Posted on 18/08/21
Oli Meade
How do you get to 10 without brewing a single sour beer?
I have no idea, but Loch Lomond managed it!
Then, to celebrate their 10th birthday, as if to drive the point home, a huge fruited sour is exactly what they brewed!
So before we get to the TIPAs and Milk Stouts this week, let’s discuss Loch Lomond’s somewhat seminal beer…
This wicked pink beauty is one of 10 special birthday beers, it’s something so many of us have been waiting for, it’s the absolute business and, at £6.15, it’s also an absolute steal.
This is crammed full of Blairgowrie raspberries – considered among the best in the world due to Scotland’s chilly climate. It’s juicy, it’s bright pink, it’s zingy, it’s fruity and it has a long and lingering tart finish.
Loch Lomond have almost sold out already so get a can while you can! And, while you’re at it, check out their other birthday collabs – an Impy Stout, a Kveik TIPA Polly’s Collab and the Cherry Saison. They’re all massive and all ace – you will not be disappointed!
We have to start with Garage on the hop front this week, and their epic All Out Front TIPA which is filled with so much fruit it should count towards your five a day.
You’ve got pineapple, you’ve got blueberry, it’s packed full of juicy orange, then there’s a beautiful, sticky, resinous pine going on, you’ve got everything you want in a juicy hop-gem – can’t recommend this enough for your drinking pleasures this week!
Next up, one of our firm favourites Whiplash from over in Dublin sent us yet another epic selection this week, and for me the best has got to be Sunshine Under Ground Pale 2021.
You tuck in, it’s pure silk, you look for the lactose and your jaw hits the floor when you find nothing of the sort!
Instead Whiplash have achieved velvet silkiness through bags of oats and wheat, then Cascade, Lemondrop, and a ‘double dry zesting’ packs this with summery, citrusy goodness – it’s lush!
Finally, DEYA’s latest Something Good is in the house!
And this time it’s DEYA meets Yakima Chief’s latest Cryo Pop hop original blend.
Sprinklied with a bit of Citra, it’s another big hoppy beer from DEYA filled with notes of everything we love – tropical mango and ripe peach with a big squeeze of lemon for a fruit salad beer!
New, sexy and suave artisanal ale from Grimm just in! Vacay Sour foregoes the fruit in favour of dry hops, tearing down the traditional boundary between sour and hoppy.
It’s got an unquestionable sour zing but it’s… y’know… it’s beer coloured, it’s mega refreshing, ultra crushable… it’s a belter!
Next up is Lost & Grounded, of Keller Pils fame, who have come out with a magnificent gose in Find Your Road.
A base of 60% wheat malt makes for a seriously pale beer, then lactic cultures provide the zing, to which Lost & Grounded have added a sprinkle of sea salt and coriander for a tangy, zingy, refreshing treat.
They only do a straight up gose once a year… my advice is don’t let this one pass you by!
And finally there’s Track’s Rosa Barrel Aged Sour, which is as upmarket as Grimm’s artisinal offering, and maybe even more so!
This is a blend of two Track beers, both aged for 18 months in Pinot Noir barrels, which are clear in the coconut and vanilla flavours.
Two full months on plums and damsons adds a serious sour bite, so you’ve got dry damson, sour plum and sweet cherry, all wrapped up in a marzipan coating, and with a lingering, tart finish.
Top quality brewing – are Track underrated?!
On the dark front, say hello to Bittersweet Nitro Imperial Coffee Milk Stout from Left Hand of Colorado, USA!
A special blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffee beans weaves rich berry notes with spicy undertones into this 8.9% mutha, then a huge nitro injection makes this a cotton-wool wrapped, rich and robust, chocolate-dipped coffee bean that melts in the mouth leaving lingering cream. Epic!
Amundsen are back!
Our first new Dessert In a Can in a while is in, and this time around it’s none other than Chocolate Toffee Peppermint Cookie Dessert in a Can.
Expect adjuncts, expect gloop, expect goo, expect fun… this is a sure sign that winter is coming. Am I the only one that really cannot wait?!
Continuing the dark charge are black mages Left Handed Giant, whose pistachio laced Woodland Creatures Milk Stout will please dark fans everywhere. Loch Lomond were obviously in on the action too. Their Waiting For The Rain Imperial Tablet Stout is their own birthday cake!
A huge haul from Garage spans styles – there’s this Weisse plus another, there’s a DIPA, a pale and a pils, plus the one that will surely prove most popular in A Boy Called Chase NEIPA – and even more, get exploring!
Brew York contribute to the sour front with Jackie Flan Mixed Berry Pastry Sour and Goose Lee Imperial Gooseberry Fool Sour, two beers battling it out for the title of greatest karate beer ever. The Gooseberry wins though… obviously.
DEYA add to Something Good 15 with Man Is The Most Secret Animal On Earth and Better Daze IPA. The first is a cask style pale, the second is the classic DEYA juice!
Beak’s Lulla Table Beer is unmistakably Beak, just in brilliantly welcome sessionable for. And to your session you can probably add Left Handed Giant’s Sky Above Pale – which clocks in at 4.5%.
I love a bit of Double Barrelled, so it’s great to have them back in with Desk Surfing Kölsch-Style Lager and That’s It! Back To Winnipeg Pale. The second is a balance of East and West Coast styles, which is definitely worth a try. Meanwhile their Ding Keller Lager is a hazy, unfiltered lager. I’m hooked!
There’s a load of low-alc stuff too, primarily from Good Karma, get to know the brewery via Rock Leopard collab Culture Shock Radler.
Queer Brewing are back in too, with a pale and Flowers Witbier. There’s also more Kernel – 7% Talus IPA being my pick – plus dive in to new stuff from Polly’s, Brass Castle and, of course, Track – including latest Gold Top Another Lifetime Gold Top DIPA.
Seriously, get rummaging! Good stuff awaits!
As always, I hope you get to try some of these ace new beers this week.
Cheers!
Oli
(The founder)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
