Beavertown Lupuloid – is it worth the hype?

No.

OK, hold on there. “You do sell Lupuloid online right?” you ask. Yes, and like the rest of the craft beer world I couldn’t wait to try the newest beer from Beavertown but the answer is still no. Let me explain. They say all good things come to those who wait and Beavertown’s IPA was a long time in the waiting – 4 years to be exact. For such a massive and influential brewery such as the lurid monster of N17 not to have a core IPA beer is unheard of. Most craft breweries have a staple pale, lager, IPA and porter, blah, so why not Beavertown?  They’d clearly made the decision to hold back on this then wow us in the future with a brand new beer and they did just that, visually anyway. As the images of the can were circulated online it was hard to ignore, oh so very hard, with the now classic Beavaertown artwork plain to see. Actually it was far from plain it was absolutely in-your-face, no massive surprise there but it added to the hype-train. The can is drenched in a vivid pink from cap to toes and featured the usual outer-space landscape and tom-foolery in it’s character images.

So a good start? Yes, very promising. Now onto the beer. You almost expect it to pour pink such is the power of the can’s cloak but the usual gorgeous dank looking IPA soup comes out. And all the core flavours are there – it’s a citrusy, fruity, hoppy lovely modern IPA. Winner! Hold on, you said it wasn’t worth the hype? Correct. It isn’t. To hold back for 4 years without making an IPA then release this is always going to drop short unless you’ve canned something in line with a Cloudwater DIPA. But this beer isn’t that and was never supposed to be that either. What it was supposed to be is a core beer that compliments an already brilliant range. So on that front it wins, it scores all it’s points, but where it drops a yard short is in the hype. Of course the brewery are going to make a big deal about it, and due to their ongoing phenomenal success the fans are going to make a big deal out of it. But this isn’t a groundbreaking beer. Where the expectation comes from is the fans. Everyone in the craft beer world wanted to know when Beavertown Lulupoid was being released. Everyone wanted it to be brilliant. Everyone wanted one. And they got one, so the hype worked. Where Lulupoid fails is it doesn’t push the boundaries enough for the hardcore beer fans. They wanted something out-there and off the chart but dress this up any way you want (and in that can they certainly did just that!) and it falls short. Only short by a small margin but short never the less. Is this a great beer? No. Is it a wonderful core beer to add to a range that already excels? Yes. Would I recommend buying a can of Lupuloid to see what the clamour is all about? Absolutely and that’s why I couldn’t wait to add it to our Beavertown range online. The point here is this beer is brilliant in so many ways from it’s can, it’s natural Beavertown swager. But the beer itself? It just never stood a chance of living up to our expectations. If it popped up as a white label people would love it but by being part of the Beavertown clan it had already made a rod for it’s own back it was never going to be able to rest on. A victim of it’s own success. Seek it out, drink it, enjoy it, it’s a cracking beer, but don’t believe the hype.going to be able to rest on. A victim of it’s own success. Seek it out, drink it, enjoy it, it’s a cracking beer, but don’t believe the hype.