Posted on 17/11/21
Oli Meade
Pomona Island’s birthday beers are here!
So, of the 5, which is best?!
Read on for the answer – then read even more to find out which unusual Nerdbrewing wax-top you should definitely gather up.
Pomona Island are 4! And to celebrate, they’ve brewed 5 of their favourite beers from the last year, the glistening results of which are showcased above!
There’s Raul Chamgerlain Kviek Pale, a Fruited Sour DIPA, and a Sour Farmhouse IPA to tuck into. The stand-outs for me though are Athleticos DIPA (Pomona know what they’re doing in that department!) and the thick and decadent Maple & Vanilla Imperial Stout.
Collect the whole set & join in the fun. Just think how epic these will look staring at you from your fridge!
Pomona Island aside, this week also saw a mega drop of wax-tops from Sweden’s Nerdbrewing, each of which is a thick, rich and decadent dark delight.
The pinnacle is surely the Barrel Series 010 Cognac & Bourbon BA Barley Wine.
A barley wine?! That’s right!
Get in on this & you’ll be rewarded with a viscous cognac-laced layer cake with rich dried fruits and ripe dark cherries.
(And if you really are deadset on a stout? Well, Malloc Toasted Pistachio Imperial Milk Stout is truly immense…)
Neon Raptor clearly know a thing or two about darks, and they’ve teamed up with rising stars Newtown Park to brew something special in I Remember The Future Vanilla, Coffee & Hazeltnut Pastry Stout.
This is bang on for the season, full of warming hazelnut and dark-roasted coffee from Guatemala.
Then there’s Unbarred’s Stoutzilla Imperial Stout 2021.
The can art on this is enough to draw you in, and the roasted chocolate syrup intermingled with sweet Madagascan vanilla, Bourbon Whiskey, and cold steeped coffee make sure you keep coming back!
The flavours come through one by one in layers before all intermingling and lingering – it’s an epic offering I’m currently urging everyone to try!
I don’t ALWAYS want to be banging on about Vault City, but when they release beers as epic as Blackberry Mango Coconut Dreamcake I’ve really got no choice.
This is their thickest beer ever, which is saying something, and it all begins with tart, late-picked, face-shrivelling blackberries. After a few luscious moments these melt into juicy mango, which is finally followed by the crunchy coconut that completes the ensemble. Immense!
(By the way – gently roll the bottle back and forward a few times before serving!)
Meanwhile Pastore continue their brilliance with Bamboccione Blueberry Maple Sour. This showcases suave brewing at its finest.
It pours a thick, vibrant purple and begins as a dense, tart fruit smoothie. But then the maple and sweet banana wander in, followed by the cinnamon, and somewhere along the ride there’s even a smokiness akin to bacon going on!
A breakfast smoothie sour in every sense. Pastore know what they’re doing!
Talking of which, Unbarred have definitely flexed their guns for SHSF 2021 Bramling Cross & Blackcurrant Saison.
The saison isn’t an easy beer to nail – and here Unbarred used Bramling Cross hops for the berry, lemon and hay notes characteristic of the style.
This thing showcases earthiness, tartness and funk in perfect proportions, and a mammoth 300KG addition of Blackcurrant Puree take it into territories uncharted – great work!
Should you need a break from all the mammoth imperial cocktailiness, then this week pick up Track’s new Time Don’t Mind Pale Ale.
Flaked and crushed wheat with extra pale and Vienna malts make this creamy and rich, while Citra, Amarillo and Motueka add juicy orange, mango, lime and resinous pine to the mix.
Plus, at 4.8%, it’s a welcome change of pace!
Beak’s Tumbles IPA also lands on familiar territory.
With more flaked oats and wheat than Beak usually use, this is even more fluffy than we’ve become used to!
Notes of grapefruit, pine, peach and passionfruit make this a lovely, comforting fruit cocktail IPA.
West London’s Weird Beard always punch well above their weight and they’ve done so again with their new Embers Never Fade West Coast IPA.
Rarely one to stick to the norm, Weird Beard have taken the classic WCIPA base, dialled up the fruit with a truckload of mango, then added a spicy edge with scotch bonnet chillis. The result is something pretty special.
Fans of the WC will want in on this!
Weird Beard’s hoppy outpouring continued this week with Brett Oat of Hell, a kinda sour IPA, while Dodo DDH Pale Ale is a crowd pleaser, Mariana Trench Pale Ale is back, and Mariana On Mango DDH Mango NEIPA is a dosed up version for fans of the original.
Pomona Island added to the pales with Hissing Fauna and The Art of Happiness.
Newtown Park, meanwhile, were more focused on the IPAs, with Infinite Horizons and Packed Party both as fruity as they come.
Drop Project joined in the juice with Drip and Elevation, while Track supplemented fruity Time Don’t Mind with Without A Word IPA – also fruity, but with a zippy bitterness thanks to Nelson Sauvin hops.
It’s also great to have Villages back with Warm Dawn WCIPA and Wildcat Pale. Our South London neighbours are going from strength to strength!
I’d actually place SMOD in a similar bracket. A brewery quietly going about their business to wicked effect, concerned with nothing more than the quality of their output. Their two sexy new cans are deliberately hard to categorise – Mice is golden and bitter, Frogs is strong, dark and alluring.
Jumping back to sours, Vault City and Pastore for my money continue as leaders. Both Winter Sun Mixed Berry Passionfruit and Pineapple Sour Pale are bold, but they work. Pastore’s Black Cherry and Plum Waterbeach Weisse stays with the season but dials down the ABV.
A sexy Sour IPA this week comes courtesy of Unbarred’s Citra and Passionfruit, while Talus & Grapefruit is a West Coast IPA amped up. There’s also a Polly’s Imperial Gose that’s as good as it gets.
Capping the darks is Kees, with Caramel Fudge Stout Pedro Ximenez and Top of the Morning Oatmeal Stout; there’s more great stuff from Weird Beard in Sadako Imperial Stout (10 different malts!) and Mendacious Pastry Stout, and Newtown Park’s Internal Monologue will leave you wondering why yours is so mundane.
Finally, how about this cheeky Beak Pale for just £4.85 a can?
As always, I really hope you get to enjoy some of these wicked new beers this week.
Happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
