Posted on 16/02/22
Oli Meade
There’s been a fine smattering of hoppy releases, sour releases and dark releases in the craft beer world this week – so no matter what your preference, there’s no way you will be disappointed.
That said, there’s only one place I can start my roundup this week… because Empress Tonkoko 2022 is finally here!
We all know Brew York’s dark game is their strongest, and these new Empress Tonkoko stouts are among the best and most fun stouts Brew York have ever come out with.
Empress Tonkoko Tonka Bean Chocolate Milk Stout is the OG we all know and love, packed as it is with the customary metric ton of coconut, tonka, chocolate and vanilla. And that’s just the starting point!
Nitro Empress Tonkoko Tonka Bean Chocolate Milk Stout is a nitro version, which Brew York have somehow made softer right there on the canning line.
Then there’s the barrel-aged greatness!
BA Wild Turkey Empress Tonkoko has been silently resting for a year now in Wild Turkey bourbon barrels, which has added a rich velvet smoothness to the beer that’s hard to pin down.
BA Baton 1792 Empress Tonkoko is, if anything, another gear up. Here, you get rich oak notes, rye and an almost spicy, fiery edge.
Simply choose your favourite and get stuck in! Or if you happen to be reading this when no-one else is looking, do yourself a favour. Collect the whole set!
This is just in and it’s already in danger of selling out and it’s little wonder why – Coffee Poached Pear Praline Crumble is basically a cake in sour beer form!
The poached pear and smooth coffee probably shouldn’t work but they just do – most likely because Vault City have added in rich chocolate and soft praline notes that bring everything together.
There’s a sour fruit edge, but it’s subtle – this is immense.
As we’ve come to expect from this relatively young brewery, Holy Goat’s Citrus Crusher Winter Harvest 2021 is craft excellence.
250 litres of blood orange and clementine juice makes this zip and zing, and if that wasn’t enough Holy Goat added a full 50kg of whole, pulpy citrus fruits to the mix before bottling.
This has been aged for a little over 3 months already. Be sure to afford it the respect it deserves!
So the last sour I’m going to highlight this week is Play Brew Co’s new Big Iron Irn-Bru Sour.
Vault City’s version might be sold out everywhere, but that’s not necessarily such a bad thing, because this is maybe a little bit sweeter than Vault’s, and for me it’s even closer to the real deal.
Has Vault City’s version met its match?!
Moving on to the hops, it would be impossible to start this section anywhere other than with the new Toffee Apple & Cinnamon Milkshake Pale Ale from Play Brew Co.
Is this a beer?
A cider?
Proof that numbers at Play Brew Co’s 2021 halloween party were lower than expected?!
What I really like about this is it’s a pale ale first and foremost – but with sweet and fun toffee-apple edges. If you’re looking for something other than the customary hazy NEIPA, try this out!
Next up: Three Hills, and their two new single hop beauties Amarillo Session NEIPA and Galaxy Session NEIPA.
Single hopped beers are always a great showcase of the flavour profile of just one hop, and with single hops there’s absolutely nowhere for bad brewing to hide.
Amarillo and Galaxy hops are both, obviously, up there with the very best. That said, of the two, Galaxy Session NEIPA is the one for me – it’s thick and murky and full of tropical mango and juicy peach with intermittent bursts of passionfruit – it’s basically sunshine in one glorious can.
Finally on the hop-font, DEYA’s Big Loose Plan IPA is the Cheltenham haze-specialists at their finest.
Simcoe Cryo, Vic Secret and Idaho 7 hops turn this into a hazy dank tropical concoction complete with pineapple and juicy cantaloupe melon, and there’s a candied orange peel lurking too.
DEYA have done something different by adding hops mid-fermentation, which may explain how they’ve packed so much flavour into this – it’s great!
On the dark front, I have to start with Nerdbrewing’s Barrel Series 011 Bourbon BA Imperial Oatmeal Stout With Vietnamese Coffee.
Just the sight of this is enough to get your heart fluttering – you can see in an instant how thick and smooth it is, and the burnt-caramel tinged head confirms how rich this is going to be.
The cold-brewed Vietnamese coffee encases everything, but it’s the bourbon infusion from Heaven Hill bourbon barrels that makes this so brilliant.
010 was one of the best beers I got hold of last year. 011 follows suit.
Next up, for the uninitiated, meet the magnificent Estonian brewery Pühaste!
I’ve got not idea how to pronounce it either, but I do know their stouts are bleedin beautiful, and we’ve just got two in in the form of Trinity in Black Imperial Milk Stout and Beans and Biscuits Imperial Stout.
Trinity in Black is the more popular of the two – it’s thick and creamy with tonka, vanilla, cacoa and cinnamon.
Still, don’t write off Biscuits & Beans: it’s coffee piled on crunchy double-chocolate biscuit and, at 11.2%, it’s decadent and boozy. I can’t pick between the two – so you’ll have to decide this one for yourself!
As you may have seen, Three Hills released more of their famous BPAVK series last week. But apparently, the best was yet to come – because BA BPAVK Raspberry Chocolate Cake Imperial Pastry Stout has only just landed, and it’s absolutely magnificent!
This is Three Hills’ classic rich dark chocolate stout, only aged in Speyside barrels, which brings indulgent layers of caramel, currant and vanilla to the beer.
Soft raspberries take this to properly decadent territory. Could be the best BPAVK yet!
Rounding off the darks this week, Three Hills’ Smoked Plum Baltic Porteris more berry than chocolate and more tobacco than vanilla – but that’s what makes it such a joy to drink.
Elsewhere, Play Brew Co. proved they can also do sweet darks well with Cereal Milk, Chocolate, Marshmallow And Coconut Beer, and Beak renamed Oompa Jurgen Imperial Stout after that man with very hairy eyebrows from Great British Bake Off. Meanwhile, Nerdbrewing added to 011 with Implements Imperial Chocolate Truffle Stout: Salted Almond.
I couldn’t mention Pomona Island’s new sours above which is criminal, so please check out Kodama Little Yuzu Sour (just £3.50 a can!) and In A Gadda De Vida Sour IPA. Holy Goat’s Unicorn Wizard White Peach Golden Sour is also great, and uses brett fermentation to really dial up fruitiness.
Then let yourself loose on the hops! There’s Beak’s Bello IPA, there’s Neon Raptor’s Van-Tam Taskforce, there’s a whole host of lovely new Polly’s and there’s a citrus-marmalade-and-lychee DEYA pale that’s as sexy as you’d expect.
High Five is this week’s best hop-forward WCIPA, there’s Unlucky Charms by Mash Gang on the AF front, and there are two lovely new Frau Gruber’s in Simcoe Single Hop DIPA and Green Soaked Imperial IPA.
Oh, and of course, a Pomona Island hoppy foursome, including the magnificent The Man In The Gabardine Suit Double IPA.
As always, I hope you get to try some great new beer this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
