Posted on 21/12/22
Craft brewers are seeing the year out with a bang – releasing massive stouts (including those made with hob nobs!), fruit smoothie sours, and IPAs so juice-drenched they’re a Sunny D lawsuit in waiting.
Here’s what I’ve loved most this week.
These arrived last last minute, and although I’d normally bang on about an Emperor’s beer anyway, the Emperor’s x Bang the Elephant collab Hobi Wan Kenobi is even more special!
This little wriggler has been sitting in bourbon barrels with lots of toasted coconut, vanilla & a whole heap of HOB NOBS in the mash to boot. Yep, Hob Nobs.
If I need to explain this: Emperor’s. Bang the Elephant. Hob Nobs. It’s got it all! Banging.
Amundsen came flying at us this week with their 9th birthday collab set full of madness… and I could see no better place to start than The Lervig collab Brown Cheese & Waffles With Raspberry Jam Imperial Pastry Stout.
Lots of chocolate going on and a slight jammy aftertaste with a donut edge too… like all the birthday beers, this isn’t as sweet as Amundsen’s past, and it’s all the better for it.
The German Chocolate Cake With Maple Frosting Imperial Pastry Stout has very much the same vibe.
The flavours of dark chocolate are rounded and smooth and dialled back – for Amundsen at least – and it drinks weirdly easily for a 13% brew.
One of Amundsen’s most considered and best for a long time. Get in!
Away from the Norwegian stout-monsters there’s still lots of corking beers. The top of the pile has to be one of the best beers of the year – Azvex’s Stocking Filler Nostalgia.
This impy stout blew me away. Lots of breweries have tried to nail a Terry’s Chocolate Orange stout and some have been decent.
This though… this is just incredible. I’ve already stashed one away for myself for Christmas day. Dark choc, milk choc and that lush orange oil essence all combine in an oily slick creation that is just brilliant.
I wish I’d bought more!
A special mention has to go out to Tartarus Umibozu Squid Ink, Seaweed & Yuzu Gose which is as incredible as it is crazy – probably the weirdest we’ve ever stocked.
It pours a deep bluey-black (hence its inclusion in this section) and the big winner that pulls it through is the yuzu. There’s a heap of citrus rind and zest that carry this brilliant beer while there’s a touch of earthiness from the seaweed and squid ink.
It might be a tough sell this one but I urge you to try it. Plus the bottles have googly eyes on them – maybe that’s the clincher??
Track and North have teamed up to brew Many Ways IPA to celebrate the latter moving to new, bigger facilities.
The beer is up to usual Track standards looking hazy as hell and swimming in punchy hops like Strata, Galaxy and Azacca.
(North’s move is also amazing news for one of our favourite small breweries, Tartarus, who have moved into North’s old vacated site so they themselves can expand. Wahooo!)
I also loaded up on pales from Polly’s this week.
Latin Jacket is a great Galaxy single-hop brew that brings lots of that fruit salad vibe to the table.
Whereas, Pure Devotion is the brewery’s nod to the incredible hop farmers that bring us new and exciting varieties. Expect citrus fruits, bubblegum sweetness and amped-up flavour in this corking pale ale. Boom!
Neon’s Twerking Turkey’s is back just in time for the big day!
This yearly cracker is an indulgent and thick sour with oodles of red cherries, cranberries and plums all rounded off with a crumble sweetness underneath all that tartness and a touch of cinnamon.
Also full of berries this weekend is Yonder Double Berry White Choc Cheesecake.
Yonder are very quietly smashing it at the moment and these cheesecake beers have been spot on every time.
This one has the same smoothie-like mouthfeel but the brewers have amped up the ingredients so it’s overloaded with naughty goodness!
A lot sharper in flavour but no less lush in execution is Yonder’s Orange & Mango Bellini Cocktail Sour. It brings crisp and dry flavours of sparkling wine together with sweet and full bodied mango purée.
As always, thanks so much for supporting our small business. MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU BEERY ANIMALS!
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
