This week saw the return of one of the daftest series of beers ever and some brilliant hoppy German brews – plus a Neon Raptor impy that never disappoints. Check it out!
The sours section is utter madness this week! First up we have a beer that splits opinions, starts debates and WRECKS glasses for goodness sake!
Centaur Wrecker is the newest Wrecker that leaves your chosen vestibule in such a state you wonder if it’s worth washing or wanging in the bin!
8.5% of thick peanut, toffee, blackberry, raspberry and apple bubbles. If you’ve had one of these before you’ll know of their greatness.
And if not… what are you waiting for?! Bust your Wrecker cherry now!
Elsewhere the list doesn’t get any less out-there, with two epic new drops from Poland’s finest craft purveyor, Maltgarden.
The outstanding Baking Addiction boasts Glazed Banana Bread and Blueberry among its pudding-sour flavour profile.
Meanwhile Pool Party Ecstasy is lighter, with white guava, passionfruit and coconut 🤤🤤🤤
Looking for something more down-the-line?
If so, you’re reading the wrong blog post – Vault City’s Raspberry Roulade keeps the beery weirdness ticking along, and the same brewery’s Pear Drops Keep Falling on my Head is yet more bonkers brilliance from everyone’s favourite Scottish sour slinger.
Unreal, incredible silliness. Get involved!
Frau Gruber have grown from two friends (Enzo Frauenschuh & Matthiaus Gruber) gipsy brewing to a brewery pinging wicked beers to over 20 countries.
Their hoppy work really is sublime and this week’s new output is as good as I’ve tasted so far.
We have four new brews but Head in the Clouds with Mosaic, Idaho and Bru-1 probably just about takes top spot thanks to intense, rich hoppiness and a rounded and smooth finish.
Mind you, Field of Dreams with Citra and Simcoe is equally great hoppy brewing.
Back on home soil we’re not short on mega hop-output and Beak bring us another set of fantastic beers.
SO IPA is where my focus is. I was sold when I read the blurb explaining “just how we like our beers, loaded with hops and oats for a big creamy body”.
Trademark Beak, this one will be popular.
Talking of cream, Track continue to smash it when it comes to pillow-like hop drops and the continuation of their excellent Dreaming Of… series this week proves it.
Better still, Dreaming Of… “DDH Bg Skies” moves away from the single hops so we get Citra, Simcoe and Amarillo in this, bringing all the stone-fruit vibes. Juice, it is.
Abandoned Dragons is one of those beers that seem to define a brewery for me. It’s a beer where branding, visuals and flavour all come together in unison.
Originally labelled a “hazelnut pie” stout the beer has settled into folklore as a must-try huge, rich, dark, sweet and sticky offering each year… and it’s back!
This incarnation is as good as ever. Go!
Elsewhere in big-ABV land this week I’m loving both Maltgarden Middle of Silences 2022 (in 330ml cans this time round!).
One is a straight up Peanut Butter beast and the other is a Maple version of the same.
Both are big and sweet and indulgent but I’d say a side-by-side tasting session is a must!
Also in cans for the first time on our shelves are two imperials from the Gate No. series.
Gate No.2 is a BA brew with BA aged coffee bomb and Gate No. 6 is loaded with maple syrup and toasted almonds.
They’re one of Europe’s best dark beer brewers so, again, it’s hard not to jump on both beers at once.
I hope this over-the-top selection has something for you this week! Cheers again for your support and custom – we can’t do this without you!
Oli, Charlie & Agnes
(The people behind Craft Metropolis)
It’s another week of heavyweights this week, with ABVs creeping past 10% in all corners. The faint hearted may wish to look away now. Those up for quality, though? Here’s what to check out.
Last week’s Polly’s QIPA flew out so what did I do? I went out and reloaded the shelves with another beast, this time from Track!
Above Our Heads is a heavenly mix of Citra, Enigma and Galaxy. The smoothness of this beer is the first thing to note – even at 12.5% – but there’s a backbone of bitterness and a slight woodiness behind it that really beefs it up. There’s booziness there but in the battle with mango and pineapple it loses out and the fruitiness wins through – a belter of a QIPA.
You’re utterly blessed with the output from Track at the moment and they’re fast becoming many drinkers’ fav UK hop-slingers – me included.
Check out Everything Illuminated too, a classy single hop DIPA with Motueka as the showcased hop, again, insanely good brewing from the Manchester outfit.
If you’re really in the BIG beer mood then Overtone should be on your radar too this week.
I snaffled two 10%ers for you. The first is an improved version of Big Yin, a rebrew of their first ever TIPA.
It’s a corker and has everything good about Overtone going on – smooth, juicy and balanced.
Out The Zone is the the second Overtone monster to check out, and this Arpus collab has more body and bitterness but is equally as quaffable. Yummmm.
I promise I’ll get onto more sessionable beers at some point but that can wait when there’s a Finback/Burnt Mill DIPA on the agenda.
Swimming Giants is another rebrew and another insane beer.
It’s one of their greatest hits and with one of the USA’s best breweries. I can’t recommend this beer enough.
Dropping down the ABV scale I have a trio of Azvex brews for you this week, with Unreadable Metal Logos being my pick…
Lots of El Dorado helps make this a slammable IPA but, as always, it’s hard to fault Azvex’s current brews.
Bang the Elephant really took our taprooms and website by storm when first in, so we’re hot on their heels for new beers as soon as they make them!
The Sherry and Whiskey Many Worlds Hypothesis is a must for lovers of pecans, chocolate and big barrel flavours.
Not enough for you? How about Red Velvet Revolver? This collab 100% NAILS all the flavours of the famous cake and is an utter dream of an indulgent beer.
BIPA fans should also catch BTE’s Electric Worry, as well as the peerless Elusive’s Juxtapose…
Elusive bring an absolute A-game when it comes to BIPAs and West Coasts.
Their offering perfectly balances the hoppiness and roastiness, but then it’s Elusive so it’s always gonna rock.
I also managed to get hold of some of Emperor’s latest concoction which is a collab with Arundel and Sussex Small batch.
Never Tell me the Odds is a barrel-aged rum monster that’s been developing for a year in the wood and is mega-mouthful of a marzipan hit.
If that’s not enough we have Brew York Empress Tonkoko back in the mix this year and also a trio of BA versions too.
Some of Brew York’s best work gets done in the dark beers and these are super.
I’m a rum fan so the Planation BA Rum variant is the one for me, but all versions have that cheeky choc-caramel-tonky-ness and oodles of rich deep flavour!
The big winner this week is the 0.5% Monk & Mash Gang Gacha Squishy Supreme Sour.
I’m not sure what to make of this – all the cans are different colours and all are supposed to taste different.
Mine was like a fruit-sweet cherry cola with a touch of vanilla. Bonkers and banging!
That’s me for another week, hope this mega list has something for you in it?
Cheers again for your amazing support and custom you legends!
Oli, Charlie & Agnes
(The people behind Craft Metropolis)
After Verdant’s Putty flying out left right and blinking centre last week, you might expect this week’s new beer list to be subdued. Negative!
This week brings with it at least three hoppy beers that IMO are just as good as Putty, plus something dark and decadent from New Bristol Brewery. Yasssss!
Let’s start with the bigdog that is Polly’s Five Years Birthday QIPA.
It’s a mega 13.2% monster crammed with just mosaic hops. For the ABV level it’s always going to be an odd mix of booze and flavour. For me when a beer gets over DIPA levels it’s always hard to reign in and balance things out but this one just about holds onto the reigns.
Sure it’s fruity and full of fresh mangoes but it starts to stray into peach juice territory with a good glug of bitterness and a syrupy edge on the finish. It’s quite a brew, and certainly a sharer or a sipper!
Track are fast becoming one of my favourite hop-slingers and the releases this week showcase why.
The Nelson single hop DIPA Sea of Stars is a dream of a beer which nails the flavours of the hop perfectly.
It’s grown up enough in bitterness and dank resin flavours but fresh on the fruit notes too.
Then there’s the TIPA All My Trials, which add Citra to the mix of the Nelson hops and adds a smoothness and creaminess to it too.
Outstanding.
I also welcome back Purrr from Beak which was such a massive hit last time round.
It’s dripping with mosaic but has a good lashing of strata in the mix too so the fruitiness is in check with a fresh melon and coconut vibe on the side.
A special mention for a series of beers we start promoting today and will promote as more are released.
Track’s Brave Noise Pale Ale is the first in a set from different breweries fighting for a safe, fair and discrimination-free workplace in the industry. Something we’re 100% behind here at CM.
The dark section this week is dominated by New Bristol who have made an incredible 4-pack of new brews called Thank Cinder Its February! To celebrate the back of January the full Cinder Toffee Stout range returns including a brand new flavour.
The brewery really have loaded all their efforts into making these versions of their epic beer and you can see why – it’s such a crowd pleaser.
The Dark Chocolate version carries more bitterness from the choc that drags back the sweetness just a little, and the Big Cinder Toffee is like a Crunchie on steroids in a can…
But then the Salted Chocolate Bigger Cinder is where this quadruple really sets on fire. It’s decadent and sweet and moorish and creamy. Wowsa, I loved it.
Vault dominate the sours section because they knock out utterly insane sours. Every. Bloody. Time.
Cranberry Double Currant Vanilla is where I started and it’s up to the usual insane standards, especially when you throw Arpus in the equation who they collabed with on this one.
I’ll be honest I’m probably guilty of looking at a Vault City beer and thinking “yeah, that’ll nail every flavour, be over the top and amazing so I’ll give it a skip!”. I think it’s a measure of how good Vault are that you sometimes DON’T drink their beers because you know it’ll be brilliant so there’s no need!
Weird logic I know, but I know what I mean.
There’s also a cracking little sharp Kreik called Tree Love from Drop Project that brings a sessionable tone to a smooth and balanced fruity sour beer.
I recall trying my first Baron beer a while back now, it was a lager, and it was hands down one of the best lagers I’ve ever had.
For a hop-meister like Baron it’s easy to forget they brew other exceptional beer styles and Stumped Pilsner follows in that vein, a cracking mix of hops, malt and drinkability. Hat’s off to Baron, as ever.
That’s me for another week, thanks F it’s February!
Cheers again for your amazing support over the last month.
Oli, Charlie & Agnes
(The people behind Craft Metropolis)
This week saw the release of the biggest beer of the year in Putty (if we have any left, for gawd’s sakes, snap one up!), but the fun did not stop there. Putty aside, there were some belters released this week from Heist, Burnt Mill, and others. So read on!
These are the beers to be trying this week.
Do the tasting notes even matter when it comes to the most anticipated beer release of the year?!
OK, I’ll humour you…
Verdant Putty 2023 is a huge hop hit of a DIPA with gargantuan additions of Galaxy, Mosaic and Azacca, followed up by a massive dry hop of all three. It’s a belter. Are there better about? Is it better or worse than last year? Should you age it a week… or, as some have, a year?! This year, you can decide – snap one up now!
We have a limited amount so it’s strictly 1 can per pre-order and these will be shipped on Thursday or Friday when the stock arrives. Please be patient – you can find your can by clicking HERE
Please check out before midnight tonight or your reserve will be released back into the wild – you have been warned!
Enjoy you Putty people!
I’ve had Heist on our radar for ages and ages and finally managed to snag a few cans of their nectar.
If hops is your game and you want to know what these guys are all about grab a can of the Fight Park IPA.
Loads of thick bodied joose is loose with the classic citra and galaxy combo – a great introduction if you want to try their wares!
The stand out, however, is the new Tartarus Cthulhu WC TIPA! Wow.
Scoops and gloops of deep marmalade and more bite than next door’s dog, this is a 12% monster of a beer – be brave, it’s huge!
Not quite as hefty on the ABV but certainly worth your attention is the Overtone and Northern Monk collab DIPA Can’t Help Myself.
We’re back in the hop-soup world here and away from the westies and this delivers a lot of pineapple and mango but with a mellow edge.
The new Burnt Mill Rooted in Citra is exactly what you want and expect from a single hop from these guys.
It’s on point with bitterness and flavours in perfect harmony bringing lashings of dried apricots to the tongue and just the right sweetness.
I know I normally bang on about impy beasts in this little segment but you’ll just have to wait a dang second for those as I kick off with a 0.5%er! I know, madness, but I absolutely bloody love Boxcar beers and Double Dark Mild and TRIPLE Dark Mild are both back in stock and all firmly in my favourites folder.
This year, however, we see the newest addition to the line-up and a collab with Mash Gang and Very Mild.
Think everything we know and love about the original incarnations but in a boozless wrapper. One of the best non-alc brews we’ve stocked and a corker.
Maybe try the “Mild Challenge” (not yet trademarked) and get a can of each and work your way up!
Another returning beer I have to mention that’s had a little twist added to it is HYG from Brew York.
The original had to be renamed as the guys from the Goonies were not too happy about it but worry not, the name remains implied – and this time the beer is vegan!
All the Peanut, Caramel & Marshmallow in spades and all the 10% goodness you recall from this big brew, just none of the lactose.
Controversial and delicious in equal measure.
Also jumping out at you like mad is Elusive’s latest Sticky Toffee impy.
They teamed up with Sussex Small Batch for this one so you know it’s going to be sweet, moorish and bang on the money.
It’s nearly replicates exactly everyone’s (yeah?) favourite pudding in a glass with 10% thrown in for bonus fun. A corker.
I told you I’d work my way up from the 0.5%er didn’t I!?
For a more straight up sour, look no further than Pomona’s Voodoo. Who Do? You Do.
This peach sour is just a cracking 4% easy drinker with millions of peachy vibes to it. There’s a sharp acidity to it up front before the mellow fruit comes into play – uncomplicated and tasty.
Enjoy picking your Putty and other brews and remember…
Cheers again for your amazing support!
Oli, Charlie & Agnes
(The people behind Craft Metropolis)
It’s mid-Jan and things are muted on the new beer front, but if you dig deep there’s still some gold to be found – so this week I present to you some great new hoppy stuff in particular… and a hoppy water.
Strap in. These are the best new beers out this week.
I’ve been utterly loving the Dreaming Of…series from Track so really keen to find out what Track had done with a single hop ella in their latest DDH IPA.
I’ll admit up until now I’m not sure I’d be able to pick out ella as a hop flavour but based on this it’s both really good and also quite distinguishable.
For hop fans think simcoe with all the stone fruit flavours but that unmissable chewy bite and bullish bitterness which then smooths out on the finish – really good.
Speaking of really good Track beers their latest Gold Top, Rock the Boat DIPA is also a cracking effort.
It’s everything you’d want from a beer like this as big juicy oats combine with a hint of lactose giving a super smooth mouthfeel with a touch of sweetness.
Pumped full of Idaho 7 and Strata, think notes of papaya and peaches mmmmmm.
While we’re in the big DIPA territory it’s worth checking out both Azvex’s Lava Lamp and Neon’s Super Sharp Shooters.
The Neon brings all the fruit salad vibes…
…but the Azvex’s Lava Lamp with the Citra, Galaxy, and Mosaic hop bill just pips it.
It was a fun head to head tasting between these two, though! We recommend you do the same and snap them both up!
It’s fab to have some Gipsy Hill beers back on the virtual shelves after a bit of a break and I was drawn in by the HepcAF Alc Free Session IPA.
All the main flavours of the now classic Hepcat but minus the booze – a great shout for those booze-free days in Jan.
There’s fresh new brews from Baron and Beak that are ALWAYS worth picking up but the last highlight this week goes to the Verdant Under The Same Sky TDHND DIPA rebrew.
TDHND stands for Triple Dry Hopped No Dextrose in case you didn’t know!
All the hops, all the soupy sweetness with a bite and all the smooth finish. Hats off to this big old beer and thank goodness it’s back!
This section is dominated by Crispy Boys but before we get to those I’m excited to have snagged the new Neon Velvet Banshee Sour.
It’s labelled as a red velvet cake imperial sour and hosts strawberry and honeyberry fruits alongside oodles of chocolate and vanilla to deliver a sweet, succulent and sour beer that’s mad and indulgent.
Speaking of mad I have a rather unique brew for you this week that’s actually a sparkling water. What kind of charlatan have I become eh? Haha.
This very strange and experimental drink is Northern Monk’s Holy Hop Water.
It’s infused with citra hops for when you need rehydration but want that hit of hoppiness.
Is it the innovation we never knew we needed? Maybe so, and we’re all about diversity and experimentation here at CM towers so we bring all the new brews to you either way!
As you can see I restocked a LOT of Utopian this week and what a wonderful bunch of well-priced, well-balanced lagers they make.
Your attention should go to the new Gadds Green Hopped Pilsner. It has that recognisable Utopian base of slight bready maltiness and a clean mouthfeel but has a crackers bitter bite on the finish and a fresh lingering flavour that makes it stand out… lager fans, get stuck in!
Enjoy picking your beers.
Oli, Charlie & Agnes
(The people behind Craft Metropolis)
This week we have some epic brews going at up to 50% OFF in our January sale! Dive in and get a bargain cause when they’re gone, they’re gone.
Elsewhere, on the new beer front, there are some serious gems awaiting. Let’s kick this list off with the most popular beer we’ve ever stocked…
Iron Brew from Vault City is the most in-demand beer we’ve ever stocked. Fact.
In previous years it’s sold out in days, so right now we have a proper haul ready to go and get yer tastebuds tingling!
It’s a belter, it’s a classic, with Vault nailing the indescribable flavour of the unique orange pop – but with added booze! Get in!
I’m chuffed to be able to bring you a fresh load of Basqueland this week, including some sours this time too!
Two Scoops is packed to the rafters with tart passion fruit, mango & vanilla and tastes as awesome as it sounds.
There’s also the Berry Cobbler, a zingy yet slightly sweet beer, with lashings of raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, blueberry and sour cherry – fully loaded!
Funky Fluid continue to drop some insane sours at the moment too, and the latest Splash Pink is up to their usual high standards with big, fresh hits of pink guava & dragonfruit.
That said, I’d also beeline for Gingy, which is one of the most fun brews we have stocked so far this year – cocoa nibs, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom & cloves, it’s a full on gingerbread man experience – grab one before it runs off!
Basqueland are once again hoppy headliners, and who could ignore a collab with them and Finback?
Mucho Mucho Caliente is packed with citra, azacca and vic secret to create “a flambéed and super drinkable tropical fruit salad”…I can’t argue with that!
There’s also a well rounded DEYA collab in Man vs. Machine DIPA and a brill west coast offering in Armadillo by Morning… but for me Wilson Coconut is the proper stand out.
Teaming up with Gamma brewery for added immenseness, the beer has just enough sweetness from the hops and the coconut to carry it through without it getting too overloaded.
Many breweries team sabro hops with this kind of beer and it tends to overdo it in the coconut but this smashed it – a hazy treat.
I managed to get hold of a boatload of Pomona beers this week and Optimum Angle of Attack IPA is one I reached out for right away.
It has the usual Pomona smoothness all wrapped up in a double dry hop of Enigma for fans of that hop; some mellow tones of apricot, bigger hits of pineapple and a bit o’ bite too.
A couple of corking Pomona darks for you this week.
Hateration Holleration is a big old dark choc and cherry number and is insanely decadent but I especially loved Dress Sexy at my Funeral.
This beer brings apricot and spices in a “very Pomona” stout type of way. By that I mean it’s well rounded, slightly quirky and very drinkable. The spices are led by nutmeg and cinnamon and subtle enough not to stomp all over it – and there’s no way it tastes 12%!
At the other end of the booze-scale Brew York and Mash Gang have created a 2.8% stout called Little Purple One.
This promises hazelnuts and milk chocolate and delivers on both counts – plus it has Prince on the can… what’s not to love!?
Enjoy picking your beers and thanks again for your amazing support and custom, it’s hugely appreciated.
Oli & Charlie
(The people behind Craft Metropolis)
A few of you will be cutting back on the booze right now – and some of you will be attacking Tryanuary with gusto. So this week, I’ve got all bases covered!
Whether you’re now exclusively no/low or hunting the loco… here are the best new beers to get stuck into this week!
Funky Fluid’s insane combos of fruit, flavour and innovation excite me every time, so their new brews without booze caught my attention.
Free Gelato: Pina Colada Ice Cream Sour is the first I’m currently waxing lyrical about – it’s slightly cleaner than Fluid’s usual smoothie offerings yet packed with pineapple, coconut & lime – tasty all round.
Over in the hoppy corner Free Crazy Hazy IPA is dry hopped with Sabro, Cascade and Mosaic to retain all the tropical juicy loveliness you’d expect from a hazy, but again under the 0.5% mark.
And it’s a hat-trick from FF this week – they even have the dark stuff covered.
Hype Cold Brew Stout is your clean and fresh coffee stout for all those into the dark arts. Get involved!
Away from the Funky’s there’s still plenty to go at – Lucky Saint are one of the pioneers of the low-alc scene and their lager is pretty much my original go-to boozeless beer.
Lager fans, lap it up.
That said Wiper & True have stepped up with Tomorrow Lager to challenge Lucky Saint’s lager crown.
You’re gonna need to forgive the lack of science, but from what I can make out W&T, like Lucky Saint and the German no-alc juggernauts, extract rather than boil off the booze from this bad boy.
This innovative (and I expect expensive) brewing method is worth every penny – it keeps all the true flavours of beer in place rather than smashing them to smithereens in high temps. The result is a cracking lager with insane head retention and a smooth finish.
Immense.
North’s Flat Moon Society Peach Pale is my final low-alc hat-tip this month.
This beer is quirky as heck with the favour of peach right there but the sweetness mainly stripped out to stop it being just peach juice.
Intriguing and moorish. Get in!
If you’re in search of some of the best new beers in ’23 then where better to start than Beak? Their new trio of beers shows 100% what they’re all about and why we love them so much.
Garlands IPA is a silky-smooth New England IPA showcasing three very pineapple-y hop varieties: Idaho 7, Bru 1 and Vic Secret.
Think Piña Colada on the nose followed by flavours of mango and orange peel and juicy fruits for days!
Nonic DIPA is another step up again – if that’s even possible – and is one of the best Beak DIPAs to date in a long line of insane beers.
It’s a Southern Hemisphere packed bomb of hops and is as soft as a pillow made of clouds with apricot, peach and candyfloss notes.
Buy on sight!
Lastly the Lewes brewery bring us the new Coconut Porter Heroes. Here you have a classy and uncomplicated dark beer with vanilla and coconut running through it giving it plenty of flavour but keeping things fresh enough to make it an easy drinker at the same time.
All in all cracking stuff to kick off 2023.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Craft brewers are seeing the year out with a bang – releasing massive stouts (including those made with hob nobs!), fruit smoothie sours, and IPAs so juice-drenched they’re a Sunny D lawsuit in waiting.
Here’s what I’ve loved most this week.
These arrived last last minute, and although I’d normally bang on about an Emperor’s beer anyway, the Emperor’s x Bang the Elephant collab Hobi Wan Kenobi is even more special!
This little wriggler has been sitting in bourbon barrels with lots of toasted coconut, vanilla & a whole heap of HOB NOBS in the mash to boot. Yep, Hob Nobs.
If I need to explain this: Emperor’s. Bang the Elephant. Hob Nobs. It’s got it all! Banging.
Amundsen came flying at us this week with their 9th birthday collab set full of madness… and I could see no better place to start than The Lervig collab Brown Cheese & Waffles With Raspberry Jam Imperial Pastry Stout.
Lots of chocolate going on and a slight jammy aftertaste with a donut edge too… like all the birthday beers, this isn’t as sweet as Amundsen’s past, and it’s all the better for it.
The German Chocolate Cake With Maple Frosting Imperial Pastry Stout has very much the same vibe.
The flavours of dark chocolate are rounded and smooth and dialled back – for Amundsen at least – and it drinks weirdly easily for a 13% brew.
One of Amundsen’s most considered and best for a long time. Get in!
Away from the Norwegian stout-monsters there’s still lots of corking beers. The top of the pile has to be one of the best beers of the year – Azvex’s Stocking Filler Nostalgia.
This impy stout blew me away. Lots of breweries have tried to nail a Terry’s Chocolate Orange stout and some have been decent.
This though… this is just incredible. I’ve already stashed one away for myself for Christmas day. Dark choc, milk choc and that lush orange oil essence all combine in an oily slick creation that is just brilliant.
I wish I’d bought more!
A special mention has to go out to Tartarus Umibozu Squid Ink, Seaweed & Yuzu Gose which is as incredible as it is crazy – probably the weirdest we’ve ever stocked.
It pours a deep bluey-black (hence its inclusion in this section) and the big winner that pulls it through is the yuzu. There’s a heap of citrus rind and zest that carry this brilliant beer while there’s a touch of earthiness from the seaweed and squid ink.
It might be a tough sell this one but I urge you to try it. Plus the bottles have googly eyes on them – maybe that’s the clincher??
Track and North have teamed up to brew Many Ways IPA to celebrate the latter moving to new, bigger facilities.
The beer is up to usual Track standards looking hazy as hell and swimming in punchy hops like Strata, Galaxy and Azacca.
(North’s move is also amazing news for one of our favourite small breweries, Tartarus, who have moved into North’s old vacated site so they themselves can expand. Wahooo!)
I also loaded up on pales from Polly’s this week.
Latin Jacket is a great Galaxy single-hop brew that brings lots of that fruit salad vibe to the table.
Whereas, Pure Devotion is the brewery’s nod to the incredible hop farmers that bring us new and exciting varieties. Expect citrus fruits, bubblegum sweetness and amped-up flavour in this corking pale ale. Boom!
Neon’s Twerking Turkey’s is back just in time for the big day!
This yearly cracker is an indulgent and thick sour with oodles of red cherries, cranberries and plums all rounded off with a crumble sweetness underneath all that tartness and a touch of cinnamon.
Also full of berries this weekend is Yonder Double Berry White Choc Cheesecake.
Yonder are very quietly smashing it at the moment and these cheesecake beers have been spot on every time.
This one has the same smoothie-like mouthfeel but the brewers have amped up the ingredients so it’s overloaded with naughty goodness!
A lot sharper in flavour but no less lush in execution is Yonder’s Orange & Mango Bellini Cocktail Sour. It brings crisp and dry flavours of sparkling wine together with sweet and full bodied mango purée.
As always, thanks so much for supporting our small business. MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU BEERY ANIMALS!
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Craft breweries continued to deploy the big guns this week, with Vault City releasing a mad glitter stout and – naturally – a face-puckering Bucks Fizz Sour for Christmas morning.
Plus there’s Northern Monk’s last EVER version of Smug to discuss and some seasonal specials perfect for Christmas. So let’s get into it!
The headliner this week has to be a mash-up of two of my favourite breweries this (and any) year. Vault City knocking heads with Amundsen and creating not just a 10.1% stout but one with glitter in it!
Diamonds in the Mud is a huge stout with chocolate and vanilla and lashings of tonka bean in the mix too, alongside those golden glitter sparkles!
If you want a bit of drama in your festive drinking this is the beer for you!
Mad Squirrel specials. These are just so full of flavour and so well priced considering the crazy ABVs they’ve always got going on, and Bust Le Milli and Double Truffle do not buck the trend.
Bust comes in at a moderate 8% but has that big salty caramel hit to it, whereas Double Truffle is loaded with huge decadent flavours.
Dig in.
I also managed to bring back two of last festive season’s best sellers for you in the shape of Northern Monk’s Heaven and Wasted Christmas Pudding.
Heaven is aged in bourbon barrels, and those warming whiskey notes shine through.
Wasted Christmas Pudding tastes just like the pud it’s aiming to be. Loaded with burnt raisins, dark treacle and amber honey. Yes!
While we’re talking Christmas, New Bristol Brewery’s Dark Chocolate and Ginger Stout is in the house, with plenty of warming spice from the ginger coming through.
Even better in my eyes is this Irish Coffee Ice Cream Affogato Stout – Christmas in a glass!
I also topped up on hoppy bangers from New Bristol, with a pair of classy IPAs in Duvet Vous and Macho Mucho. Duvet’s amarillo keeps proceedings smooth and sessionable, while Macho Mucho offers “macho flavours” from “mucho hops”, plus a truckload of oats for a hoppy, creamy wonderland.
Talking of hops… The end of an era!
We’re told the last ever Smug from Northern Monk has arrived with us!
Personally I’m so, so sad to see the end of this series. Monk knock out a lot of great beers… but it’s always stuff like this that grabs my attention.
The final chapter is brewed in collaboration with none other than Other Half Brewing in USA, and it’s got all the big juicy IPA vibes in waves, with a cheeky bit of bitterness in there too.
A cracking hoppy beer to bow out on. Collectors, you know what to do.
Also alongside the cracking dark brews from Mad Squirrel I picked up some of their hoppy stuff too.
Splash is the beer for you if you want a straight up huge-hop-hit, but if you want something more out of the park then Jackpot is a Cherry Milkshake pale with a cherry Bakewell edge.
Or there’s Mr. Sipling – with oodles of fresh lemons in a regular DIPA for a seriously fresh, zingy edge!
Crazy Energy City “Berliners” are back in business!
Again these new beers are just mega smoothie beers – Bistro Blueberry Pancakes is maple, blueberry, blueberry and more maple.
The Bistro Smoothie Mango Pineapple Banana is even more out there, mango, pineapple and banana all blitzed up in a beer. What’s not to love?!
Remember to tip this before pouring – essential given how much fruit these have going on.
Away from the madness there’s… well, Vault City’s new Buck’s Fizz sour, obviously!
This classic cocktail inspired sour beer combines orange zest and Valencia orange juice for a fresh zing to get you up for the big day.
Plus, a ‘sessionable’ 4.8% ABV means you can crack it Christmas morning!
For all those who’d like to give the gift of quality beer, you can now get Craft Metropolis gift cards – to let your giftee delve into the stash.
You can also send someone a hoppy, dark, sour or even mixed Craft Beer Gift Box, curated our end. These are only ever filled with the beers we advertise to our regulars – so every beer that goes in is top drawer.
As always thanks so much for supporting our small business, cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
The theme for this week’s best new beers? Collaboration!
Garage, Lervig, Finback, The Veil, Nerdbrewing – this week, brewing heavyweights joined forces to produce some of the best new beers released this year.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
Garage are a brewery I have a great deal of time for as they tend to nail everything from a session IPA through to a sour and impy beasts with aplomb, and this week their dark game is cracking.
What makes things even more exciting is the level of breweries they’ve teamed up with for their latest round of brews.
First up is Muted Sophistication Imperial Stout which is a Finback collab. It’s a modern pastry stout dripping in the usual suspects like chocolate and burnt toffee but loaded with extra salted caramel and biscuit honeycomb too. A corker.
A second Garage/Finback collab this week in Golden Ale – Distant Lands is a more traditional style but equally as intriguing as the imperial.
When Garage and Finback get together you’ve got to be getting stuck in.
Elsewhere – and not dark but I’m on a roll – how about a little something by Garage + The Veil?!
The two behemoth’s new brew Caged Export Lager brings huge malty base flavours and classy German smoothness.
The collabs don’t stop there though we have Wander Beyond back in the mix with two 10%+ monsters.
The Lervig Celestial comes loaded with tons of raspy spiciness from the kviek yeast, but then the Silk with Pomona Island is madness in a can!
Made with ‘meadowsweet’ and ‘woodruff’ (don’t worry, I’d never heard of em either), it delivers big floral notes in spades and is one for the experimental and adventurous.
While we’re talking crazy sh*t don’t miss the Brew York collabs this week.
Rum Sundae is a 12% Nerdbrewing collab with all the raisins and all the rum plus it’s massive on cinnamon and spice – huge and indulgent.
Wow… in such an epic dark section I haven’t had time to mention Unbarred’s classic 2022 Stoutzilla!
But then you already know how good that is, right??
Over in hop-land, exhibits A and B in the best new beers roundup are Garage collabs Zenon DIPA with Vitamin Sea and Succulent DIPA with The Veil.
Both are huge, juicy bangers but for me the Succulent DIPA just wins out with it’s heady mix of nelson, citra and phantasm hops.
The Wander collabs are top drawer here too, and the Finback TIPA Pablo & The Whale really is a corker.
It has an earthiness that hoppy beers this mega sometimes have, but more than enough juicy smoothness to make slurping the whole 10% can wondrous.
I always get exited when I get the chance to snag some Burley Oak beers and the Jream series are always utter madness… the latest Peach Apricot Plumb Cobbler is on point!
There’s no hiding the fact these beers can be sweet – it’s just the nature of the game with all that fruit going in – but this brew somehow manages not to tip too far in that direction.
It’s mainly the plum at work keeping the lactose and vanilla in check but it does just that exquisitely.
In Vault City news, you’ve got a Rhubarb & Custard Sour and a Coconut Cherry Cabana fighting for your attention.
Which one you go for depends on your particular sweet-shop preference – or follow my footsteps…
Indulge in both.
Lager fans have a real treat this week with KCBC joining forces with Track to give you a Close Connection Rice Lager.
It has all that light scrummy almost creamy edge you get with the added rice and it’s even more slammable than a regular lager – a real winner even in this rather chilly month.
So many dark brews it’s easy to skip over some but that doesn’t mean that Tartarus Krampus 2022 should not be in your eyeline. 2021 was “the most Christmas cake tasting beer ever” and this year is just as good. Another for my Christmas day stash for sure.
Hecate from the same brewing outfit is a bit more sessionable and one you don’t have to save for a special occasion. It’s a 5.7% choc and coconut stout that’s clean and smooth and all in all rather good – buy one for now and a Krampus for Christmas!
Track Dreaming of… HBC 586 IPA deserves a place in your basket this week. This oddly named hop is showcased on its own and brings out huge notes of overripe apricots and tangerines. Boom!
Arbor are also back in the mix this week with two very festive tasting brews. Arbor Faked Alaska is an IPA loaded with hops and laced with vanilla and lactose to give it a puddingy edge, whereas Arbor Panettone has the vanilla alongside chewy currants and zingy lemon zest. Pop a hat on them and they’re basically Santa in beer form!
Sour fans should also make sure they check out the cans of Brew York Plum Cake. Any sour fruit concotion made with Funky Fluid has to demand attention.
As always thanks so much for supporting our small business! Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
