8 Fresh New Craft Beers To Try This Week

Oli Meade

As far as I’m concerned, one theme dominated the best new craft beer releases this week: JUICE!

New DEYA, Whiplash & Gipsy Hill releases were all packed full of it, which means there really is only one place to start this list.

So, when you’re ready, let’s begin with the…

Hops

1. Rivington Brewing – Never Known Fog Like It NE Pale

Lancashire-based brewers Rivington put big old smiles on the faces of beer fans everywhere this week when they released Never Known Fog Like It NE Pale Ale.

This murky beauty has been lingering in casks for a while now and has always been a belter, and it’s now available in 500ml cans!

Some say it’s the new Steady Rolling Man. That’s for you to decide…

2. Gipsy Hill – Tankslapper DIPA

Also alighting the hop charts this week is Gipsy Hill’s new and outstanding special Tankslapper DIPA – a heavy hazed golden DIPA packed full of juicy grapefruit and pineapple twangs. Brewed with none other than ‘Verdant’ yeast (who apparently know a thing or two about dialling up the joose), it’s tropical, fruity and chewy but still drinkable as heck.

(Talking of Verdant there’s a major Verdant restock awaiting online right now – Sharks, Laps, Neal, Allen plus more, dive on in!)

3. Whiplash – Headlines TIPA

It’s a seriously close call for third hop hat-tip this week – in any other week DEYA’s smooth and easy drinking Sound Machine Groove DIPA would take it – but this week I’m gonna go ahead and big up Whiplash for their Headlines TIPA.

This is a true belter of a TIPA from one of Ireland’s finest. I don’t know how they do it for the price point and nor do I care.

Thick, hazy, zesty and malty, Headlines has it all!

Darks

4. Siren – Shattered Dream: Nitro Imperial Breakfast Stout

In Siren’s Shattered Dream Nitro Imperial Breakfast Stout we’ve got a scaled-up version of Siren’s award-winning Broken Dream stout. That’s right: an award-winner, scaled up!

Impy strength, a glug of espresso, extra cacao, and luxurious vanilla are all melded together then nitrogenated for something thick, creamy, smooth and indulgent. Come on!

5. Pomona Island – Wake Up And Smell The Covfefe Imperial Orange & Coffee Stout

While you’re at it, you might well wanna check out what Pomona Island have going on with their Wake Up And Smell The Covfefe Imperial Orange & Coffee Stout. Creamy espresso mingles with zesty orange for the usual unusualness from Manchester’s funsters.

Sours

6. Little Earth Project – Crab Apple Sour 2020

The question is, how nerdy are you?!

Because this week, sour experts will recognise the excellence on display in each of Little Earth’s mixed ferm experimental sours, Hedgerow Blend, Blueberry Sour and Crab Apple Sour 2020.

The Crab Apple is my favourite, with Little Earth’s characteristic attention to detail resulting in a zippy sour bursting with sharp apple balanced with a hard-to-pin-down sweetness that makes it incredible to drink – a must try for those properly into sours.

7. Alvinne – Wild West Cherry & Raspberry Sour

Elsewhere, you’ve got those lovely little bottles from new to CM brewery and sour nerds Alvinne to contend with, which take the form of Phi Rhubarb Sour and Wild West Cherry & Raspberry Sour.

Wild West is barrel-aged in Bordeaux barrels then pimped with seasonal sour fruits for a limited edition sour gem, and one you could do worse than get your hands on this week.

8. UnBarred – Mango Sour

Then there’s a load of new in stuff from UnBarred, who I could’ve mentioned in any section, but whose Mango Sour especially deserves your attention. A Berliner weisse with lashings of ripe mangoes, this is about as close to a smoothie as a beer can be.

But wait – there’s more!

Juice heads, feast on a DDH pale from Neon Raptor, a tropical mango NEIPA from Howling Hops, something more experimental in Northern Monk’s OFS030 Zagovor DDH DIPA or how about Chevron Action Flash TIPA from Pomona Island?

If darks is what you’re after, have a crack at Turning Point’s Spiral Static Peanut Butter & Marshmallow Stout, or Mad Squirrel’s De La Whip Walnut Milk Stout, or try Rivington’s Porter with Blackberries, Raspberries, Blackcurrants and vanilla, or even this Sea Salt & Chilli Stout from Anspach & Hobday. 

Too experimental for you? Northern Monk went more down the line with OFS029 Russian Imperial Stout, while Alpha Delta’s Oaked Imperial Stout is currently on a hell of an offer.

Mad Squirrel’s Ribes Blackcurrant Sour shows they know what’s what, Brick continue to punch above their weight with Raspberry & Thyme Sour and, let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be a CM newsletter without a mention of Vault City.

I hope you get to try some of these epic new brews this week – dive in, feel around, have fun exploring.

I’ll be back same time next week. (Hopefully with a bit less to rattle on about!)

Cheers & happy drinking!

Oli
(The founder)