Posted on 23/06/21
Oli Meade
Since their inception in 2014, Other Half Brewing have gained a reputation as one of the kings – if not THE King – of New York’s beer scene…
These guys squeeze so much juice from their hops most other brewers simply watch with their jaws on the floor, applauding the brilliance Other Half come out with.
And, after sourcing not 1, not 2, but 12 Other Half lines this week, I can personally testifies the hype is justified. So, kicking things off this week, I can reveal my personal favourite is…
My personal favourite of the Other Half brews that dropped this week is the DDH Broccoli Imperial IPA.
So much pineapple balanced by beautiful bitterness, it’s glorious, but seriously, all the new Other Half brews are on another level.
I can’t recommend them enough and hope you get to try them while they’re fresh!
That’s not to say there isn’t brilliance to be lapped up elsewhere this week – starting with the Cheltenham masters that are DEYA!
Glory Days Are Over DIPA is some kind of ironic joke cause it’s packed full of Simcoe and Idaho-7 for a juicy tropical party.
Plus, tons of new Verdant just hit our shelves!
Laps is back, as is People Money Space Time, there’s the new Light Bulb and a couple of new brews to choose from too – the most popular being See Food And Dance IPA.
Mosaic and Galaxy are a match made in heaven, making this seriously fruity and dank. You have to wonder how Verdant have managed to pack so much flavour into such a light beer.
Then there’s the wicked new 90’s wresting series just in from Brew York!
Each of the 4 in the series is brewed with Yakima Chief’s new Cryo Pop hops, which amp up the character of any existing hop pairings. Hell yeah!
So you’ve got the purely Cryo Pop Big Poppa Pump, you’ve got Scotty Too Hoppy(Idaho-7), there’s Sweet Chinook Music (Chinook), and – the best of the lot in my book – huge hits of stone fruit, coconut and tropical fruit in the Thundertaker (Talus).
Collect the whole set!
Over on the sour front, is there no limit to what Overtone can do?
Seriously, it’s not even funny anymore. I could big up any of their new releases this week – El Hefe Hefeweizen is great – but seeing as I have to limit myself it’s Choco Berry Fluff Pastry Sour I’m going to bang on about.
Packed with raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, on appearance alone you’d think this bright purple gloop was a healthy berry smoothie, but then there’s cacao, vanilla pods and vegan marshmallow to sweeten things up. An absolute gem.
Meanwhile, Gun Hill are a new-to-CM brewery also from New York, and the two Berliner Weisse’s we’ve snagged are beauts.
Guavalicious Berliner Weisse is full of guava and apricot, with milk sugar adding sweetness to what’s otherwise a properly sour beer.
While we can’t really travel at the minute, Northern Monk continue to bring exotic beers to us with their OFS series, and OFS041 Chilli-Lime Mango Sour is a proper celebration of the flavours of Mexico.
Sour, citrusy and, yep, spicy, this chilli-lime mango sour is wicked stuff.
Northern Monk’s Death is back!
And in this year’s version, they really aren’t messing about, pushing the mouthfeel into silky smooth territory with flaked oats, all while keeping the thing oozing with decadent dark chocolate on top of a malty biscuit base.
It’s a 12%, 440ml can of pure indulgence!
And as I mentioned before, there seems to be no limit to what Overtone can do, as Twisted Sense Barrel Aged Imperial Stout testifies.
This has smooth, rich dark coffee seeping throughout, with the Scotch whisky barrels it ages in adding caramel, biscuits and almonds – all the lovely stuff you get from good whisky – and a subtle peaty smokiness too.
Hops were once again the name of the game this week. Northern Monk treated us to their latest version of Glory TIPA – dank tropical loveliness, as you’d expect.
Wylam’s Pay No Heed to the Drongos IPA is a NZ IPA – so think gooseberries, peach and grape.
Talking of Heed, By the River’s famous Heedhunter Pale is now available fresh in cans for the first time ever!
BBNo deserve a mention for their new 05 IPA which showcases experimental new season hop HBC 472. The futuristic hop gives this beer refreshing notes of coconut, mint and vanilla – not your usual run-of-the-mill IPA.
And of course, Polly’s! They keep making em, I keep getting em. Mood Swings DDH Pale might be soft and smashable… but at 5.5%, is it really sessionable, Polly’s?! Own up! Elsewhere, Bubble Dream IPA is a rebrew of the Polly’s beer that was so popular back in lockdown 1.0.
Then there’s the small matter of Overtone’s latest TIPA and DIPA. If you’re not already on the Overtone train, you need to get involved!
Steady Rolling Man is back. DEYA’s Something Good is 14. There’s Brew York’s new West Coast IPA, a session pale from DEYA, and an interesting Export Kellerbier from Utopian.
And even though it’s not the season, you might wanna take a look at this candied orange, toffee and panetone DEYA/Box Car Barley Wine.
As always, I hope you get to try some of these new beers this week.
Cheers & happy drinking!
Oli
(The founder)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
