Posted on 26/10/22
It feels a lot like the doomy weather is here to stay, but I’ve collected a mega-haul of hops from Beak, Verdant and beyond this week to keep you snug on those nights in.
Need the moody brews?
I’ve got that covered with a Boxcar classic, HUGE Brew York BA beers and a cinnamon swirl porter. Let’s go!
Beak are fast becoming our favourite brewery and it’s a no brainer each week to pile our shelves high with their wares.
This week grabbing their new stuff was an absolute must especially when you factor in there’s FOUR new hoppy treats as well as a re-up of BLVD and Snoop too! I often say this but they are all top drawer.
Paw Pale Ale brings you a sweet but robust New Zealand trio of hops so it’s punchy as hell.
Shape IPA also brings the kiwi hops in spades and has those classic Sav Blanc flavours with fresh lemon and lime notes.
For a more subtle ride, Purrr IPA is a 7% smooth and soft brew with Mosaic and Strata and Also IPA is an utterly glugable pale that just flies down.
Awesome Beak, as always.
Away from the Beak beers it’s certainly not a dip in quality as I’ve loaded up on some big old Verdant brews, new and old.
Three Way Handshake IPA is a collab between the Cornish outfit, Baron and Rivington. It’s no surprise it’s a banger when you see these three brewing a beer together and it’s big on flavour, but maybe smoother and less raw than the usual Verdant fare – a really top level modern IPA.
We also welcome back both Comfort Settings DIPA, which is unashamedly brash and skunky, and Solid State IPA – featuring Citra, Ekuanot, Mosaic and Chinook – a hop bill that can’t fail!
Bring on the stone fruit vibes.
Bubbling along in the hops section, we also have a mega Track IPA – New Vibration – with one of my favourite fruity, sunny hops, Galaxy.
We only have a few of these so don’t snooze!
What a varied, exciting dark section I have for you this week!
First up we grabbed LOADS more Pressure Drop x Amundsen Fødj Chocolate Fudge & Toffee Imperial Stout. Why?
One because it’s one of the most milky, chocolatey beers we’ve tasted – yum.
And two because you monsters smashed through our initial stock at an unprecedented rate!
Elsewhere the new stuff is just as good: we have two BA beers from Brew York, both new versions of old favourites.
The first is Nightmare Of Brew York 2022 Imperial Stout, the 2021 release of Nightmare of Brew York aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels for 12 months! It’s packed with nuts, rich maple and deep woody flavours.
The second is Speyside BA The Ghost Dimension Imperial Stout, which has also aged in barrels for the last year and while there’s a warmth from the chilli, it’s not so much to kill the other flavours of dark chocolate and booze.
Brew York do this stuff so very, very well 🤤🤤🤤
Beak are on a bit of a roll with their dark beers – after the amazing Paste we now have Plummy Baltic Porter.
This is the perfect dark lager for us – somehow smooth, creamy and crisp all at once!
Last but not least Polly’s Cinnamon Twirl Porter is a beer that delivers what it says on the tin – think oodles of dark roastiness and an edge of sugary spice.
Almost Christmassy!
We have two cracking lagers from Track this week.
The first is Arosa Helles – a bit of a classic – but the Vale English Lager is the winner here…
It’s all the lager cliches – clean, crisp and smashable – and it’s all the better for it.
Talking of which, the Boxcar Born Slippy Lager Lager Lager is finally with us in cans! We’ve torn through keg after keg of this across our bars and couldn’t wait to get it in tins. It’s a classy beer with a touch of honey and a grassy edge – the lager section is STRONG this week!
There’s also a criminally good pale from Burnt Mill in Clouds Rest NEPA. Maybe because it has clouds in the titles but it’s smooth and still full of flavour for the sub-IPA scale of things.
After a bit of a break, I’ve snagged a ton of Newtown Park beers and the Visions Pale Ale is my pick this week – a brew with a bit of funk and edge from the Kveik yeast.
Polly’s have Floom DDH Pale Ale back and it’s tasting great. Again another cracking choice away from the IPA-strength beers.
Dogs Grandad are local to our railway arch in Brixton, and our neighbour’s beers have always flown out. We’ve got their brand new Dog Day Afternoon Extra Pale Ale but someone looking for something a bit different could do worse than grabbing their Red Dog Redemption Red IPA which is full-bodied and ripe with lovely dried fruit and malt.
It’s been a while since I got some Double Barrel brews in so as well as some dark beers we have both their fruity Fierce collab Juicer Zesty Citrus Wheat and Maluku Hefeweizen – both smart, well executed beers. We’re chuffed to have them back in the mix.
Rounding up this week’s top picks, but still bringing all the flavour are the non-alcs… Lowtide are one of the best in the business at this and we snapped off their hands when we saw their Lowtide & Friends series. They’ve collabed with 4 awesome breweries to create some banging brews across a range of styles – Exale Ohana DDH Pale Ale, Time & Tide Changing Tides Citrus Pale, Newtown Park Sky At Night Pastry Stout and Baron Down Red IPA.
Enjoy picking your beers and, as always, thanks so much for your support!
Oli, Olly & Charlie
(The three people behind Craft Metropolis)
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
