Posted on 27/05/21
Oli Meade
It’s bank holiday week this week in the UK… and craft brewers have been pulling out all the stops in anticipation!
TIPAs, Pastry Sours, Bourbon Oaked Milk Stouts… we’ve all got a smorgasbord of wicked new stuff waiting for us this week, so let’s look at some of the very best.
Overtone’s new Crystal Ball TIPAis a bangin Triple IPA from a brewery at the top of their game.
A triple dose of dry hops packs this 11% beast with tropical fruit, plus some serious dankness as things play out!
Next up, I obviously keep a close eye on anything new from Polly’s, and this week We’ve Lost Dancing DDH IPA should be on every beer fan’s radar.
Characteristically hoppy, featuring their trademark pyramid hop from 20kg down to 5kg of Mosaic, Citra, Galaxy and Vic Secret, this is a Down Under/US mash up… you’ve got pithy grapefruit, tangerine, berries, peach, and passionfruit, plus a kinda bubblegum sweetness wrapping things up.
Beautiful stuff.
The stuff DEYA came out with this week is naturally epic, but Other Side IPA is a kinda tribute to DEYA customers following the reopening of their taproom (trust me – I know where they’re coming from!).
Brewed with input from taproom staff, you’d expect this to be a juice monster, and DEYA deliver.
Other Side IPA is for those of us who love DEYA and have supported them throughout the last however many months of madness.
Sour hauls this week should be dominated by Yonder, who’ve smashed it with the triple set of Raspberry Fool Imperial Pastry Sour, Gooseberry Fool Imperial Pastry Sour and Rhubarb Fool Imperial Pastry Sour.
It’s impossible to choose between these sharp, sweet and velvet-smooth gems. Best to do the sensible thing and collect the full set…
Neon Raptor Passing Piranhas Brambleberry Lassi Gose!
Thick, sweet and sour, and packed with raspberries and blackberries, this beer pours as a crimson gloop you’d mistake for a smoothie – get involved!
And I know it’s not technically a sour, but Brew York’s The Mangolorian Mango & Lime Milkshake IPA deserves some praise!
Super juicy with tonnes of mango and lime, then finished with lashings of vanilla to keep things creamy and smooth, this is the kind of quality you want for the Bank Holiday Weekend!
On the dark front, Overtone’s Dusty Miller is back!
The original brew was basically Ice Cream in a can, and the latest incarnation is just as good. Expect vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, vanilla syrup and malted milk.
Overtone are going from strength to strength.
Then checkout that set from Sussex Small Batch!
Inside those four wicked cans above you’ve got the Salted Caramel Chocolate Stout, you’ve got the Ruffles White Stout, you’ve got the White Mocha Stout, then there’s the Zucotto Stout.
Fans of the series, get reacquainted. Those new to SSB fill your boots – they’re all decent but if you have to choose just one then… I dunno… can you really say no to the salted caramel chocolate?!
Last but not least, I was impressed by the new beers from new (to CM at least) brewery Up Front this week, and there’s a big impy Passionfruit Gose and a big-hitting IPA (hopped with Citra, Mosaic & Strata, no less) to get stuck in to, but Up Front’s Bourbon Oaked Imperial Milk Stout really is a gem.
This is like a boozy layer cake, with layer after layer of coconut, bourbon and sweet cream, all topped off with sticky Tongan vanilla bean icing. Oh yeah!
S43 continue reminding us not to take beer too seriously with their Imp Bizkit Imperial Biscoff Pastry Stout, a brew with no less than 20kg of biscuits in the mash.
Too sweet for ya?
Well, Dog’s Grandad impressed with their Black IPA – all the malty roastiness but with a nice hop hit. Talking of hops, Pressure Drop continued to show what they can do with Lunar Park NEIPA. “Dream. Hop. Combo.”, they say. You be the judge.
Pressure Drop are far from a one-trick pony, mind, as the sessionable Ida Raspberry & Basil Sour proves. At 7%, Overtone’s Boogie Nights Sour has more bang, while Track’s Past In Present Raspberry, Strawberry & Blueberry Sour sits somewhere in the middle.
New in the Northern Monk OFS series is OFS037 West Coast IPA. It’s not as experimental as some of NM’s other OFS stuff, but fans of West Coast IPAs will want to check out what NM have done here. Those that are loving the experimental OFS beers can get in on OFS038 Californian Common, a kind of biscuity, malty, lager-esque treat.
Overtone have also released something for lager fans in Kolschella Kolsch, while Little Monster joined in the fun with Finding Ways Köln-Style Lager. Craft lager is on the up!
Ending on the hop front, be sure to check out the new-in hop drops from Overtone, there’s new hoppy stuff from Boxcar, you’ve got hoppy Little Monster stuff to explore, DEYA I’ve already mentioned, Polly’s, and let’s not forget Neon Raptor’s How Do You Sleep At Night? DIPA.
Ha – I was worried I wouldn’t have enough to talk about this week. What do you reckon? A valid concern?!
Hope you get to try some of these new beers this week. As ever, cheers & happy drinking.
Oli
(The founder)
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