The weather has turned and it looks like autumn has arrived, bringing with it a 16%(!) Neon Raptor imperial stout.
Tasting notes below – plus Beak’s new Witbeir, Polly’s hops and a host of Kirsch sours all get the same treatment.
These are the best new beers to bag up this week.
Anyone who’s been paying attention the last few years knows that when Neon Raptor drop a stout, it’s worth a look, and this time they’ve hit us with something truly outrageous.
Bear With Me 16% Coconut & Chocolate Imperial Stout is a tyrannosaurus monster that’s the biggest beer Neon Raptor have brewed to date, filled to the brim with dark chocolate and draped with mountains of muscovado sugar that goes on for days!
Anyone who’s not excited by this needs examining. Get it in for an occasion, get some mates together, and see what you make of something this gargantuan.
And as if one Neon Raptor collab wasn’t enough, we also have a cracking sour just in in Dyplomata Strawberry & Raspberry Cheesecake Pastry Sour, brewed with our new pals Maltgarden.
Fun fact; head brewer Łukasz ran off to brew this straight after his guided tasting at our new bar!
On top of all this, we also snagged Neon Raptor’s latest hazy pale Them Bones too…
That makes a trio not to be missed!
Boxcar make hoppy bangers; Beak make hoppy bangers. So when we saw them teaming up for a collaborative brew I thought I knew what was coming, but they’ve surprised us all at CM in the best way possible with Together Again Wit.
A ‘Late Summer Wit’, it combines traditional wheat beer flavours of orange and coriander with a super creamy body, and a fruity punch from the Loral and Amarillo hops.
Masterful stuff from two of our pals!
Polly’s are another bunch who fall firmly into the ‘hoppy banger’ category. Week in, week out they churn out hazy pales to die for, and Life In Paste IPA shows this off to perfection with a fruit bowl of flavours from a classic Citra, Mosaic and Azacca hop combo.
But nothing gets me more excited than when they go BIG, and Good Nature DIPA is BIG… even if it’s slightly more reserved by DIPA standards.
Weighing in at 7.8% with a tropical bitterness, it’s lighter on the booze but just as thick and juicy as their usual doubles.
This is what they do best – get this in!
It seems everyone has gone Kirsch-crazy this week as we’ve received THREE awesome sour cherry sours!
Brew York’s Kirsch Russell is already a firm favourite here at Craft Metropolis – a cherry pie pastry sour that tastes as much of pie as it does of cherry – so we were thrilled to see it joined by a ‘sequel’ beer, Kirsch Russell: Escape From LA.
The addition of maple syrup in the new beer takes it to a whole other level, making it a properly decadent and debaucherous dessert of a beer.
If you prefer your sours to stay true to their name then Polly’s Kirschentart is the way to go.
A return to their original sour recipe – but with a few tweaks for 2022 – it’s a straight up, classic gose packed with sour cherries and sea salt for a lip-smackingly tart and refreshing sour. Get in!
Next up, a beer with more importance than simple drinking.
Northern Monk created the recipe for their new collab with Action Against Hunger alongside Ukranian chef Olia Hercules to celebrate her country’s culinary culture, and came up with a As One Plum & Buckwheat Baltic Porter.
Malty and subtly fruity, all the profits from this are donated to Action Against Hunger to support their work in Ukraine. Masterful stuff.
And for the finisher… Northern Monk dropped the latest in their Fresh From The North series.
Fresh From The North 015 DIPA is a tropical delight using Pacifc Sunrise, Citra, Idaho-7 and El Dorado hops for deep melon and mango notes.
Back to the new beers, and it’s another shout-out for Boxcar, who’ve put a spin on their classic Dark Mild. A pale beer with which Boxcar claim to ‘focus on the malt profile rather than hops’, the Light Mild is a fruity, biscuity brew that’ll definitely appeal to the more traditionally inclined beer fans.
Beak might be best known for their pales but they’ve been slowly introducing sours to their repertoire, and Oodle is a Peach-Melba-inspired sour that proves they can put their mind to anything!
Love Peach Melba but aren’t keen on sours? Brew York hit the spot this week with their Dusty Springfield tribute, Son Of A Peacher Man Pale Ale. Enjoy.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these epic beers this week.
Cheers & thanks so much for your support!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
After last week’s collabs with Finback and Fuerst Wiacek, we thought it’d be hard for Verdant’s new stuff to measure up. We were wrong!
The brewery’s collobaration with Other Half and their new West Coast with Elusive are both outstanding offerings. Read on.
These are the best new beers availble this week.
This week, Cornwall’s finest teamed up with two breweries very dear to us, Other Half NYC and Elusive.
Being one of the best breweries in New York, Other Half were always going to deliver with a hazy DIPA and Remember Me If I Forget is dangerously smooth for the ABV, with the taste of dank peach from the New Zealand/Strata hop combination.
For those after something less hazy, Trust The Diagram WCIPA sees Verdant combine knowledge with West Coast masters Elusive for a stunning brew, with this old school IPA going big on piney, citrusy bitterness.
Top refreshment.
Baron are fast becoming our go-to brewery when we’re taking a break from drinking haze-bombs.
Not to say they can’t go toe-to-toe with the best NEIPA brewers, but we’re loving their ability to pack flavour into lighter brews and their new pales both showcase that perfectly.
First up, Softly Softly IPA which goes light on the body but deep on flavour, combining Citra, Mosiac and Motueka for a stone fruit/herbaceous mashup.
Next up from Baron’s new pales, is Catchee Monkey. This one is a crisp, sessionable ale with notes of grapefruit and white wine.
We love Baron!
Haze lovers have nothing to fear though, as there is still plenty of thiccc hoppy goodness to go at this week, with Overtone On Cloud 9 the thickest of the lot!
Making a return after a rebrew, this big old beer again delivers the outstanding body thanks to the fact it’s packed with oats and lactose – this is one CREAMY DIPA loaded with tropical fruit flavours!
For the sours this week we’re shouting about two killer rebrews from two of the UK’s finest.
Eton Mallows is Overtone’s take on the Eton Mess, in which tart red berries are paired with creamy vanilla and fluffy marshmallows for a delightful pastry sour (and it’s vegan!).
Tasting just as good as it did the last time around.
It’s also great to have Pastore back in, whose Waterbeach Weisse series continues to set the bar for classic, no-nonsense sour beers.
The Passion Fruit & Guava delivers exactly as expected, with a huge amount of tropical tartness on a light, refreshing body – no smoothie sours here!
And rounding out the highlights this week we have New Bristol.
Starting with Bristol Kolsch… Is it a lager or a pale ale? Well technically it’s an ale but it tastes like a lager – either way we love this crispy German style.
New Bristol’s version uses German hops, malt and yeast to create something that perfectly balances malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness.
And finishing with a new hop on the scene… that’s tasting awesome!
Currently named ‘HBC 586’, it’s giving us HUGE guava notes in the beers we’ve tried, so if that sounds like your thing be sure to grab a can of Buena Vista from New Bristol, which showcases the hop in all its guava-drenched glory.
Check this hop out ASAP!
Speaking of guava, Vault have teamed up with comedian Ed Gamble for their latest session sour Canned Laughter, with guava and apple combining in this pulpy, tangy banger.
Fruity pales are definitely back in fashion at the moment, and this week the must-have is definitely OFS083 White Sangria Pale from Northern Monk, which pairs the winey hop Nelson Sauvin with grape, mango, strawberry and blood orange in tribute to the classic Spanish drink.
And finally we have a lovely bunch of brews from Gravity Well, who are most definitely challenging the best in London Town when it comes to pales and IPAs. Our pick this week is their deliciously dank Pinnora Brewing collab Binary Star System. If you’re keen to try one of the breweries we think are hidden gems then this is 100% for you!
As always, I hope you get to try some of these crackers this week.
Cheers & thanks so much for your support!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
It’s birthday beer season right now, and we’re also all enjoying the last days of summer.
If you want to see out summer 22 with a bang… well… here are nine beers with which you can do just that.
This week, Siren have done something very, very bold.
In their new ‘Time Hops’ series, they’ve attempted to replicate some of THE greatest craft beers that have ever been brewed; the beers that influenced all of us from the very start.
The set of four very special beers includes Siren’s Time Hops: Centennial, which is a west coast Bear Republic Brew Co. replica; the Mad Scientist clone Time Hops: Citra & Mosaic; and even the classic Time Hops: Cascade, which is Siren’s clone of a beer that started me on my own craft beer adventure – Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale.
However, the one that interested me the most was Siren’s Time Hops: Simcoe. This daring brew is the legendary Russian River Pliny the Elder reincarnated, and it has all the bite and chewy sweets you’d expect from such an intense hop bill in a big, old-school DIPA.
This might be the closest you ever get to trying the legend that is Pliny. My advice: snap this up NOW!
Elsewhere this week, TIPAs are funny beasts for me. You’re always dealing with huge ABVs and personally I think it’s very, very hard to pull off a good one. So when Verdant said they were making their first ever TIPA this week I had to get it in and check the result.
Hand on heart, Verdant’s collab with Fuerst Wiacek, Intervention Denied, is just plain awesome.
Yes, some TIPAs sail so close to the sun they simply become piles of big, boozy, sickly gloop… but Intervention Denied has enough spice and bite to balance its spades of sweet and syrupy sexiness. What a beer – and I’ve only said that about a couple of TIPAs ever.
Also screaming from the new-out hops this week are the mega collabs from Track Brewing.
My pick has to be Discovery One DIPA with Equilibrium. Track are monsters in UK brewing. Equilibrium are monsters of the US beer scene. And the hop combo of HBC variants and Strata leaves this dripping with that big, classy, American hop-soup vibe.
Immense!
Sticking with the collab theme for now, we were more or less drooling at the idea of Azvex’s first ever collaboration this week – and not just because Azvex managed to snag New York’s legendary Barrier as partners…
Together, these two pioneers nurtured Long Island Deli Politics IPA into life, which is packed to the rafters with Nelson and Simcoe. Again, a beer with massive across-the-pond flavours, although Long Island Deli Politics also (just about) remains nice and smashable.
With all this collab chat it’s easy to forget it’s birthday season. Our own 7th birthday is coming up (more on that in the coming weeks), but right now it’s south London legends Gipsy Hill blowing out the cake candles… quite literally, in fact.
Their Blowout Imperial Chocolate Pastry Stout is, yep, a cake of a beer!
Brewed in collaboration with Chatsworth Bakehouse – the micro-bakery whose sweet treats sell out in seconds – this is loaded with oodles of chocolate and a mahussive 4KG of birthday sprinkles for unashamedly celebratory syrupy silliness.
We also welcomed Vocation back into the mix this week – when I saw they had Devil’s Leap Best Bitter upcoming alongside the 7% Honeycomb Chocolate Stout for just £4.50 I simply couldn’t say no.
Expect less fanfare than Gipsy Hill’s Blowout, yeah, but more sessionable qualities should never go underrated.
Notes in dispatches for the Elusive Whistling in the Dark Black IPA in this section. If anything sums up a well rounded beer that brings all the qualities of styles together, it’s a BIPA, and this one is a class act – ease your way into the end of summer with this mix of light and dark.
Pressure Drop are better know for their big hoppy numbers than their sour sizzlers, so it’s always refreshing when they drop something sour in summer that really hits the spot.
Fast Fruit Strawberry & Pineapple Sour is just perfect for this muggy weather, bringing both the pineapple and strawberry to the party in perfect measures, and being thin enough (in a good way) to sink.
Also knocking on the door of sessionable sours this week is Northern Monk’s Empress of Science, which somehow combines the flavours of tangy berry, tea and bergamot.
It’s unusual – which is precisely what makes it one to check out!
Normally a new drop of Beak makes it into our headliners, and the fact that none the shedload of new brews from the Lewes legends have made it into the main commentary this week goes to show the quality you’ve got to choose from right now. For what it’s worth, Beak’s best newbie is, for me, Maps IPA. Such a crowd pleaser, it’s classic Beak: dripping in the perfect mix of juice and bitterness.
There’s also new Pina Colada beers from Gipsy Hill and Vocation (you wait all year then two come along at once) in the form of Coolada and Bermuda Triangle Holiday Home respectively, alongside fresh Polly’s too. The Jungle Hop is my pick from the Welsh wizards this week with ALL the fresh fruit going on. Yes!
There’s also a belting NEIPA from Pressure Drop to get stuck into this week – Near Earth Objects is the usual murky and zesty turn you’d expect from this classy brewery, and it marks PD’s continued march as one of London’s best (and must underrated) blossoming craft powerhouses.
We also managed to add a couple of non-alc options to the mix this week: both Monk’s Holy Heathen and the Vocation / Mash Gang Get Wavy brews are both corkers with all the flavour and none of the booze! Add them to your Bank Holiday mix. It’s a marathon. Not a sprint.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these gems this week.
Cheers & thanks so much for your support!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
This week saw the release of some of the most anticipated birthday beers of the year – from Vault City & Neon Raptor, no less!
There’s also new stuff from Baron, a witbier from Whiplash and the small matter of A VAULT CITY & EMPEROR’S COLLAB to discuss. So enough preamble!
These are the best new beers to try this week.
Looking back 12 months or so it’s easy to recall the fastest selling beer of the year: Vault City’s Iron Brew Sour.
This year to celebrate their 4th birthday the Scottish sour-meisters brewed 4 beers and the amped up Iron Brew Extra sour is top of this week’s drops in the sour section.
This is everything you love about Vault City and their sour wizardry. It’s full of flavour, punchy and bold beyond belief.
OK, it’s daft as heck but it’s also brilliantly done. There’s a sweetness up front and that unfathomably pleasing taste of girders(!) but then there’s also a salty edge on the finish that stops it being just a gimmick.
The fact they’ve upped the ABV to a mammoth 8% is a huge Brucie Bonus.
If the 8% Iron Brew Extra is too much, there’s also a more sessionable Valencia Orange Sour hiding in the shadows that’s nearly as worthy of your attention.
Limited as hell so don’t sleep on these…
Also muscling in on the birthday fun is a brewery just two years older than Vault but equally as well respected: Neon Raptor have dropped 3 beers called YABBA / DABBA / DOO (see what they did there?)!
More on the other two in a moment but DOO, the Imperial Fruited Pastry Sour of the trio doesn’t mess about.
10% of cherry, vanilla and cinnamon. Happy blinking birthday you beauts!
With all the birthday fuss I could easily bang on about Neon’s DDH DIPA DABBA (it’s equally as good as the rest), but we have two perfectly executed Baron brews to blather on about so I won’t!
Smut DIPA is brilliantly made but Moondust IPA is ultimately my pick of the two.
US hops for days: Citra Centennial, Cascade, Talus and Idaho.
With Baron at the helm are you really surprised this is top of the hops?
Moot are a new brewery for us and I’ve been impressed with their newest Sunday Session SIPA.
It’s great for summer drinking in the sun… or rain… or fog… or… well, it’s great for any weather if I’m honest, but would no doubt be at its best in the sun!
We’re also got more Whiplash in this week, including the somewhat out-there The White Flash Witbier, which is a proper unexpected treat.
It has the characteristic body that Whiplash somehow seem to cram into every beer, but it has oodles of white peach intermingling for a decidedly peaches and cream kinda vibe. Mmmmmm.
In any other week a Whiskey Barrel Aged Emperor’s / Vault City Collab would open this mailer and it’s only thanks to Iron Brew Extra that it does not, because this is about as good as dark brewing gets.
Expect huge Islay woodiness with a delicate touch of lactose to mellow proceedings out.
Only 3 left in stock at the time of writing. You have been warned.
Moving on, the theme continues: it really is a purists selection on the moody brews section this week.
Specifically, you have two different Brew York 330ml blasters to check out…
The BA DRADIS Buffalo Trace Bourbon BA Imperial Stout just edges it for me.
Aaaand finally on the darks, although I’m yet to crack it I’m very much looking forward to Neon Raptor’s YABBA Imperial Stout more or less as soon as I’ve wrapped this blog post up.
14% of almond and honeycomb stout filled goodness… please stop!
The hoppy game is strong outside of the birthday bash with a collab between Gamma and UK heroes Pomona leading the list of hops that should demand your attention. It’s an 8.2% DIPA with the little known/used Eclipse hop in it.
A big shout out to local legends Friendship Adventure and London Beer Lab too. The beer is made 150 meters from our Brixton arch so it really makes sense to keep these crackers in stock
Brave Noise is a cracking lager and an even more cracking cause to support. The latest lager from lager experts Lost & Grounded is aimed at promoting inclusivity and diversity within the brewing industry with 262 breweries from across the world taking part.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these gems this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
In a week in which Amundsen released their new Donut series, you’d probably expect them to top my ‘best new beers’ list. But no!
Because this week, we also got hold of some new stuff from The Veil.
Fasten your seatbelt. You’re in for a treat.
The brewery behind some of the world’s best beers…
Some might say calling The Veil ‘the world’s best’ is my inner beer zeal out of control, and they might be right, but you just cannot drink The Veil’s beer without thinking it’s absolutely world-class.
This is everything you love about big hoppy beers – just more of it. Thicker, richer, smoother, juicier. Very few – if any – UK beers have reached this level of deliciousness.
Mountain Oat DIPA is a personal highlight – so soft, so citrusy, so tropical, so immense. When you crack one of these creamy fruit beauties, you know about it.
Oh, and these are barely a month old. Fresh Veil! FRESH! I’m begging you: snap these up before the hops start to fade!
This time around there’s even a Pink Guava Gose to check out – can these guys replicate their standards across styles?
Closer to home, Gravity Well’s Slipper Rave DIPA is a homegrown sensation!
It’s lovely and juicy thanks to citra, mosaic and enigma, but Nelson hops keep proceedings suave and dry.
So damn thick. So damn great.
Track, Floc; we love them both, and they’ve teamed up to make a beer you can’t fail to love.
Waves of tropical melon crash on to a bed of pineapple puree in Each Equation IPA; there’s even sweet green apple on the go, and a pithy, bitter finish – this has has it all!
Kings of the West Coast Elusive are also back, and they’ve roped in hot brewery of the moment Pomona Island for their latest amped up Rippin’ Rick West Coast Double IPA 🤤
Resinous and juicy, with serious hoppy bite.
You want hops? Get them here!
The official UK launch of Amundsen’s ‘Donut Series’ apparently isn’t til the weekend, but they’ve already arrived in our lockup and we’re not about to hold them back!
Red Velvet Cake with Vanilla and White Chocolate Glaze has the tasting notes in the name – it’s thick, it’s rich, it’s smooth, and it’s a 12-round punch up between sour and sweet…
It’s impossible to pick a winner – even after sinking two.
And I’m not sure if it was what they were going for, but Amundsen’s banging Cherry Cola Ice Cream Float Sour tastes just like the fizzy cherry cola sweets of old.
Sour tang, smooth mouthfeel, and CHERRY COLA! Yessssss!
Petal Fruited Sour by Drop Project and Left Handed Giant doesn’t have the tasting-notes-in-the-title that the likes of Amundsen favour, and yet ‘Petal’ sums this beer up perfectly.
Tart, tangy rhubarb intermingles with sweet and fruity hibiscus for a summer sensation.
It’s about to hit 35 degrees. This is what you need!
Amundsen’s new Donut series is naturally imperial pastry stout focused, and none is better than Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup with Salted Caramel Glaze.
Except maybe the Dark Chocolate with Candied Pecans & Coffee Glaze.
Oh, or the Black Forest Gateaux Glaze with Toasted Coconut sprinkled on top.
This is Amundsen, the pioneers of sticky sweet dessert stouts, back with more. Collect the whole set, these are one of a kind!
New brewery alert! Let your inner magpie out as you sink into Knight Moves Churro Biscuit Imperial Pastry Stout from Browar Stu Mostów this week, which is a bit like Amundsen all grown up – mega thick, super dense, properly strong, but not overly sweet.
Churros dipped in chocolate.
Need I say more?!
The hoppy game is hella hot this week, with new stuff from Azvex, Beak, Sureshot and Whiplash. Yeah – they are the breweries I didn’t have space to rave about.
You can add to that list Baron, Boxcar and new Polly’s hops too. Take your pick: the hoppy line up is mad this week, you’re in for a treat whichever way you turn.
Azvex and Boxcar both made an appearance in the sour section too. Boxcar’s Massionfruit (Mango & Passionfruit) Sour and Azvex’s Sunset Breeze Sour Ale are both beers that’ll quench your thirst in the sun.
Completing the dark line up you have more Amundsen with their more conventional desserts in cans, plus a second Browar Stu Mostów in the form of Mis-Thunder-Stood Pastry Stout – wholemeal cookies and chocolate brownie in a thick, sweet, dark beer? Sign me up!
As always, I hope you get to try some of these gems this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
I’m going to jump straight into this list this week because today we start with something pretty special, and it’s already seriously low in stock!
Vault City have Iron Brew Sour. Verdant have Putty. Should Overtone’s Northern Hemisphere also be added to the hallowed list?
Maybe I’m pushing things… but after trying Northern Hemisphere 2022, it is hard to argue that this is anything other than utterly incredible.
A pretty rare celebration of Northern Hemisphere hops, this is juicy white peach through and through. There’s a subtle spiciness if you look for it, and it accents the NEIPAs tropical deliciousness to perfection. A squeeze of lime coats proceedings while oats and white wheat exclusively keep things thick and creamy.
Only 3 left in stock – get yours, and get it quick!
If you do miss out… well a Beak Double IPA ain’t a bad substitute, is it?!
Curl DIPA makes warm summer’s evenings even better. The hops all combine for tangerine-papaya notes, with Beak’s trademark cloud-level fluffiness running throughout.
This should be called gulp. Mind you, that probably already exists.
What, you want even more fruit?
Then look no further than Seven Island/Northern Monk collab Nomad Clan Tropical IPA.
Here you’ve got oranges, you’ve got pineapple, you’ve got mango and you’ve got melon – this is an unapologetic fruit punchbowl that reminds us how juicy the juicy NEIPA can be!
Fruit is the name of the game on the sour front this week too, beginning with Dugges’ Tropic Thunder Sour, which has so much flavour for a non-smoothie sour you wonder how the hell they’ve packed it all in.
Lactobacillus adds the tang factor – serious tang factor, at that – then fermentation with mango, peach and passionfruit adds three more flavour layers that all interweave for an unforgettable experience.
Charlie and Olly are both big fans – as is pretty much anyone who sinks a can.
Funky Fluid have released a Sangria Sour! Where has this been all my life?!
Refreshing, zingy, sessionable; 500ml, imported, and just £4.80 a can!
The warm weather we’ve been having is set to continue. You’ll want at least two of these in your fridge.
When I saw Vault City had released Raspberry Vanilla Lollipop Sour earlier this week, I couldn’t resist – this is Vault City doing exactly what continues to underline their name.
You’ve got exactly what you’d expect to get from a favourite 90’s lollipop reimagined in beer form. There’s the sour fizz, the rhubarb sweetness, and that creamy vanilla-custard edge. These things shouldn’t work, and yet Vault City make them brilliant.
That’s why Vault remain kings of experimental excellence.
Few breweries have embraced Tonkoko to the same extent as Brew York, and the York-based funsters’ expertise in the area is now really starting to make their tonkoko stouts stand out.
Yes, the new Tonkoko Tiramoosu Imperial Milk Stout could be thicker, but the flavours are right where you’d want them to be…
Coconut at the forefront, vanilla-infused chocolate on the finish.
Northern Monk’s OFS080 Coffee Milk Stout, meanwhile, is more on the suave side.
Here Monk’s OFS series has hit Rwanda, whose mountainous climbs bless the country with some of the world’s best coffee. OFS080 celebrates that – smooth, rich, fresh ground coffee that’s marked by a hint of juicy red berry.
A collab with a small Rwandan brewery, too – hats off to that.
By the way, I also added Monk’s Flake & Sauce Ice Cream Pale Ale to the dark snap this week.
Yeah, I know it doesn’t belong, but it’s sweet, desserty, and full of raspberry, vanilla and even chocolate, and where the hell else was I supposed to put it?!
Stop judging me. Stop it!
There is no section titled ‘Northern Monk weirdness’!
For those who would’ve liked to come to our Maltgarden meet the brewer last week but couldn’t… good news.
Lukas left us with some real gems that you won’t find in many UK bottle shops – if any at all.
Every beer, without question, is top drawer here. And the barrel aged stuff? It’s world-class. Check it out.
Funky Fluid supplemented their Sangria Sour this week with Triple Gelato: PB&J Ice Cream Sour. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve heard only good things, and Funky Fluid just do not miss the mark. If this is your kind of thing, then snap it up.
Other noteworthy sours (/experiments) this week include a Banana, Raspberry & Jasmine Fruited Ale from Northern Monk, there’s Mango & Lime Lassi Gose from New Bristol, Brew York’s The Floor is Guava Guava Pale Ale is good fun, and Monk really went far out with their Beach Smoothie Hard Seltzer. Let the forum debates over when a beer is no longer a beer descend!
There’s some lovely hoppy stuff from understated masters Burnt Mill – seriously, if you’re yet to try these guys, where have you been?! A Polly’s and Verdant session IPA too! Northern Monk weigh in on the hoppy line up proper with a Rwandan IPA and, at the other end of the spectrum, they have Don’t Mess With Yorkshire Pale Ale, and New Bristol Brewery court controversy with a single hop IPA that celebrates the most contentious hop of the beer world, Sabro. The Happy World of Sabro IPA will divide opinion.
Oh, and finally, Overtone’s Big Joe has been topped up. Gotta love a bit of Overtone – epic on all fronts.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these gems this week. Free delivery on orders over £60, order before 1pm to get your beers next day!
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
At the time of writing, Wimbledon 2022 is still on, Cam Norrie is still in, and I’m about to tell you about the best craft beers you can buy this week.
The universe is probably trying to tell you something.
Let’s kick off with the new BBNo collabs and, in particular, the new pale ale brewed with Finback…
The big talking point this week was BBNo’s new collabs – and in particular the Finback collab 42 DDH Pale Ale: Citra & Mosaic.
This is a tropical DDH Pale Ale full of mango and peachy juiciness – and even though it’s basically impossible to find a great beer for less than £4 these days… this is just £3.95 a can.
The BBNO / Track collab 05 DDH IPA: Citra & Simcoe is from the same cloth, but stronger, more resinous and vinous.
Compare and contrast. There aren’t many of either left.
Hop kings Verdant also deserve some attention this week for their new Timing’s End NZ IPA – which is a showcase of those fruity New Zealand hops that always sing.
Grapes, gooseberries and lime shine from a bed of soft, creamy joy.
Verdant are one of the very best – which is why we’ve just loaded up on Sharks, 300 Laps, Lightbulb and a whole host of Verdant’s finest.
Now, Azvex have already made a name for themselves despite being… what… just a year old? But once you’ve tried their beers you’ll understand why – and the latest drop is another, delicious example.
Miniature Trees IPA is full of mango goodness thanks to galaxy, a little spice, and a big squeeze of lemon-lime atop the whole outstanding combo.
This is what you want when watching Wimbledon!
There’s more beautiful Beak just in too, in C’mon IPA and Sprawl IPA.
Just check out C’mon’s tasting notes: squishy raspberry, red currant and pine resin; tangerine, orange juice and pinot gris; pear, honeysuckle and heather honey.
Wow.
And it’s the undisputed champions Vault City leading the helm once again with a quad-drop of sexiness…
You’ve got the outstanding DDH Hard Lemonade back in. Then there’s Raspberry Banana Pecan Lassi Gose – which could be a mess but which stands strong.
But it’s the Untappd sensation POG that takes top spot. Passionfruit. Orange. Guava. Sour.
This, beer fans, is made for summer.
As a flavour combo, Pressure Drop’s Why Do You Always Do This Coconut Mango Sour kind of seems a bit safe… but make no mistake, this is a really, really, damn good beer.
The secret, obviously, is to smash up the sour mango then to add just the right amount of coconut – you need to taste it, but you don’t want it to dominate.
Here, Pressure Drop have the balance spot on.
Immense.
My final sour recommendation this week is New Bristol Brewery’s Lime & Raspberry Crumble Sour.
Come on – how good does that sound already?!
This isn’t necessarily a bonkers, out-there, WTF-is-that?! kind of beer, which is sometimes exactly what you need – an interesting and exciting flavour combo that’s just lovely from the first sip to the last.
New Bristol Brewery are a rising gem.
The big dog on the dark front this week is Brew York’s 12% Reese’s With A Spoon Peanut Butter & Chocolate Imperial Milk Stout.
This is exactly the kind of beer that Brew York do so well.
It’s a thick serving of desserty goodness!
Howling Hops’ Coco Interchannel Toasted Coconut Stout dials down the ABV to 5.8%, so is much more session-friendly, but still comes with a wicked sweet flavour hit thanks to bags of toasted coconut.
Paired with the gooey chocolate, it’s a gloriously decadent match.
Howling Hops sent us a twin pair of new hoppy numbers this week. My favourite is Another Matter Gluten Free Pale Ale. We have a keg on at our Brixton arch at the minute (we have a gluten free beers month on!), and ther beer’s popularity underlines its brilliance.
There’s a lot of new stuff from New Bristol Brewery just in too. My personal picks are The Boogie Below Milkshake IPA and Twice Upon A Time Double IPA. Not many DIPAs going this week, actually. Snap Twice up.
That said, there is a lovely DIPA from Northern Monk just in. There’s a wheat beer from Verdant. There’s Hollywood Hunks California IPA from Pressure Drop, a twin hop drop from Dog’s Grandad, Brew York’s Dark Berry & Marshmallow Pastry Sour is ace, and this Passionfruit & Apricot Belgian Waffle Sour seems mad.
Finally, ending on the experimental side, Pressure Drop’s Project Seahorse is a Coconut New England IPA made with actual coconut… a proper piña colada of a beer.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these immense new beers this week. Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Following Beak’s first beer festival, this week, some serious hoppy heavyweights have joined forces and released collaborations.
We’ll get to them soon.
First, let’s discuss some beers by Northern Monk, because Mango Lassi Heathen IPA has had a few upgrades…
For those that haven’t yet tried Northern Monk’s Mango Lassi Heathen IPA, where have you been?
It’s pulpy mango made smooth with lactose and sprinkled with vanilla… and yes, it’s somehow still a beer!
And that mad-sounding combination is your starting point this week.
Because the beer has become so popular that Monk this week started riffing on it with… well, AF Mango Lassi Heathen IPA, and also Strawberry and Cream Lassi Heathen Session IPA, and maybe the best of the bunch in Passionfruit Lassi Heathen Session IPA.
It’s a case of pick your favourite or, if you’re anything like me, collect the whole set!
If you’re after something a little more smashable, then please get in on Beak’s Mush Mango Sour this week.
I had this at Beak’s beer festival while sat on a hay bale in the sun and it’s a memory that won’t fade for a long time.
The sour mango refreshment is the sun’s best friend.
Get in!
There’s no doubting that Unbarred & Mash Gang’s Mango Berliner Weisse is much thicker… they blended the beer with Alfonso Mango 50/50 – what do you expect?!
For those that want the full experience, Unbarred’s Straight up Mango Pale Ale is Alfonso Mango backed up with Azzaca, Mosaic & Citra.
Can you really get any more tropical than that?
Finally in the experimental section this week there’s something very special from Track – two new barrel aged wild ales.
Momoko BA Wild Ale with Peach & Apricot’s saison base has a little woodiness after the barrel aging, then peach and apricot add funk, fruit and refreshment. Like a sophisticated peach cobbler with a soft, refreshing finish.
Raspberries has a little more suave and a little more zing, after aging for 3 months in ex-red wine barrels and resting on British raspberries for nearly two months.
There’s no doubting they’re pricey. But they’re two beers seasoned drinkers won’t want to miss.
It’s collab madness in the hoppy section this week, and the pick of the bunch for me is Beak + Range’s Equals IPA.
Now that could just be because I was at Beak’s ace new festival last weekend… but come on!
Brewed with Australian brewery Range, it’s silky smooth and full of mango, peach and lychee… plus a lime squeeze too.
And it’s Beak!
Can you really resist?!
Verdant + Track – are there two breweries better suited for a collab?!
In This Case DDH IPA uses the unusual Chit malt, whose proteins lock in lots of grapefruit, pineapple and passionfruit.
So gooood.
The next collab on the hit list this week comes from Pomona Island + Overtone, and No Condition Is Permanent DIPA is def worth exploring – these brilliant breweries fly a little more under the radar.
A massive 4-hop combo of Cryo Citra, Mosaic, Azacca & Galaxy bring in the joooose here, plus it’s a DIPA… which we all know is best!
Stock running low on this – don’t dither.
The final fresh and delicious collab I’m urging all to try this week is a little more laid back: Always Home Pale Ale by Verdant + Boxcar is nice and soft to reflect that Cornish water profile, and Talus and Chinook make for floral pink grapefruit refreshment.
A good example of Boxcar brewing, actually.
Plus it’s only £4.30 a can – epic value.
Again there’s more Beak to explore this week following their beer festival, Three Hills. Locals IPA is tasting as lovely as ever. Candle DIPA gets the DIPA treatment for even more flavour.
There’s a new pair of Burnt Mill’s to explore, who I keep getting in because I really, really rate them. I think Amplitude NEIPA will be the most popular of the two. But their 5th birthday NE Pale Ale is not to be sniffed at.
A twin pair from Unbarred in Morale 1940’s English Heritage IPA and Hayzee NEIPA will keep fans happy, and hop heads can grab the latest Fresh From The North 014 TIPA for a monster 10.2% hop hit.
You’ve also got I’m Partial to your Abracadabra IPA from Pomona Island to check out and, if you fancy something other than mango this week, well Pomona Island’s Blackcurrant Gose is a tart treat.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these immense new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Although there are some huge dark beers in this list this week, realistically, it’s very much summer tinged.
We’ve got a Strawberry Daiquiri Sour to inspect, plus some of the best craft lagers released since… well, ever!
It’s a hoppy beer’s world though, so that’s where we’ll begin – with something new from Norway’s Sleeping Village.
Sleeping Village are bossing it over in Scandinavia at the minute and this week three of their hoppy numbers turned up which I couldn’t wait to crack open.
Light Science Dry Hopped Pale Ale is pretty much where it’s at right now – Mandarin Orange and Mosaic hops combine for this sweet orange opening that’s backed up by juicy summer berries, plus a subtle bitterness to keep you on your toes.
At 4.7%, this is lovely in the sun.
From there, things only get richer, beginning with Baron’s ace new Brainstorm Pale Ale.
Just like Light Science, Baron have been playing around with Mosaic for those summer berry vibes here, but Baron also call in Azacca for a juicy mango edge. Oats keep everything nice and soft.
500ml mega-cans, too!
Moving through the gears we have new Sureshot in, and the best of the bunch is the frankly outstanding Heavens To Murgatroyd! DIPA.
Sureshot’s early stuff marked them out as contenders. Now, they’re really hitting their stride.
If you drink Double IPAs then this is what you should be buying.
Brewed by Cloudwater alumni… and it shows.
Completing the top hops this week is the new stuff from Azvex, and of particular note is Parkour Pigeons West Coast DIPA.
As any West Coast fan will tell you, way out west you can expect a cleaner beer that’s not scared to show its hoppy bitterness.
Slaps you in the face with Centennial, Amarillo and Simcoe.
Citrusy with sticky pine resin.
As an 8.1% can that’s just £5.95, it’s a steal. Get one in!
You know it’s summer when Strawberry Daiquiri beers start appearing, and this year Three Hills are leading the charge.
Forbidden Cocktail: Strawberry Daiquiri Fruited Sour is packed with strawberies, as you’d expect, but it’s the zesty lime that makes this truly immense.
The lime cuts through the sweet fruit to land this firmly on the side of refreshing… despite it being full over 500g/L fresh British fruit.
Thick and delicious – how did brewing ever get here?!
Pivoting to the other end of the scale, there’s never been a better time to explore craft lagers, and if you’re going to do that then this week it’s Baron’s Scarecrow Lager for you.
Nicely chilled after maybe an evening run or returning home from the office, there is just nothing better to have in your fridge.
So crisp, so clean, and so refreshing – yet Simcoe and HBC 472 plus a full month of lagering make this magic.
For me, this has got to be the lager of the week.
Finally I know one or two of you have been asking where the radler’s are at right now so I present to you exhibit A, Brew York’s Lemony Snippet 2.5% Lemon Radler.
This isn’t as laden with lemons as you might expect, which means more refreshment, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for here.
For sessions, for after work, for cutting back on the booze. You don’t see many craft radlers.
Snap this one up.
It’s a case of quality over quantity on the darks right now, but that’s no bad thing when the quality in question is as outstanding as Nerdbrewing’s Continue 7th Anniversary Bourbon BA Imperial Porter.
An imperial porter aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels, you can expect all the bourbon, indulgent port wine and dried fruits you want from this, then toasted coconut takes this to another level.
It uses liquorice, which might put some people off, but if this didn’t say ‘liquorice’ on the bottle you’d never guess it was there. As opposed to overpowering, liquorice adds indulgence.
Would age well… if you can resist.
If you can’t be tempted by the above then Nerdbrewing’s Fold Double Vanilla Stout is hardly a bad runner up.
Again you have a thick, rich and indulgent impy stout, only this one’s on the sweeter side, with so much vanilla it’s almost a custard.
If I was you I’d share, compare and contrast this pair.
Honestly, both are just off the scale brewing.
As if I haven’t already recommended enough hoppy stuff this week, I can’t sign off without mentioning the new stuff from Northern Monk. Expect blackcurrant, blueberries and dewy melon in The Beautiful Game DIPA; expect nectarine oil, sticky apricot juice and fragrant elderflower from Thought Bubble DDH IPA. How can anyone say no to that?!
There’s more new Sureshot than I’ve mentioned above, there’s more good stuff just in from Brew York, there’s some Azvex stuff I haven’t even managed to snap and, in case you missed it last week, Pomona Island & To Øl’s Reflections After Jane Strawberry & Yuzu Sour DIPA is an experimental great.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these immense new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
On the new beer front this week, there’s a handful of lovely darks to discuss and some mad Amundsen sours awaiting too.
But it’s summer, innit? So let’s begin where we should at this time of year – with some crazy new juicy New England IPAs!
There’s probably no better place to start this week than with Frontaal’s Juice Punch NEIPA, which pretty much exemplifies what so many of us are all after right now.
It’s a core, 330ml can of hoppy goodness, with Citra, Mosaic and a little bit of Sabro making for lemony mango juiciness with a lovely slice of coconut.
Gorgeous stuff!
And while it’s ‘only’ a pale ale, Whiplash’s Got To Keep On Pale Ale is very much in the same ballpark!
Here you have a sexy hop bill of Vic Secret, Azacca and El Dorado for sticky lemon-apricot and orange, and a generous serving of oats keep things smooth and creamy.
Dialling up the ante we’re all excited to have the MONSTER of a Double IPA that is Neon Raptor’s Minotaur Shock DIPA back with us this week, which just keeps getting better and better and better and better.
As well as Citra, Simcoe, Chinook and Mosaic hops, Neon Raptor have roped in the increasingly popular Lotus hops here – and the result is an 8.2% hazebomb that reeks of juicy oranges and red berries and has a mango-grapefruit medley going on to back those gorgeous fruity aromas up!
And finally on the hop front this week, the big dog, for those who like their beers with a punch in the face, has got to be the juice-king’s Polly’s Brew Co’s DDH Rosa TRIPLE IPA.
This is a 10% dank juice-fest full of passionfruit and peach, featuring a magnificent 25g/l hop ratio, and priced at only £7.65 a can?!
TIPAs aren’t for everyone. But if you do dare to dabble, then this is a gem you do not want to miss!
To compliment your juice this week, how about a side of tangy sexiness from the mighty Amundsen?
We know how good their dark game is. But just check out the flavour combos on offer here.
You’ve got a Mango, Pineapple & Passionfruit Sour. There’s their Raspberry, Cherry, Blueberry, Mango Sour. How about their Triple Berry & Maple Smoothie Sour?
My favourite though has got to be Blood Orange & Mandarin Creamsicle Sour – so orangy, so tangy, so creamy sooo 🤤🤤🤤🤤
And then you have Vault City, whose new sours are already close to selling out… without me even having to mention them!
There are still a handful of each left that could be yours if you’re quick. 8% Banana Split has probably been the most popular.
The most indulgent, though, is Tonka Black Forest Gateau Session Sour, a collab with the brilliant Low Key of Barrel Project fame!
If you want in, you will need to be quick!
You know how I said Amundsen are known for their darks?
Well, if you want to find out first hand just how good their darks are then tuck into Amundsen’s Choczilla Pastry Stout.
A Coffee Marshmallow ‘Lava Cake’ Stout, they call it. I have no idea what that is, but from this I can only imagine it’s melted dark chocolate smothered on chocolate that’s sandwiched between chocolate!
This is as indulgent as craft beer gets.
There’s something more serious from Brew York, in the 14% barrel aged The Dream Child Wild Turkey BA Rocky Road Ice Cream Pastry Stout.
I actually ordered this without realising it was brewed in collaboration with Tiny Rebel, but I’m still so glad I did – this is Brew York’s Dream Child from 2021, which has now been aged in Wild Turkey barrels for 12 months, and is full of luxuriously smooth and decadent honeycomb, marshmallow, chocolate and bourbon.
It’s immense!
Elsewhere we ordered in more of Left Hand’s crazy-smooth nitro milk stouts Milk Stout and Peanut Butter Milk Stout this week, mainly because Charlie loves them, but also because these always prove so popular with you lot too.
So tuck in: these are nitro stouts from OGs; Left Hand were the first brewery EVER to release a bottled nitrogenated beer.
Respect!
Back over in hop-land, do yourself a favour and check out the new hoppy stuff from Overtone. Hops, sours darks; there is no style this brewery cannot smash!
There’s more to the Whiplash drop than their sexy pale ale too! IPAs, a DIPA, and a DDH number brewed with Stigbergets. Stigbergets + Whiplash = next-level hoppy brewing.
There’s a huge new Pomona Island drop to check out this week too, which spans the styles this brewery are best at: hops and sours. All proceeds from the sublime The Heaviest Object DIPA go to Doctors Without Borders Ukraine. So be sure to add a can or two when picking up the same brewery’s Reflections After Jane Strawberry & Yuzu Sour DIPA. Or, if you’re more up for venturing into the experimental, The Rectification Of The Vuldronaii Sour Farmhouse IPA.
As always, I really hope you get to enjoy some of these epic new beers in the sunshiiiiine this week. And don’t forget, Father’s Day is on Sunday, and Father’s Day gifts are here.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
