoked pineapple sour from Alvinne?
A double barrel-aged cross between a Belgian strong dark ale and a sweet impy stout?
Or how about a ‘cookie sandwich beer’ from a brewery in Romania?!
Rejoice! For, once again, these are the best new craft beers of the week…
After taking in a seriously sexy DEYA haul this week, I couldn’t resist cracking a can of Illusion IPA more or less straight off the bat!
Illusion is one of DEYA’s cleaner numbers, full of luscious fruity goodness. But there’s definitely a biscuity vibe going on too. When we’re flip-flopping between sun and snow, this is a beer you want on hand.
Where DEYA dominates clean, Polly’s provide the muuuurk!
Holy Ghost Love DDH IPA is part of the Polly’s next-gen hoppy line, with a mammoth 50kg of Sabro, Galaxy and Simcoe in the dry hop for mango, pineapple and nectarine.
Thick, pulpy, juicy, wonderfully hopped-up stuff.
Beak, meanwhile, are developing a rep for their outstanidng soft and creamy pales, the latest of which, Jot Pale Ale, is as brilliant as ever.
Brewed with ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ amounts of flaked and malted oats, it’s a creamy, silky smooth gem, with flavours of apricot, pine and grapefruit.
Our last Alvinne intake went down a treat, so I went and bagged a load more this week, and as I’ve saddled myself with the arduous task of picking a favourite maybe Phi Smoked Pineapple Sour just about edges it.
It’s a lively 8% number, soured then softened with fresh smoked pineapple. Wicked stuff – as is the entire Alvinne range.
Vault City are back with something mega – it’s only a bleeding mash up of two of their biggest beers!
Pies In The Skies is a Strawberry Skies and Double Crust Raspberry Pie collision. Combining the two you get a strawberry and raspberry packed monster with a crusty pastry-like casing.
Delicious.
My final sour hero-worship this week is reserved for Triple Fruited Mango Gose from North. It’s always popular, and it’s back in time for the (sporadic) spring sunshine!
Nothing but thick pulpy mango going on here, with two types of mango (kalamansi and totapuri) poured in. They bring a beutiful juicy, soft and sweet side to North’s signature salty gose-y goodness.
Heeding mounting hype we ordered in a load of new darks from Belgian brewery Struise this week, which turned out to be one of our better decisions. By all means dig into the likes of Mocha Bomb or the Russian Imperial Stout, but as good a starting point as any is their ‘flagship’ Pannepot Old Fisherman’s Ale (Vintage 2020).
Somewhere between a strong Belgian dark ale and a stout, you’ve got toasty malts intertwined with deep caramel, bourbon and even brandy as it’s barrel-aged in both bourbon and calvados casks. Insane value beer!
Romania’s Bereta came out with five little cans of fun, each as indulgent as the last, but can you really say no to Cookie Sandwich v2?
An 11% rich impy stout with oreos and gingerbread?!
You won’t regret this (no matter how much of grown up you pretend to be).
Kees brews maybe don’t make as many headlines as they should, but their new Vanilla Sky Imperial Pastry Stout really is something special.
Brewed with cacao, vanilla and tonka beans, it’s seriously dark, seriously rich and seriously decadent. Brewed by anyone else it would cost a lot more.
That North’s Track collab IPA isn’t a headliner is certainly a questionable decision from me, but I’ve got this far and I’m not turning back now. Bright lime, juicy orange & creamy coconut from Talus hops make this a real treat.
Burnt Mill’s one-two NEIPA and DIPA (a Track collab) are worth your time, as is Little Monster’s new DIPA Faultless Youth. We snapped the latter up because Little Monster’s Squash Court (their last DIPA) was soooo damn good, and Faultless Youth is the same vibe.
Looking around, there is so much good hoppy stuff going on this week. Pomona Island’s Robocop-inspired, 100% Strata DDH IPA. There’s a new TIPA from S43. Wow, I haven’t even mentioned Neon Raptor’s new DIPAor NEIPA yet.
Smaller brewery Jefferson’s deserve a nod too. Their Big Margins Strata DIPA (fermented with Verdant IPA yeast) punches well above its weight.
Brew York’s Guava Sour is an interesting, different sour. And talking of different, how about a papaya IPA from Black Iris?
Dark beer fans, check out Pomona Island’s Imperial Mole Stout, hop-heads, here’s an APA from Brew York, and Northern Monk’s OFS034 Caipifruta is a bonkers Caipirinha cocktail-inspired fruit sour.
And capping things off this week is St. Mars of the Desert with their ‘old school, out of season’ Our Finest Regards Barley Wine – juicy sultanas, malteasers and even marzipan!
As always, I hope you get to crack open one or two of these wicked new beers this week.
Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
Given the two new 10% hop-monsters launched from Northern Monk and Left Handed Giant this week, it’s tempting to say it’s another week filled with BIG hoppy beers.
But then that would be doing a disservice to the Craft Bitter, the Rose & Hibiscus Berliner Weisse and BBNo’s Tropical Fruit Smoothie Beer that I’m recommending this week.
So let’s just say this week was another week of wicked craft beer releases all round, and kick things off with one of those hop-monsters I mentioned. Ready?!
Northern Monk, frankly, have had a hell of a 12 months that in my opinion has sealed their rep as one of the country’s best brewers there is.
Their OFS series has showcased how versatile they can go with just an outstanding exploration of different countries and styles. This week for example, their OFS032 Sabro Wit shines the spotlight on Belgian Wheat Beer, while OFS033 Belgian Lager is as fine a craft lager as there is.
But what really knocked me sideways this week was the massive return of Double Heathen Twist Edition Imperial IPA. It’s their flagship mega IPA… on steroids!
Double Heathen is packed with oats and wheat for a velvet smooth mouthfeel… then a huge 30g/l dry hop leaves the beer dripping in ripe tropical fruits with loads of citrus zest and a welcome peppery finish. Double Heathen really is wicked stuff.
While we’re on the subject of massive hop-bombs, Left Handed Giant’s Psychedelic Views TIPA is a BEAST!
LHG have poured in a lively combo of Amarillo Cryo, Mosaic Cryo, Columbus BBC hops for epic dankness here.
Bright orange and stone fruit are balanced with a bitter dank bite for a lovely, boozy but balanced Triple IPA.
In a week of a new Verdant DIPA and Minotaur Shock’s return, my final hoppy hat tip really has to go to BBNo’s 55 Breakfast Double IPA. And that really goes to show just how epic BBNo’s new creation is.
Brew By Numbers set out to create a fruity breakfast smoothie of a beer here, first bowling in with huge helpings of oats, wheat even corn for maximum smoothie goodness. Then they go in with a one-two punch of citra and strata hops. Thick and creamy with an intense tropical fruit aroma and sweet strawberry, passion fruit and tangerine loveliness, Breakfast is as close to a breakfast smoothie a beer could be!
Barrel-aged specialists Low Key don’t brew much, but what they do come out with is pure gold every time. Unsurprisingly the new Disco Demolition Derby Imperial Stout is no exception, with lashings of coffee and chocolate as you’d expect.
There’s also some dark cherry notes moseying around in this. Then Low Key top things off with a dollop of tonka, which really is the icing on the beer.
Why did it take us all so long to realise how good a bitter can be?!
North became the latest craft brewers to revive the bitter this week with Seasons Reverse Best Bitter.
You’ve got crunchy biscuit, you’ve got sweet marmalade, you’ve got ripe blackberries and honey and floral pine aromas. It’s difficult to resist. There really is a reason bitter is in!
My final dark recommendation this week has to go to the new Hammerton special Pecilla Vanilla & Pecan Stout, which for my money is the pinnacle of three new outstanding Hammerton syrupy dark gems.
Silky and smooth, you get a massive hit of vanilla with Pecilla, which is balanced by bitter chocolate and a subtle pecan sprinkle. This of course is from the brewery that brought us Crunch. So you know this is gonna be bloody good!
Polly’s released a special sour collab this week with In Totu Rose & Hibiscus Berliner Weisse, a big, bold and vibrant, bright pink(!) Berliner Weisse.
It’s tart AF, naturally, thanks to the dried hibiscus. But there’s also a nice, balancing sweetness coming through here, probably from the rose water?!
Polly’s obviously get that quality ingredients make for a quality beer… so they’ve loaded this up with hand-selected, locally sourced rose water and blossoming hibiscus for something extra special.
New this week, Brew York’s Albus Crumbledore Mixed Fruit Crumble Sour is as epic as it is limited.
The brewery’s most insane pastry crumble sour yet, it’s only packed with 11(!) different fruits and 9 varieties of malts. The result is a huge fruity and zesty assault on the senses… with biscuity a bite.
Finally, you’ll be as pleased as I was to see North’s Volta Orange & Rhubarb Sour has returned!
Volta is the beer that well and truly launched North’s sour credentials. It’s back, and it’s as brilliant as ever.
Even more zesty this time around, this is brewed up with juicy blood orange and lovely sweet rhubarb that’s apparently grown just around the corner from North’s plant up in Leeds.
There’s never enough time to wax lyrical about all the epic stuff that lands each week, but I’ll do my best by starting with the return of Gipsy Hill’s famous Double Vision Hepcat. Hepcat’s popularity is unwavering, and this is the double version of the beer we can’t get enough of.
To add to their special sour, Polly’s sent us over a DIPA, an IPA and a Pale to tuck into. All classic Polly’s which means all bleeding brilliant.
Actually, pale lovers have a smorgasbord of good stuff to pick and choose from this week, with The Missing Link from Siren, an East Coast Pale from S43, and Phantom’s Luck Pale Ale. Anyone would think spring has come!
Phantom didn’t stop with the hops, unleashing the excellent Spring Strawberry & Lemon Zest Sour and – dark fans take note – Half Moon Glow Stout. Half Moon Glow is a Dime bar in a can!
On the subject of decadent stouts, S43′ s Sasquatch Syrup Breakfast Stout has all the lovely coffee and maple syrup sweetness you’d expect, while Hammerton’s wondrous new dark specials included Le Roux Project Chocolate Salted Caramel Stout and Blueprint Chocolate & Banana Imperial Stout.
BBNo went classy with their trio of new 330ml specialty coffee porters, Samava (Costa Rica, fruity), Musasa Dukundekaw (Rwanda, creamy) and Doi Saket (Thailand, sweet). Collect the set!
Jumping back to hops, there’s new releases from DEYA, a DDH IPA from Hammerton and Brew York/Drop Project collab The Consultant NEIPA to get stuck into.
Finally, and is it too late for a barley wine?!
Hope you get to crack open one or two of these wicked new beers this week. Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
