Posted on 04/08/21
Oli Meade
This week saw the usual epic juicy releases from DEYA, Polly’s, Verdant, Northern Monk and whatnot. So this week’s list is going to be filled with all of them, right?
Not so!
This week’s best new brews came from far more unexpected places.
The stalwarts still reign. But, as you’ll see from the below, they’re not the only ones that know what to do they’ve got competition.
Full Circle’s Looper IPA is now recognised by many as one of the best core IPAs money can buy… so when I saw the new Dude, Where’s My Tent! NEIPA I was all over it.
In a word? Joooose!
How they’ve packed so much of it into such a simple hop combo is anyone’s guess. The magic explains why this brewery is turning so many heads.
If you haven’t tried Full Circle yet, get in now – they’ve even sent us over a summery Apricot & Peach Saison and an on-trend pilsner this week – take your pick!
Another rising star in Newtown Park smashed a new hoppy brew this week in No Going Back IPA, packed to the rafters with juicy peach, ripe mango and a sprinkle of lemon zest. A subtle bitterness also reminds you what you’re playing with.
Soft? DEYA – watch your back!
It’s a mega close call for the final top of the hops spot this week considering the slug of DEYA, Verdant and Polly’s fresh in, but I just cannot ignore how epic Kernel’s Citra & Sabro Pale is.
It’s probably going to be overlooked by hype lists which sometimes seems like that’s also what Kernel want, but serious fans will know that when Kernel start playing around with Citra and Sabro it’s a beer not to be missed.
Fruity, smooth coconut vibes, perfect carbonation, 500ml, 5.2%, £3.50!
By a long stretch, this will be the best £3.50 you spend this week!
Queer Brewing are now getting deserved praise for doing wicked things for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility – it’s about bleeding time – and let’s let it not go unnoticed that their all round awesomeness is matched by the sheer quality of their brewing.
I mean, Tiny Dots Pils is just one a hell of pilsner. Floral with a touch of spice thanks to tettnang hops, it’s a wicked beer by an ace brewery.
Get in!
Meanwhile, BBNo have bottled brilliance in 18 Farmhouse Ale: Blackberry & Blackcurrant, which is about as classy an affair as beer gets.
This is a mixed-fermentation pale that started off as a complex farmhouse pale base, then things took a turn with fresh blackcurrants and blackberries, for a hedgerow celebration.
Refreshing, complex, sexy and suave, how can you not want this in your fridge?!
And Vault City’s Havana Session Sour is back!
If you missed this first time around you’re going to need to be quick to get in on the action this time – there are 6 left in stock as I type.
You’ve got more of that biting zesty lime paired with a bucketful of fresh mint and subtle sweetness for a sour beer mojito. And if that doesn’t sway you, nothing will!
Vault really are sour kings. Veeky Chimto, by the way, ain’t bad either.
Texas-based brewery Jester King just does not mess about, largely bottling 750ml (Texas-sized!) brews so enormous we’re unable to sell them online.
Liquid Bake Sale is, for now at least, the only exception.
This is a huge, sticky, oaty impy stout laced with vanilla beans and cacao nibs all crammed into one normal(ish) sized can.
Full of brandy, chocolate fondue, rum-soaked liquorice and vanilla cookie, they won’t last long. Currently six left up for grabs!
And I’m delighted to announce that Nerdbrewing are back!
We lined our shelves with new barrel aged impys 005 and 006 this week, both are as great as ever, but Barrel Series 005 Imperial Stout is the one I beeline for – a Swedish impy oatmeal stout, aged in Heaven Hill first-fill bourbon barrels, topped off with toasted coconut that lingers and lingers. Glorious!
My final dark hat tip this week is a hugely close call. Kernel’s always bang on the money Imperial Brown Stout London 1856 could so easily have snagged it, but I’m going to go for Howling Hops Function Void Tropical Stout really cause it’s such an interesting amalgamation.
Toasty malts combo with Cryo Citra and El Dorado hops for flavours of fruit dipped in chocolate. Bootiful.
Complimenting the Kernel drop this week were Mosaic Table Beer, a Mosaic & Cascade IPA and a lovely pair of refreshing saisons in Apricotand Damson.
DEYA’s I Do This All The Time White Beer has refreshing notes of rhubarb and coriander, but saphir hops keep things spicy and complex.
Howling Hops added complexity to two new NEIPAs by dialling up their hop combos – Search Light NEIPA is loaded with Strata, Mosaic and El Dorado; Platform Contest NEIPA calls on Topaz, Citra and Amarillo for a drop that’s juicy, sticky and resinous.
New to CM brewery Ten Hands, from Sweden, hit us up with a double NEIPA drop too in Telepathic Rainbow Alligator NEIPA and Splice NEIPA. Loving the can art on these, I’m excited to have them in stock and I’m looking forward to keeping track of Ten Hands’ progress.
Flipping back to dark territory, Brew York teamed up with Swedish brewery Beersmiths to come up with Flatpack Fika Fuel Impy Milk Stout. 3kg per barrel of pecan nuts, lashings of caramel and marzipan-like tonka beans make for a sweet stout that has Brew York’s fingerprints all over it. Brew York’s refreshing Simon Le Mon Lemon Sherbert Sour couldn’t be more different.
Then there’s the heavyweights: more DEYA, more Verdant, more Polly’s, more Monk. You’re just going to have to dive in to search through their always glorious wares. Good starting off points include DEYA’s new Pale, there’s Verdant’s Lucky Slurps IPA, then there’s Polly’s High Speed Soul Australian DIPA and Northern Monk’s OFS044 Banana Mango Lassi IPA.
Burning Sky’s Rustic Table Beer is fairly low-alc; Burnt Mill used a bit of genius to de-glutenise Steel-Cut Gluten Free Pale.
Finally this week, I want to end on Big Drop, a brewery that don’t get enough love considering the quality of their wares. I’ve been a huge fan and supporter since they started – if you’re yet to get involved, think Overtone and Pressure Drop vibes, which says it all really. Their latest collab with Boxcar, Halcyon NEIPA is as juicy as you like, plus Crush session NEIPA is back, as is crowd favourite Shifty DDH pale. Get involved!
As always, I hope you get to try some of these magnificent beers this week.
Cheers, happy drinking, and feel free to shout if you have any questions,
Oli
(The founder)
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