Posted on 21/04/22
The hoppy beer releases this week were off the charts! New stuff from Azvex, Verdant and a lovely peachy Pale Ale from Elusive – all covered below.
Still, this week, I have to start this list with the serious big dog. It’s new. It’s outrageous. And it’s from from New York’s Other Half…
This week Other Half’s latest stash finally made it across the pond!
We all know these are up there with the best hoppy beers available anywhere in the world, and to be honest with you, these new releases are really, really bloody good.
DDH Mylar Bags DIPA is at least as rich, creamy and thick as Other Halves that have come before… and it could be even better. If you’re into beer and you haven’t tried Other Half yet, please, please give this – or any of their beers – a go.
They are just on another level. That’s all I can really say!
Having said the above, the UK’s finest are hot on Other Half’s heels, as Azvex proved this week with the gem that is Particle Flavours DIPA.
Hopped with mosaic, mosaic and more mosaic, this outstanding Double IPA is dripping in stone fruit and topped with a squeeze of citrus, all on a bed of lingering fresh pine. Yes!
Verdant, another of the UK’s best, also proved their brilliance with three new collabs this week.
The Stigbergets collab An Endless Stream Of Random Words NEIPA is the most interesting and the Pressure Drop collab The Experiment Requires That We Continue NEPA will probably be most popular, but my real tip is the Slanted Tones NEIPA Unity collab – it’s nuts.
Experimental hops make Slanted Tones just so damn juicy that I reckon it’s probably the best of the three – which really is saying something given the quality of the other two collabs on offer.
(We also replenished our Verdant stash this week – and new in stuff includes Sharks, Pulp, Bloom & more – new 5am sold out in store in one day!)
Elsewhere, there is a new Sureshot Pale just in, but I cannot end my hoppy section without eulogising about Elusive’s Peach & The Galaxy NEPA.
This has a little bit of peach puree in the mix to kick things off, but what I reckon makes it so lovely is the big, tropical galaxy hop punch which, when combined with the choice yeast’s stone fruit esters, all comes together for a glorious brew. It’s a beauty – quite simply, I love this beer!
Tartarus released their first sour this week in Rearea Strawberry, Lime & Coconut Sour, which is absolutely packed with flavour.
Here you have a beer with tasting notes that are anything but exaggerated – this thing just oozes the promised strawberry, lime and luxurious underlying coconut with every delicious mouthful.
This is also Tartarus’s first can too – and look at how damn sexy it is. Everything about this beer is top drawer; Tartarus are a fairly new brewery, but if they keep producing stuff like this they’re sure to become big.
Azvex also joined the smoothie sour game this week with Lorenz Attractor Smoothie Sour Ale, which shows the brewery’s sour game is, after a bit of a false start, bang on the money.
Their first sour a while back, for me, wasn’t really anything to write home about… but trust me, Lorenz Attractor is where it’s at – a lovely thick mango smoothie that’s just thin enough to sink.
The coconut doesn’t take over at all. If anything, it’s more like coconut water than glooping coconut cream.
A beautiful fruit smoothie sour. There is, apparently, nothing Azvex can’t smash.
Neon Raptor went out-there while also supporting Ukraine this week with RESIST Chocolate & Beetroot Anti-Imperial Stout, a sweet and kinda smoky stout, from which all proceeds go towards aid in Ukraine.
RESIST is a great stout from two great breweries and, if there was ever a time to try beetroot in a beer, this is it.
On the dark side of things Brew York released Coffee and Toast this week, two big breakfast stouts that compliment Brew York’s outstanding new fruit smoothie sour Juice and their fruited IPA Tea.
The whole series is wicked, and Coffee in particular is a don.
This beer’s simple name – ‘coffee’ – just does not do it justice.
It’s a Maple Mocha Iced Latte Stout for Chrissakes – get one in!
Finally, completing the best new darks this week has got to be Funky Fluid, and it’s a close call between their Maple Syrup & Coffee Imperial Rye Baltic Porter and Pastry Chef Tiramisu Impy Stout… maybe try them both??
OK, OK. If you really want to be choosy, check out the porter. You really don’t get too many porters that hit this depth of flavour, which makes this one particularly brilliant. Get it in!
Sticking with the dessert darks you’ve got Weldwerks, who this week sent us over the rich German Chocolate Cake Milk Stout, and also Magnify, who shipped us S’Mores Mind Over Matter Double Chocolate Milk Stout… which sounds like a dream to me!
Elusive weighed in with modern twists on traditional styles in Microball Dark Mild and Del Perro American Brown Ale, and Tartarus rounded things off nicely with a down-the-line (high strength) stout and a Kernel-esque Export India Porter.
Tartarus also fired in with two Belgian beers this week in Rapunzel Belgian Blond and Will-Of-The-Wisps Witbier. Good Belgian-inspired brewing is definitely lacking in craft brewing. Tartarus are knocking it out the park.
Aside from Azvex’s immense DIPA there’s their new Citra, Loral & Galaxy IPA to get stuck into. Overseas IPAs come in the form of Magnify’s Common Denominators and Funky Fluid’s Vegan IPA, while home-based counterparts, on an ascending scale, begin with Polly’s Pink Boots IPA, ratchet up to Overtone’s Ol or Nothing DIPA then culminate in the mammoth 10% Slick Black Cadillac Triple IPA.
Elusive ignored the zigging to zag with Turn Out The Light NEPA, and Funky Fluid jumped in on the sour sensations with Double Gelato Blue Velvet.
Finally, Polly’s released Mind The Glow Grape, Rhubarb & Kiwi Beer. It’s official. Spring is here!
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
