Posted on 07/12/22
The theme for this week’s best new beers? Collaboration!
Garage, Lervig, Finback, The Veil, Nerdbrewing – this week, brewing heavyweights joined forces to produce some of the best new beers released this year.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
Garage are a brewery I have a great deal of time for as they tend to nail everything from a session IPA through to a sour and impy beasts with aplomb, and this week their dark game is cracking.
What makes things even more exciting is the level of breweries they’ve teamed up with for their latest round of brews.
First up is Muted Sophistication Imperial Stout which is a Finback collab. It’s a modern pastry stout dripping in the usual suspects like chocolate and burnt toffee but loaded with extra salted caramel and biscuit honeycomb too. A corker.
A second Garage/Finback collab this week in Golden Ale – Distant Lands is a more traditional style but equally as intriguing as the imperial.
When Garage and Finback get together you’ve got to be getting stuck in.
Elsewhere – and not dark but I’m on a roll – how about a little something by Garage + The Veil?!
The two behemoth’s new brew Caged Export Lager brings huge malty base flavours and classy German smoothness.
The collabs don’t stop there though we have Wander Beyond back in the mix with two 10%+ monsters.
The Lervig Celestial comes loaded with tons of raspy spiciness from the kviek yeast, but then the Silk with Pomona Island is madness in a can!
Made with ‘meadowsweet’ and ‘woodruff’ (don’t worry, I’d never heard of em either), it delivers big floral notes in spades and is one for the experimental and adventurous.
While we’re talking crazy sh*t don’t miss the Brew York collabs this week.
Rum Sundae is a 12% Nerdbrewing collab with all the raisins and all the rum plus it’s massive on cinnamon and spice – huge and indulgent.
Wow… in such an epic dark section I haven’t had time to mention Unbarred’s classic 2022 Stoutzilla!
But then you already know how good that is, right??
Over in hop-land, exhibits A and B in the best new beers roundup are Garage collabs Zenon DIPA with Vitamin Sea and Succulent DIPA with The Veil.
Both are huge, juicy bangers but for me the Succulent DIPA just wins out with it’s heady mix of nelson, citra and phantasm hops.
The Wander collabs are top drawer here too, and the Finback TIPA Pablo & The Whale really is a corker.
It has an earthiness that hoppy beers this mega sometimes have, but more than enough juicy smoothness to make slurping the whole 10% can wondrous.
I always get exited when I get the chance to snag some Burley Oak beers and the Jream series are always utter madness… the latest Peach Apricot Plumb Cobbler is on point!
There’s no hiding the fact these beers can be sweet – it’s just the nature of the game with all that fruit going in – but this brew somehow manages not to tip too far in that direction.
It’s mainly the plum at work keeping the lactose and vanilla in check but it does just that exquisitely.
In Vault City news, you’ve got a Rhubarb & Custard Sour and a Coconut Cherry Cabana fighting for your attention.
Which one you go for depends on your particular sweet-shop preference – or follow my footsteps…
Indulge in both.
Lager fans have a real treat this week with KCBC joining forces with Track to give you a Close Connection Rice Lager.
It has all that light scrummy almost creamy edge you get with the added rice and it’s even more slammable than a regular lager – a real winner even in this rather chilly month.
So many dark brews it’s easy to skip over some but that doesn’t mean that Tartarus Krampus 2022 should not be in your eyeline. 2021 was “the most Christmas cake tasting beer ever” and this year is just as good. Another for my Christmas day stash for sure.
Hecate from the same brewing outfit is a bit more sessionable and one you don’t have to save for a special occasion. It’s a 5.7% choc and coconut stout that’s clean and smooth and all in all rather good – buy one for now and a Krampus for Christmas!
Track Dreaming of… HBC 586 IPA deserves a place in your basket this week. This oddly named hop is showcased on its own and brings out huge notes of overripe apricots and tangerines. Boom!
Arbor are also back in the mix this week with two very festive tasting brews. Arbor Faked Alaska is an IPA loaded with hops and laced with vanilla and lactose to give it a puddingy edge, whereas Arbor Panettone has the vanilla alongside chewy currants and zingy lemon zest. Pop a hat on them and they’re basically Santa in beer form!
Sour fans should also make sure they check out the cans of Brew York Plum Cake. Any sour fruit concotion made with Funky Fluid has to demand attention.
As always thanks so much for supporting our small business! Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
