Posted on 13/04/22
This post is heading to you just before Easter weekend.
Think there’s no such thing as an Easter egg beer?
Read on. These are the best new beers out this week…
Before I get to the chocolatey stuff, I’m going to run through a few hoppy beers.
Obviously I have to start with the new Arbor stuff this week, cause they’re brand new in, they’re in full PINT cans, and people are already going nuts for them!
The best of the bunch is Date Night New England DIPA or, for something lighter Okemo NEPA.
The hop combos here are just bonkers. Plus you feel like a don holding one of these things!
New rising stars Gravity Well are also back this week with a massive, cosmic bang, especially with the new Galaxies Apart NEIPA.
This is about as juicy as they come. Mango, papaya, orange.
What could possibly go wrong?
Elsewhere Track’s Dreaming Of… DDH Galaxy IPA showed once again that galaxy hops are one of the best anyone can play around with!
In this you get tropical passionfruit, you get juicy peach and you also get a welcome, lingering bitterness.
How have Track done this with just one hop?!
(Unfortunately this beer is now sold out. To make sure you can get beers like this in the future, sign up to our mailing list below.)
There’s something a little bit naughty awaiting in UnBarred’s Dank Juice, which is this big haze-monster full of oily, resinous, dank loveliness – all while oats and wheat make things soft and rich. Get in!
What with Easter and all, naturally, the darks are all about chocolate madness this week, the maddest of which is probably Dig’s Milk Plus Birthday Cake creamy thick milk stout.
Dig brewed up a lovely thick base for this, before ageing it on – wait for it – cheesecake, vanilla and party rings!
It’s chocolatey, rich and indulgent, while still lovely and sweet. This is an easter egg of a beer!
Neon Raptor’s Tuckbot 2000 is a bit more grown up, but regardless it’s definitely of the same ilk, being chocolatey and rich and, this time, full of warming booze.
Neon Raptor have really managed to pull the walnut through in this, making it a walnut whip smushed between two big slices of date and walnut chocolate cake. Once again, it’s an easter egg of a beer!
If you’re going for the 2022 Easter egg hat-trick, then my final tip is gonna be UnBarred’s new limited edition Choccy Chip Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Stout – chocolatey, biscuity goodness in beer form.
Easter is here!
It’s definitely warming up, and if you do find yourself out in the sunshine this weekend, you’re going to want to have something by CoolHead in your glass.
These beautiful fruit sours are cut from the same psychedelic cloth as the big US Smoothie Sours we’ve seen recently, except these are much more refreshing.
Mojito Lemonade Sour is probably the one you’d most want if it’s sunny. But then Blizzard Smoosh is brewed with lemon candies, marshmallows, milk sugar, blueberry, pink guava and lemon pureé. How can anyone say no to that?!
Neon Raptor’s The Sheriff Orange & Pineapple Fruited Sour is one of 4 new brews that mark the ‘Neon RapTour’, which sees the brewery pouring the beers in various towns nationwide.
It’s all a bit over my head, but that doesn’t take anything away from this magnificent (and vegan) zingy fruited sour – it’s only just gone on sale and is already flying off the virtual shelves, so I don’t expect it to be available for long.
UnBarred experimented with pineapple on the sour front this week too, with the lovely Lemon & Pineapple Sherbet Sour, which is based on those fizzy foam flying saucers you used to get as a kid, and which is a great way to describe this thing.
The fizz that bounces round at the end of this is intense and effervescent. This is just what I’m looking for in a sour – get involved!
Rounding out the ‘misc’ category this week is Unbarred & Drop Project’s funky Saison, complete with New Zealand hops, plus Dig’s crisp Wassup Rice Lager and Overtone’s melony, floral Munich Helles.
One of the greatest craft bitters in existence is now out with Boxcar & Mills’ toffee-tinged Best Bitter, which you can compare with Arbor’s malty Blue Sky Drinking English Best Bitter – which actually has a kind of citrus edge to it. Anspach & Hobday’s Bock hovers in the same category, although it’s more fruity and has a spicy edge.
This week’s hop bonanza begins with Beak’s new Hands IPA, which has notes of raspberry and cherry. Baron are back with more brilliance, this time with a malty-but-hoppy Red IPA and the down-the-line Things To Come IPA, which really shows how great this new brewery is.
Gravity Well’s Galaxies Apart really was impressive, but don’t let that stop you gathering up The Casimir Effect NEIPA, which is also immense. Same sort of thing with Track. Yes, you really cannot miss out on Dreaming Of… but then you also shouldn’t overlook Nelson Street IWD Table Beer. So much good stuff! How are we supposed to fit it all in?!
Polly’s continued to kick out magnificence this week with the monster Manilla Times DDH IPA and the smashable Citra Pale Ale, while Anspach & Hobday unleashed The 5th variant, UnBarred treated us to a Califonian Pale Ale and Dig’s latest Pizza House landed to lauded fanfare.
Finally, Kees took a quick break from the darks to release What The Fog Happened NEIPA – which is amongst the week’s best value hoppy beers.
As always, I hope you manage to get stuck into some epic, epic stuff this week.
Cheers and happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
