Posted on 19/01/22
Oli Meade
Beers fans on the Dry Jan train will already be chomping at the bit to get into their first ‘proper’ beer of 2022, and this week there are some monster contenders for what that might be.
So in no particular order, here’s what I’d recommend from the new releases this week…
From the mammoth new Dig haul this week I plucked out Cafe Kinda Nice to try at random, and what a choice it turned out to be!
I could bang on about the bright pineapple and mango that lasts for days, but what impressed me the most is, in typical Dig fashion, this isn’t just another variation of a New England Pale with slightly varied hops.
Dig kinda have their own unique MO when it comes to hops that’s hard to put into words – but it’s on full display here.
Cafe Kinda Nice is epic, bright, juicy work.
Beak obviously have their own hoppy MO too, and unlike Dig, the secret is already out!
That’s why they’re already on Locals Version 5 IPA – which is as soft, as juicy and as comforting as it’s ever been.
Expect passionfruit and tangerine this time around – with added gooseberry and pear thanks to the addition of Nelson Sauvin hops.
Beak’s outstanding popularity is also why we’ve just restocked the Beak/Verdant collab Teamwurk IPA (to be fair, the fact that it’s a collab with Verdant also had something to do with it!).
In an unusual movefor a hoppy beer, the brewers here use lactic acid not for acidity but to make sure the hops still shine despite COLOASSAL hopping rates.
Huge grape, tangerine, orange and then subtle coconut – what more could you possibly ask for?!
What do you do when a new brewery pops up and it’s branding is suspiciously similar to your own?
When it happened to Alpha Delta, they decided to make a beer in celebration!
Xevza Fresh Hop Pale is Alpha Delta’s response to the launch of Azvex, and Alpha Delta have clearly pulled out all the stops to show the world how good they are.
Fresh frozen Simcoe and Mosaic, then Citra cryo, Idaho 7 and Columbus – for a super fresh pale ale that reeks of tropical fruit, oozes juicy mango and is all topped with lemon-laced pineapple.
Best. Response. Everrrr!
Neon Raptor’s Clusters Peanut Butter & Chocolate Stout has been putting smiles on the faces of dark drinkers for ages.
And this week, the brewery have released a sexy new vegan version – every bit as immense, just without the lactose!
How they’ve done it I do not know, but you wouldn’t know it was any different to the dripping-in-peanut-butter-chocolate outstanding original. Plus without the milk sugar, it’s got to be healthier, right?!
We should all be upstanding this week as Kernel, proper OGs of the dark renaissance, have released a new round of their lauded dark treble.
It’s so damn hard to choose between these stouts I’m not even gonna bother… my tactic is just to start with Export Stout 1890, a beer full of rum, raisin, rich dark fruit and leather and smoke, then move on to the indulgent and decadent Raspberry Export Stout.
And on a cold, dark, winter evening, it’s hard to beat the warming toffee, alluring chocolate and boozy warmth of the famous Imperial Brown Stout 1856.
Everyone loves Kernel – and these beers show why!
Finally, for something a little less serious (but equally great in its own way), how does the new Milk Plus Cookies Oreo Stout from Dig sound to you?
It’s a chocolate-laden stout to begin with, which Dig then swirls with creamy lactose before conditioning the whole concoction on a truckload of crushed Oreos!
Cookies and cream and biscuit and beer.
Dig are definitely underrated.
(Milk Plus, by the way, is Dig’s more down-the-line version!)
Alpha Delta are on the warpath. As part of their herculean new effort of late, they recently teamed up with one of the finest makers of stouts anywhere in the world – Nerdbrewing – to create a humungous imperial stout laden with chocolate and chilli.
In the brewery’s eyes, this is hot chocolate in a literal sense.
It’s smooth, it’s full bodied, and it comes with just the right level of subtle, warming chilli.
Into this Alpha Delta poured 2 tons of grain in a double mash – the most amount of grain they’ve ever added to the beer. As well as creating more chocolatey flavours, the massive grain bill amped up the ABV all the way to 13% – take care!
BBNo are just climbing from strength to strength, and despite their growth the wheels aren’t falling off. On the contrary, in fact: their brews just seem to get better and better.
Their latest New England IPA is soft, hazy, full-bodied and sweet. It’s citra-dominant, so it’s on the zesty side, but when paired with sabro the citra releases all kinds of tropical fruits – think ripe mango, passionfruit and, obviously, a little creamy coconut.
A tropical IPA that’s both delicious and refreshing.
Newtown Park’s After Hours Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout deserves more airtime than I’ve given it here – a brewery on the up drinkers should really get to know.
The dark game is actually mad this week. As well as all the above, Dig are out with a Pineapple & Coconut Black IPA, Polly’s A Shot In The Dark Coffee Stout is treat and Brew York’s Rock E Road Star Milk Stout lives up to Brew York’s solid, silly rep.
And then just check out the new-in hops! There are way too many new releases to namecheck, so you’ll need to go searching by brewery for the new stuff from Alpha Delta, and also Dig (SIX new hoppy lines!), and Newtown Park and Howling Hops, and Overtone, and Polly’s, and BBNo – it’s a mahussive new haul!
Beers that I particularly like the look of are Overtone’s exquisite Azacca Reboot and Capes of the Dune by Howling Hops, but as always just dive on in and see what takes your fancy.
As always, I really hope you get to try some of these new beers this week.
Happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
