Posted on 04/05/22
The big beer release this week was the latest Emperor’s imperial stout… but if you’re not into dark beers, don’t panic!
The sour releases this week were sublime. Plus this week saw some lauded hoppy brewers demonstrating just what you can do with truckloads of juicy tropical hops.
Here are the 9 best beers to try this week.
Emperor’s are continuing to delight and excite dark beer fans everywhere with their thick, boozy, delicious and limited edition imperial stouts, and their latest is probably my favourite yet!
Rebel Fortress Imperial Stout has got maple, it’s got pecan, it’s got dates bursting out the glass, but what’s so mad about this is the exquisite head retention, which makes for a proper creme brûlée booze fest you could crack with a spoon.
It’s off the charts, out of this world excellence. I don’t know what more I can say – if you can, get one of these for your stash – and while you’re at it grab the toasty, malty and specially brewed Bock to celebrate Star Wars Day too.
May the 4th be with you!
The sours are still shining this week, and none more so than Vault City’s magnificent Cherry Cola Cubes 4.5% Session Sour.
This is one that turns the nostalgia up to the max, with all the fizz, cherry and cola of the sweet shop staple we all once loved.
There’s the trademark Vault City tartness, but overall this is just great fun. Only £4.50 a can.
This is guaranteed to sell out quick.
On the subject of great value, Yonder’s new collab with New Bristol Brewery Tropical Gose is somehow only £4.95, and for that you get a fruit juice gose filled with mango, filled with passionfruit and topped up with guava juice for tropical refreshment.
Naturally, a lingering sourness sucks you right back in.
Get two of these – you’ll want them both!
Left Handed Giant unleashed their own outstanding fruit juice gose this week in Early To The Party Apricot & Passionfruit Gose, and this one has all the fruity tang of Yonder’s offering (above), but with added creaminess for Solero-esque goodness.
Pair with sun, friends and good times. Such a delicious sour!
Polly’s come out with so many incredible juicebombs so consistently that these days their magnificence rarely gets a mention, but Bonnie DDH Pale Ale is a beer we should all stop to applaud.
Massive hop bill for maximum juiciness. With Citra, Mosaic, Cryo Simcoe and Idaho 7, it’s stone fruits dripping with pineapple juice, but what makes this different is the subtle upfront bitterness that, after the juice, morphs into pithy orange peel.
There’s so much going on in one little pale ale.
Epic, epic, stuff!
And Beak!
Like Polly’s, Beak beers are so consistently good I rarely focus on their hoppy loveliness, so allow me to correct that by crowning Beak’s Mirro IPA as immaculate once again.
This is full of papaya, orange and sweet melon, with a fresh, lemony finish. So, so good!
Elusive have become ridiculously popular since I first started stocking them a few months back, and as long as they keep producing stuff like Lord Nelson 2022 Farmhouse IPA their dedicated following is definitely going to grow.
Sweet Pilsner, Munich and Vienna malts pair with Nelson Sauvin hops for a vinous, gooseberry-laden saison, then Belgian yeast adds depth and gives this beer a bone dry finish.
Yes!
To go with your new Emperor’s / Three Hills collab this week is the latest limited B.P.A.V.K from Three Hills, Tawny Port Barrel Aged B.P.A.V.K!
Just picture it: all that chocolatey rich and decadent stouty goodeness, aged in 3 Portuguese Tawny Port Barrels for depth, complexity, and rich, smooth fruitness. Outstanding!
Seriously limited edition – will age well (if you can resist drinking it)!
As well as checking out Northern Monk’s OFS071 Danish Northern Porter, this week, unleash your inner child as you crack into S43’s Honey I’m Comb Imperial Honeycomb Stout.
If this was brewed by someone else it’d be reverred as serious – complex and boozy, with 9 different malts, plus wildflower honey, honeycomb, and dark chocolate covered caramel. 11.8%. And only £6.75 a can!
Get one of these in, S43 are great!
Sticking with your dessert beers, Northern Monk’s OFS070 is inspired by the sweet Danish fruit dish Rødgrød, which usually takes the form of stewed red berries served with sweetened milk pudding. Like liquid jam doughnuts!
Vault City also released more of their outstanding dessert sours – Passion Fruit Coconut Banana is dreamy; Dragon Fruit Calamansi is more on the fruity side. Anspach & Hobday joined the sour foray too with The Orwangutan Gose. Brewed in support of the Orangutan Foundation, in collaboration with the comedian Phil Wang.
While we’re talking fruits, S43’s Aliens Exist El Dorado IPA is a pineapple and mango medley, with bags of oats and wheat for creaminess. Left Handed Giant called on grapefruit to power their Grapefruit Wit, and Brew York went the full tropical punch bowl with Curbside Summer NEIPA.
Rounding things off this week’s there’s LHG’s Mosaic & Centennial Pale, there’s the same brewery’s EPIC Cheeseburger Cavalry IPA, Three Hills’ latest single hop is BRU-1 Session NEIPA and Northern Monk weigh in with double deliciousness in OFS072 West Coast DIPA and, in particular, their citrus-grape-and-lychee Fresh IPA 013 DIPA.
Finally, there’s a creamy-hoppy fusion awaiting in Brew York’s Moo Tang Clan Milkshake IPA.
As always, I really hope you get to enjoy some of these epic, epic new beers out this week.
Cheers and happy drinking!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
