***DUE TO STOCK MOVE TO NEW BAR (SE26) NEXT POSTING DAY IS MON 15TH. THANKS***
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)
Oli Meade
What with it being Easter and all, this week, craft brewers pulled out all the stops.
The best new beers we tried here at CMHQ this week included a bourbon & coffee laced imperial stout and a sour apple beer/cider hybrid from Somerset’s Yonder.
The big news this week, however, was DEYA’s new Triple IPA…
We ordered Right Brain Feeds The Left Brain TIPA along with an epic haul of new DEYA this week (including Something Good 13 and Glue IPA), and I was hoping DEYA’s new TIPA would live up to the hype.
DEYA went even more neutral in their yeast strain in their second TIPA for a clean hop monster that smacks of juicy tropical fruit.
Make no mistake, this is a very special beer.
Overtone’s Charlie Doesn’t Surf Oat Cream IPA didn’t garner nearly as much hype as DEYA’s TIPA, obviously. In a way that’s criminal, but it’s also epic, because it means there’s more of this stuff for you and for me!
Brewed with truckloads of oats and lactose, Charlie Doesn’t Surf is as creamy an IPA as you’ll get this Easter. Waves of apples, pears and citrus. Different. In a great way.
I know it might seem obvious to pick out Pomona Island’s new-in Thagomizer DIPA as a beer of the week, but trust me, there’s a reason people flock to this DIPA.
It’s juicy and it’s tropical. But it’s the piney punch at the end that makes this murk-monster magic. Once again, with Thagomizer, Pomona Island have brewed up excellence.
In a bumper Easter uptake, it takes something special to top the dark beer billing… and this year the accolade has to go to Maltgarden’s I’m Your Barista: Colombia DSB Pink Bourbon Coffee Stout.
Rich dark malts. Boozy and smooth. But what makes this extra special is a big helping of Colombia Diego Samuel Bermundez Pink Bourbon Specialty Coffee.
The ingredient quality is spectacular. All melded together, you get a frankly next-level imperial gem.
Next up, Amundsen’s overloaded Neapolitan Ice Cream Shake Imperial Pastry Stout isn’t as serious as the Maltgarden drop, but that takes nothing away from how good a beer this is.
The original Neapolitan Ice Cream Dessert In A Can. is a big hit, and for Easter Amundsen have amped it up with this 440ml version.
The best way to describe this is an ice cream made up of big, boozy stout, oh-so-sweet stout. Picture it. Only then can you imagine how glorious this beer is.
Is it a stout?
Is it a sour?
After a fair bit of deliberation, I’m including Pastore Brewing’s Coffee & Cacao Noire in the darks section simply because it’s loaded with all the beautiful coffee and cacao notes you’d expect from a big-hitting stout… but then sour black forest fruits remind you this is Pastore.
This is a boundary-pushing, genre-defying beer you won’t regret.
Capping off the darks, I can’t not mention Pressure Drop’s Black Treacle Stout.
Olly number 2 described it as a ‘perfect stout’ earlier this week, and the description is pretty much bang on.
What do you get when you combine dark roasted barley, fruity hedgerow hops and a touch of treacle?
This is the answer… and it’s effing great.
Leading the sour march this week is of course Vault City, who’ve gone with a big, a medium and a small sour for the Easter weekend.
My pick of the bunch is Pear Drop Session Sour. (When you’re drinking a few over Easter you want a session in there somewhere!)
A nostalgic hit of hard-boiled pear drop sweets in a Sessionable Modern Sour Beer. Sour sweeties?! Sign me up.
Serpents Wild Ale by Yonder is also mega interesting.
Brewed in collaboration with Pilton Cider, this is a kinda mixed-ferm beer-cider mash up with a load of sour apple juiciness from the two varieties of Somerset apples that go in.
It is Easter, after all!
So how about kicking things off with Maltgarden’s new big bottles, including Polish Craft Mafia: Proton Imperial Cheesecake Stout and Free The Parrots Imperial Coconut Stout?
And did I mention Amundsen’s Desserts In Cans are now barrel-aged?! You’re going to have to dive in… be sure to check out Amundsen’s Coconut Choc Chip Cookie Barrel Aged Dessert in a Can and Cherry & Chocolate Ganache Barrel Aged Dessert in a Can when you do.
I’ve already mentioned Overtone’s epic-smooth Oat Cream IPA, but you know they can do darks well, and Stoater Oatmeal Stout is proof.
On the hop-front Overtone has also offered up Nelson Sauvin single-hopped It’s All Nelson DIPA, while Burnt Mill keep us all happy with the likes of Citra Fog NEIPA and the extra pale, extra soft Emerald Table NEIPA.
There’s good new stuff from Polly’s of course, with blueberry, bubblegum, and mango laced Falter DDH IPA and the bang-on-trend sweet pineapple and coconut-tinged Oh My…Citra & Sabro Pale Ale.
Wylam are the go-to for rye this week, with Purgatory In Paradise Rye Pale Ale, full of dry pepper spice with oatmeal biscuit.
How are we feeling about a 0.5% sour? Maltgarden have bucked their own trend with the intriguing, low-alc Free Sunset Fruit Ale. Oh, and Maltgarden also sent over their (brilliantly named) Museum of Classic Beers Hallertauer Pils this week too.
Something a shade stronger on the sour front? Pastore Lemone is 2.5%. Amundsen In Cafruits #4 Cherry, Raspberry, Lemon & Almond Pastry Sour is stronger still.
Just FYI the very final deadline for Easter delivery is 1pm Wednesday 31st. But to be honest the sooner you order, the safer you are.
So dive on in, fill up, and have a wicked Easter filled with good beer and up to six people from a distance!
Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
Last week’s best new beers were mostly imports. This week, it’s UK brewers coming up with the goods!
Neon Raptor. Left Handed Giant. Three Hills, Polly’s, Kernel.
They’ve all released genius this week, so let’s get into it, starting with…
Neon. Raptor. Griffin. Tamer. This is the beer we’ve all been waiting for since Centaur Army! And suffice to say Nottingham’s finest have once again delivered via their new 12% Coconut Vanilla Impy Stout.
You’ve got people arguing about whether it’s as good as Centaur Army, but in all honesty, who the hell cares?!
This is an outstanding stout in its own right, and deservedly takes top spot on the dark front this week.
Neon Raptor taking top spot is a fair feat given it’s up against none other than a new dose of Left Handed Giant’s 12.5% King Of The Woodland Pistachio and Honeycomb Imperial Stout.
We all went mad for this first time round, this time it’s just as good and even a shade cheaper too. If you missed the fun last time, get involved while you can!
Elsewhere, Three Hills continued their excellence in their BPAVK series, this time round with new Chocolate Torte Imperial Stout.
Two different varieties of chocolate flavour! WTF?!
Biscuit malts complete the brilliance here, and an 11% ABV makes for an even bigger Russian imperial pastry stout than usual. Great stuff.
With the impy stout game a crowded place it takes something seriously special to break through to the top, and that’s exactly what Beer Ink have come up with in Starbeer Imperial Stout.
A massive helping of peanut butter and a big old dollop of caramel lurk in this chocolatey number, which has a body so thick it could make a hip-hop lyric. Try it out!
Frankly, it’s criminal Kernel’s new Mosaic & Sabro India Double Porter is only getting a mention at spot 5.
The sabro hops here make for an interesting, fruity dark while the world swings sweet.
Refuses to copy. Cannot be copied. Kernel, with their understated bottles absent of screaming colour cartoons, are a brewery that deserve so much respect.
This week, one swig of the new Polly’s Deep Fake TIPA sent me momentarily loopy, to the point where, lost for words, all I could manage was to call this thing ‘fabulous’.
With more time to think about it, I’d say this is an orange hop-murkbomb filled with pineapple and papaya Polly’s Brew’s trademark hefty helping of hop-hop-hops!
But take a big old glug of this and see if you can manage that. My guess is you’ll be as bowled over as me.
By the time you read this, Thieves In The Temple TIPA will most likely be sold out. It’s a seriously limited beer with just 5 in stock at the time of writing. Filled with mango, papaya & candied orange, you can see why it’s so popular.
If you want to be notified of beers like this early on, just jump on our mailing list.
Those of you into your fruity IPAs are going to want to get in on Beak vs Northern Monk’s Wool DIPA.
This rum berry punch’s thick, fluffy and smooth body earn it the title of a beery pavlova.
Talking of smooth, Wylam’s Lush Pale Ale has finally been canned!
After however many requests, the brewery caved and squeezed their unbelievably popular cask beer into canned format, which means we can all now enjoy their zesty, zingy grapefruit-lemon cocktail from the comfort of our own armchairs.
(Which, after a year at home, are of course no longer that comfortable at all).
When you first cast your eyes on Dig’s 84 Gold + Grill Wonderland Special Marshmallow, Pineapple & Guava sour, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was something other than a sour. But that’s exactly what you’re getting here – albeit a sweet and chewy number.
Die hards will shun it. Others will love it.
A good bit of fun from the Birmingham brewsters.
Brick once again delivered the goods on the sour front this week, with their 5.8% 330ml Berry Sour.
An experiment with growing-in-popularity Kveik yeast and Brick’s own house Lactobacillus, a generous smattering of hedgerow berries make for notes of blackcurrant jam and blackberry coulis. Top stuff.
And finally on the sour front, Kernel once again make the cut with their latest Biére De Saison Sour Cherry.
Fermented as per usual with Kernel’s unique blend of house mixed yeast, wild yeast and bacteria culture, you get a dry, effervescent, tart beer fruited with a seasonal sour cherry punch.
Turning Point’s new Dark Matter trio really should get more attention than I’m giving them, and the only reason I’ve made it this far without shouting about them is they span the darks and hoppy sections I’ve used to segment the new beers this week. So take a long, hard look at Yellow Matter Custard and Pink Matter Custard. The first is a yellow custard wheat pale while the second is a raspberry custard dessert pale. And when you don’t see too many sweet pales on the go it’s awesome to see Turning Point nudging boundaries.
Dark beer fans, don’t fret! For you and I have Turning Point’s Dark Matter Custard to get their teeth into. Literally! This is a fun, chocolatey sweet dessert stout with a massive vanilla addition that’s thick enough to gobble with a spoon. Still standing post? Then Laguna Sunrise Salted Caramel Glazed Donut Stout awaits!
Back over on the hop-front, Verdant’s Track & Field hit our shelves for the very first time, Drop Project got jiggy with sabro hops, BBNo were only too happy to break convention and brew up a complex, premium lager with Vienna malt and spelt, and Box Car hit us up with new Holographic IPA and the creamy and sweet Dream Softly DIPA.
It was Box Car also that kept the mild train chugging with another helping of their hit Dark Mild, which gives you all the rich, dark and full-bodied chocolate, coffee and caramel notes you’d want but at just 3.6%.
You’ve got Pomona’s Blackcurrant Gose, you’ve got an orange, apricot and vanilla weisse from Neon Raptor, there’s Northern Monk’s Sticky Toffee Pudding Porter, there’s Brew York’s (limited!) Extra Brownie Pints, there’s also a treat in Black Iris’s Embers Remain Cinder Toffee Campfire Stout.
Finally, as an Easter treat, we’re doing a bargain Choccy Box and a bargain Hoppy box. We’ll be shouting about these next week, but as both are limited if you want one, you can get in early.
Either way, I really hope you get to try some of these epic, epic brews from magician brewers closer to home this week. Dive on in, the fun awaits!
Cheers as ever & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
3 stouts. 2 sours. And a milkshake IPA.
Still, with spring poking through, there really is only one place to start this list this week.
That’s right. Hops. And get ready for some controversy, cause this week we begin with…
Now, don’t get me wrong, Match Book NEIPA hasn’t been for everyone!
For some reason Pressure Drop beers quite often divide opinion, and this beer is no different. So let me make my stance clear… Pressure Drop are an epic brewery releasing epic stuff that’s just so underrated it’s almost criminal.
In Match Book, you’ve got this lovely, orangey, syrupy, murky mutha of a NEIPA. Give it a bash, then let me know what you think.
On the safer side, new Verdant!
We ARE The People West Coast DIPA reminds us all of how outstanding the West Coast DIPA really is. It’s clean, it’s grapefuity and it’s malty all over. A great style done justice by the hop kings of Cornwall.
I’m also gonna give some love to the brewers over at Beak this week.
Alongside a rebrew of the always popular Parade IPA, I’ve been loving their new Locals IPA. It’s hop-forward, it’s hazy, and it’s full of juicy tropical mango goodness – what more could you ask for in an IPA? Great stuff.
Only one place to start on the darks front this week and that’s with Low Key’s Last Gunslinger Speyside Barrel Aged Chocolate & Tonka Imperial Stout. I mean, these guys smashed it out the park with their inaugural effort (which quickly sold out) and this follow up is just as beautiful a beer as the first.
Although it’s 10%, you wouldn’t know it – the tonka deliciousness takes full-on centre stage from the outset, then there’s the sweet hint of Speyside whisky lurking in the background. Lovely stuff, bound to sell out quick – get in early if you fancy one of these. (We have 11 bottles left at the time of writing.)
If you do miss out, don’t panic – Three Hills BANANAVK: Banoffee Pie Imperial Stout is another new dark gem on the same level of excellence. If you like your stouts for dessert, then this is for you.
You’ve got sweet banana, sticky toffee & fresh vanilla all combined here in decadent & rich goodness from a brewery that knows it’s way around an impy stout.
Talking of dessert stouts, Neon Raptor’s new Clusters Peanut Butter & Chocolate Stout has been winning as much attention as you’d expect over on Untappd… and not without reason.
We all know how good peanut butter and chocolate stouts are, and we all know how good Neon Raptor are. This is the two combined – can you really resist?!
Pomona Island have been absolutely smashing it on the sour front of late, and their latest effort with One Man Conga Impy Sour raises the bar yet again.
Has there ever been so much juice in a sour beer before?! So much mango, so much pineapple, so much passion fruit all in one.
This is a full on solero juice-wise, all topped off with a pinch of salt for balance. Get in!
And no, you’re not seeing things. Brew York’s epic Rhubarbra Streisand Milkshake Pale Ale is back, only this time with an extra helping of thick custard pudding!
Rhubarb all the way here with a sprinkle of fiery ginger, now creamier than ever and deliciously sweet. Those that like the standard will love this version. Those that haven’t tried the original – where have you been?!
And finally on the (kinda) sour front this week is something with a little more traditional zing… it’s Left Handed Giant’s Where’s The Ground Sour Cherry & Peach Fruited Sour.
Zingy sour cherry plus sweet peach all layered on a velvet malt base. It’s indulgent and it’s zippy all in one.
Now, I know we were all expecting a new and outstanding DIPA from Polly’s – and that’s exactly what you get with Polly’s Wallow DDH DIPA. But of much more interest this week is surely Polly’s new Progress Blues Best Bitter. Yup, a best bitter from Polly’s. Check it out.
Three Hills proved once again they aren’t just about barrel-aged stouts with In Pursuit No. 7 IPA.
Plus, after their continuing popularity, we had to go out and order in a load more Sussex Small Batch. Ruffles White Stout and Reece’s Stout are both online now.
There’s also tons more Yonder – check out Blue Jam Blueberry Gose.
A Green Pale Ale, Neon Raptor’s Naughty Luggage NEIPA, a Rye Saison from S43, plus DEYA’s ESB.
It’s all there, all online, all waiting, so dive on in – there’s goodness to be had!
Hope you get to try some of these gems this week. Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Oli Meade
As far as I’m concerned, one theme dominated the best new craft beer releases this week: JUICE!
New DEYA, Whiplash & Gipsy Hill releases were all packed full of it, which means there really is only one place to start this list.
So, when you’re ready, let’s begin with the…
Lancashire-based brewers Rivington put big old smiles on the faces of beer fans everywhere this week when they released Never Known Fog Like It NE Pale Ale.
This murky beauty has been lingering in casks for a while now and has always been a belter, and it’s now available in 500ml cans!
Some say it’s the new Steady Rolling Man. That’s for you to decide…
Also alighting the hop charts this week is Gipsy Hill’s new and outstanding special Tankslapper DIPA – a heavy hazed golden DIPA packed full of juicy grapefruit and pineapple twangs. Brewed with none other than ‘Verdant’ yeast (who apparently know a thing or two about dialling up the joose), it’s tropical, fruity and chewy but still drinkable as heck.
(Talking of Verdant there’s a major Verdant restock awaiting online right now – Sharks, Laps, Neal, Allen plus more, dive on in!)
It’s a seriously close call for third hop hat-tip this week – in any other week DEYA’s smooth and easy drinking Sound Machine Groove DIPA would take it – but this week I’m gonna go ahead and big up Whiplash for their Headlines TIPA.
This is a true belter of a TIPA from one of Ireland’s finest. I don’t know how they do it for the price point and nor do I care.
Thick, hazy, zesty and malty, Headlines has it all!
In Siren’s Shattered Dream Nitro Imperial Breakfast Stout we’ve got a scaled-up version of Siren’s award-winning Broken Dream stout. That’s right: an award-winner, scaled up!
Impy strength, a glug of espresso, extra cacao, and luxurious vanilla are all melded together then nitrogenated for something thick, creamy, smooth and indulgent. Come on!
While you’re at it, you might well wanna check out what Pomona Island have going on with their Wake Up And Smell The Covfefe Imperial Orange & Coffee Stout. Creamy espresso mingles with zesty orange for the usual unusualness from Manchester’s funsters.
The question is, how nerdy are you?!
Because this week, sour experts will recognise the excellence on display in each of Little Earth’s mixed ferm experimental sours, Hedgerow Blend, Blueberry Sour and Crab Apple Sour 2020.
The Crab Apple is my favourite, with Little Earth’s characteristic attention to detail resulting in a zippy sour bursting with sharp apple balanced with a hard-to-pin-down sweetness that makes it incredible to drink – a must try for those properly into sours.
Elsewhere, you’ve got those lovely little bottles from new to CM brewery and sour nerds Alvinne to contend with, which take the form of Phi Rhubarb Sour and Wild West Cherry & Raspberry Sour.
Wild West is barrel-aged in Bordeaux barrels then pimped with seasonal sour fruits for a limited edition sour gem, and one you could do worse than get your hands on this week.
Then there’s a load of new in stuff from UnBarred, who I could’ve mentioned in any section, but whose Mango Sour especially deserves your attention. A Berliner weisse with lashings of ripe mangoes, this is about as close to a smoothie as a beer can be.
Juice heads, feast on a DDH pale from Neon Raptor, a tropical mango NEIPA from Howling Hops, something more experimental in Northern Monk’s OFS030 Zagovor DDH DIPA or how about Chevron Action Flash TIPA from Pomona Island?
If darks is what you’re after, have a crack at Turning Point’s Spiral Static Peanut Butter & Marshmallow Stout, or Mad Squirrel’s De La Whip Walnut Milk Stout, or try Rivington’s Porter with Blackberries, Raspberries, Blackcurrants and vanilla, or even this Sea Salt & Chilli Stout from Anspach & Hobday.
Too experimental for you? Northern Monk went more down the line with OFS029 Russian Imperial Stout, while Alpha Delta’s Oaked Imperial Stout is currently on a hell of an offer.
Mad Squirrel’s Ribes Blackcurrant Sour shows they know what’s what, Brick continue to punch above their weight with Raspberry & Thyme Sour and, let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be a CM newsletter without a mention of Vault City.
I hope you get to try some of these epic new brews this week – dive in, feel around, have fun exploring.
I’ll be back same time next week. (Hopefully with a bit less to rattle on about!)
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
