Posted on 16/06/21
Oli Meade
The sun is finally with us!
So it’s time to start talking for craft summer quenchers.
Luckily, the country’s best craft brewers released a few gems this week.
Hops, sours and even a summer stout. Here are the best new beers just in this week.
I’ve gotta start this list with the new Polly’s pale, Hello Euphoria.
It’s not the usual Polly’s heavy hop-fest – it’s lighter, more drinkable and lovely and soft. Crack this for a brilliant balance of all the juicy new school notes we’re all loving right now with punchy pine from a generous dose of Centennial hops.
Lovely stuff, best paired with sun.
The latest in Track’s much lauded and staggeringly popular Gold Top series is here too, and it continues to make the critics rave.
Just Forever Gold Top DIPA is sweet mango and pineapple with a big slice of juicy melon on the side. It’s thick, it’s creamy, it’s juicy; its everything you’d expect from a Gold Top Track DIPA. And by that I mean it’s effing brilliant.
Elsewhere, with everyone else coming out with summer thirst quenchers, Pomona Island characteristically ripped up the rulebook by releasing Pouring Lizards Rye IPA.
This is actually a DEYA collab, so the quality is pretty much guaranteed. It’s sticky, it’s jammy, it’s fruity… if that’s your bag, get involved!
On the sour front, Boxcar have come out with wicked new a fruit smoothie of a sour in Tropic Blush Mango, Cherry & Coconut Sour that will have sour fans everywhere overjoyed.
Juicy sour cherries and bright mangos are front and centre and the whole thing is expertly balanced by a lovely sweet coconut dusting.
This the kind of sour you can imagine sipping on a tropical island somewhere… and imagining is about as close as you’ll get to being there as things stand.
Brew York also delivered something a bit special on the sour front this week via the very cherry sour Kirsch Russell Cherry Pie Pastry Sour.
The brewers poured a massive 750kg of cherry juice into this mutha, so it smacks of the cherry, cherry, and a bit more cherry too. A wicked deep purple in colour and pours like thick Ribena. 6.5%.
Dark fans will want to check out Pomona Island/Northern Monk collab Cancion Mixteca Imperial Churro Stout this week, filled as it is with sweet burnt sugar, chocolatey cacao nibs and a delicate touch of cinnamon.
It might not be right for sunshine… but trust me, this is exactly what you want when the temperature drops.
Neon Raptor’s Fake Hands – brewed with roasted pecans and cacao nibs from Luisa’s Vegan Chocolate – is roasty, it’s malty, it’s chocolatey, it’s vegan.
Neon know how to do dark, and Fake Hands proves it!
There’s so much hoppy goodness going on this week, Drop Project’s Haze NEIPA deserves your attention. On the face of it it’s your down the line juicy NEIPA… but then a late smattering of yuzu juice dials up the tangy citrus.
Burnt Mill’s Free Surface NEIPA seesaws between tropical and dank, Pomona Island’s Lervig collab Is Something Brilliant Happening? TIPA is our latest big-hitting TIPA, and there’s new Polly”s in the form of Sonar Bamboo IPA and the latest cult hit Patternist IPA.
Boxcar are out with their new soft and smooth Wellspring session IPA (£5.50), and there’s alcohol free offerings from Lowtide (a pils) and To Øl.
S43’s Guava & Lychee Gose is a winner, you’ve got Fruit Sting from St Mars of the Desert, you’ve got Neon Raptor’s Vanilla Weisse, SMOD also treat us to the latest craft lager and Brew York’s new saison caps off a hard day’s work.
Oh, and Brew York’s new dark Honey, I Shrunk The Impys! Honeycomb & Oatmeal Stout? It’s a stout fit for summer with added honeycomb.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
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