Tasting Notes: Elusive Brewing: Midnight Oregon Trail

Elusive Brewing: Midnight Oregon Trail (England: Black IPA: 5.8% ABV)

Visual: Black, a half inch of coffee brown creamy head with a mix of tight bubbles within it.

Nose: Dry roasted peanuts and chestnuts. Wholemeal bread. Charred wood. Burnt toast. Sour dough. Grated chocolate.

Body: Dry. Grated black chocolate. Sour dough. Malt chocolate. Slight sulphur. Moderate bitterness. Subtle grapefruit.

Finish: Black chocolate slabs. Bitter cocoa. Moderate hop bitterness. Slight sulphur. As warms grapefruit comes out. Peppery. Pineapple.

Conclusion: I was wondering how a West Coast BIPA would work. As gone into in more detail in the background BIPAs tend to be more malt led, while West Coast tend to have an out of the way malt body. So, you see the conflict, right? I mean they both like the bitterness so hopefully we will see a lot of that, but I was confused.

It is quite dry, so we have that kind of attenuated character a west coast can have. Definitely not as full on attenuated as most west coast IPAs I’ve tried, but it gives a familiar mouthfeel along the Black IPA side and a satisfactory way to deliver the bitterness into the finish.

The bitterness is lower than expected, satisfying but not intense. Possibly this is due to balance from the malt making it seem restrained rather than any actual lower bitterness, hard to say.

The malt is, as mentioned, dry, but with that still quite chocolate filled, but in a bitter black chocolate to more neutral chocolate malt drinks kind of way, rather than anything sweeter. Along with that it has kind of sulphur touch, mouth filling backing character. It kind of works, not as dry as you would expect, not as sweet as you would expect and not as bitter as you would expect, but trying to walk the difficult balance between all those expectations.

As it warms slightly another familiar west coast style element starts to come out – the grapefruit hop character, which actually comes out clearer here than in standard Oregon Trail, which always seemed more earthy leaning to me. Here it comes out pretty cleanly and gives a nice fresh release from the bitter character.

The main disappointment, apart from not being as bitter as my withered taste-buds would like, is that it does not match the FANTASTIC early aroma. There is a huge dry roasted, nutty and nut oil character that is delectable, but doesn’t even hint at similar in the main body. If this had shown up more I would have been ecstatic.

As is, it is good, not GREAT, but good, and with the dearth of black IPAs right now I will 100% take good.

Background: The existence of this beer first excited and then confused me. Excited as, well Black IPA and West Coast IPA, two of my favourite styles that are being used a lot less these days. Confused as well, how does west coast black IPA work? My understanding of West Coast IPA is high bitterness, citrus notes and more notably out of the way malt base and generally quite attenuated. My understanding of Black IPA is quite dark malt led, high bitterness beer. So, yeah how does those two very different attitudes to malt profile work together? Maybe there is already a set style definition, but I was intrigued to see. While not on the front of the can the back text mentions this was a collaboration with “The West Street Alehouse”, so if I am ever in the area I may have to check them out. I have tried and done notes on the standard Oregon Trail and found it good if not top tier west coast IPA style. This was grabbed from Independent Spirit, and drunk while listening to a bunch of Depeche Mode – a friend was telling me about how varied and good some of their lesser known tunes were so I decided to have a little listen to find out and this seemed like a good time.

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Tasting Notes: Electric Bear: Independent Spirit: Shenanigans

Electric Bear: Independent Spirit: Shenanigans (England: Dry Stout: 5% ABV)

Visual: Very dark brown to black. Creamy. Mounded coffee ice cream brown coloured head.

Nose: Bitter. dry coffee cake. Crushed coffee beans. Bitter cocoa. Crushed walnuts. Pecans.

Body: Bitter. Dry coffee cake. Light sour cream and chive twist. Ash. Charring. Soot. Bitter cocoa. Coffee liqueur and Baileys.

Finish: Bitter cocoa. Bitter coffee remains. Bitter coffee cake. Subtle tobacco. Ash/Cigarette ash. Peppery.

Conclusion: Ok, when they say coffee, they are not darn lying. While at the front the aroma is quite dry coffee cake style, as you go on this ends up like licking chocolate off crushed coffee beans.

As a disclaimer, I have never actually licked chocolate off crushed coffee beans. I have definitely not done that then put the beans back in the pack. This is just explaining the imagery that comes to mind.

There isn’t a huge amount of chocolate, contrary to how that may have sounded, but what is there is bitter and a second layer of imagery as someone trying to make a mochachino just as darn bitter as possible. Just to check mochachino is the chocolate coffee one right? Google suggests so, but I’m going to confess, outside of experimenting with the fancy beans you can get in some places to see what unexpected stuff I can find, I don’t actually drink much coffee.

Yes I’m a monster I know.

Under that massive amounts of coffee, and some chocolate character, is a very slight sour cream and chives twist. Just the tiniest amount, a bit savoury, a touch soured, just a tiny offset under such a strong flavoured beer.

As you get used to that there are subtle soot and ash notes underlying that, though that changes more into a peppery style as it warms. By confusing contrast there is also a more coffee liqueur, even just slightly Baileys character coming out. All this is very subtle, and nowhere near as sweet as that sounds, but a welcome release from the very bitter style.

All this dances around the dry stout base, which is clinging as often common with the style, but all these other elements very handily stop it becoming wearing, an issue I have had with some Irish stouts.

Very nicely done, a very dominant base concept core matched with enough around it to round it out. Despite its, well not modest, but certainly not high, abv it is not one to have many of. It is very strong flavoured, so one or two will easily do the job, even if the abv would suggest you can have more.

Have one, drink slow, start slightly chilled and most definitely let it warm fully before then end so you can fully enjoy it and you have a very robust and enjoyable beer.

Background: So, you all know Independent Spirit by now right? It is where I get easy 70%+ of my drinks. Well it is 10 years old! Darn time flies. Also I am now old. Anyway, to celebrate they teamed up with Bath local brewery Electric Bear to make this Irish Stout, loaded with coffee and Azacca hops. I have to admit Azacca hops is one I don’t know that well. Could mean anything. Well, something I need to do more tasty research on. Anyway, it is fairly obvious where I bought this right? Morrisons. Of course. With it being an IRISH stout I had to go for appropriately themed music. Rakshak by Bloodywood, natch.

And just in case you did not pick up it was a joke this was not bought at Morrisons. I did however listen to Bloodywood, because they are amazing.

Tasting Notes: Moor: Mando

Moor: Mando (England: American Pale Ale: 5% ABV)

Visual: Hazy darkened caramel colour that leaves suds. Large mounded off white head. Small amount of visible sediment, but no real visible carbonation.

Nose: Malt chocolate. Crushed digestives. Ovaltine. Biscuity bitter hop character. Light orange ovaltine. Soft grapefruit.

Body: Bitter, earthy and peppery. Malt chocolate base to ovaltine. Restrained grapefruit.

Finish: Earthy bitterness. Peppery. Light grapefruit.

Conclusion: Ok, I will admit while West Coast IPA is 100% my thing, I have had slightly less experience with West Coast pales. I have enjoyed most of the ones I have tried, but I am less able to say if any new beer in that style meets the style expectations. Or at least my version of the style expectations.

This feels like half way between a UIK earthy bitter and a West Coast IPA – not a bad combo. It is very earthy and peppery, which 100% makes me think of British bitters, and the malt base is less out of the way than I would expect from things of a West Coast style (though that may be my West Coast IPA expectations showing through). You get a quite biscuity meets ovaltine malt base that, while it doesn’t quite match to a UK bitter, feels like the American take on an English Pale Ale style which I always views as kind of how USA views a UK Bitter. That was quite a ramble – it’s not exactly that, but in the vicinity – a pale ale bitter British ale style definitely has its hooks in this somewhere.

Then you get the West Coast style becoming visible, with a higher level of bitterness – not an IPA level but still a good punch. Along with that also comes that tart grapefruit I’d expect from the style, not huge but in a way that just slightly lightens and refreshes from the bitterness.

Overall, it is very solid. Not a must have beer, but as a bitterness delivery system I am here for it. You want a bitter, lightly tart freshened beer with a British earthy, peppery character mixed in? Yeah, well this is that and a real ale influenced take on a west coast pale style and it is a job well done.

This is the way.

Background: So, you may not have noticed, but the beer name and imagery is a subtle nod to The Mandalorian. I know if I had not pointed it out, you never would have noticed. They have to be that subtle to get it past Disney’s lawyers. Anyway, while not the hugest Star Wars geek, I do enjoy it and both Mandalorian and especially Andor have been very enjoyable recently, so between that, the fact I adore West Coast IPAs (Yes I know this is a west coast pale, close enough to catch my attention), and that Moor do a great quality of live ales in cans, this really was one I had to grab. Grabbed from Independent Spirit, I went back to Lesbian Bed Death: Born To Die on VHS as backing music, while horror rather than sci fi, it definitely has the geek movie love quota to match the beer.

Tasting Notes: Newton Park: Crater Lake Cold IPA

Newton Park: Crater Lake Cold IPA (England: IPA: 5.8% ABV)

Visual: Clear, light pale straw to yellow colour. Large loose white bubbled head. Some small amounts of small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Flour. Fresh lime. Lemon cakes. Dry. Prickly hops. Crushed salty rocks.

Body: Dry. Good bitterness. Lime. Light honey sweetness. Gherkin touch. Light Apricot. Vanilla. Clean mouthfeel.

Finish: Dry. Good bitterness. Gritty hop feel. Light honey sheen. Light gherkin. Lime.

Conclusion: Ok, I’d never run into a Cold IPA before this one, but if, as I think from a bit of googling, this is representative of the general style then they have my interest. If this is also representative of the general quality I could expect them I am 100% on board for this becoming the next big thing – hopefully pushing out the NEIPA craze. If you had not heard of the style either, imagine something between a lager and a west coast IPA – as a West Coast IPA fan that could either be completely for me or heresy, and as you have probably guess I am plopping down on the completely for me side of the line.

Oh, spoiler warning for the rest of the review there.

It is nicely dry, as you would hope from the west coast side of things, but slips down much easier than most of those, with that lager style giving a soothing feel as it goes down.

There is soft lime and lemon citrus notes, and a hint but not more than that of the American apricot hops – not the full intensity or range I would expect from the best West Coast IPAs, but that is a high bar of comparison to clear. It works well as a lovely fresh hop character to give enough fresh fruitiness against the dry character and decent hop bitterness. A nice balance.

There is that note I see in good IPAs that I can only describe as a gherkin touch, kind of a light sour undertone, subtly done – it sounds like a horrible thing when said like that but it really works to give a nice twist to IPAs like this. One day I may work out a better descriptor.

The body is mostly out of the way, (in a West Coast style one might say), though with a lager smooth sheen. The main sight of it is in a dry honey sweetness, but even that is understated. In general between the west coast and lager influence it is a gentle mouthfeel more than a flavour.

Overall, generally one I love. Balanced between bite and easy drinking. It dodges the curse of West Coast IPAs in England not living up to the USA ones by not technically being a west coast IPA, despite wearing their influence obviously. Any which way, this is lovely character and I highly recommend you get your hands on one before it vanishes, even if that means less for me.

Background: Been meaning to do notes on this one for a while now, I’ve not been doing as many notes recently but this one definitely needed a slot. First reason for this is Newton Park is, at least for a while, shutting down – as are many British breweries at the moment so wanted to slot at least one in before they went. Second of all this is a Cold IPA, an unusual style I had not encountered before, using lager yeast but aiming for an IPA style. Sounds like an IPL, but from trying it, this definitely seems to earn a place for a style as itself. Finally, well I enjoyed it, as you may be able to tell and wanted to get the message out a bit so people had a chance to grab it before it vanished. Anyway grabbed a few cans of this from Independent Spirit, of which this is one. Went with Electric Callboy: Tekkno for music while drinking – a mate introduced me to them and it was some fun high energy backing for the booze.

Tasting Notes: Circumstance: Single Grain Whisky 1:10:1:2:37

Circumstance: Single Grain Whisky 1:10:1:2:37 (English Single Grain Whisky: 3 Years: 44.5% ABV)

Visual: Light mossy greened off white spirit. Fast and thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Cooked rice. Vanilla. White bread. Lightly peppery. Water brings out wheat flakes and more white bread.

Body: Lime jelly. Vanilla. Peppery. Light oak. Toffee. Present tingle of alcohol. Fatty butter. Water adds more vanilla. Makes it smooth in general with still an alcohol prickle. Strawberries and jelly babies.

Finish: Peppery. A light heat to it. Drying. Grain alcohol. Brown bread. Mild chilli seeds. Fatty butter. Water adds malt chocolate, and lightly nutty. Rustic style saison feel. Cooked rice.

Conclusion: I was a tad nervous with this one – young and single grain – both things that are not automatically bad but can lend to a less polished experience if not done well, and in combination I was worried it would act as a force multiplier.

So, how does it do?

Neat it is kind of bland. Not a good start.

So, yeah, neat it has a kind of cooked rice touch to the aroma, noticeable if not excessive prickle of alcohol along with fairly standard vanilla notes. The main character of note comes from a light peppery character and a fatty butter touch. It is a bit of character but still very simple – not smooth enough to be a easy drinking grain experience, and definitely not rewarding to examination.

Water does help a bit – more toffee like notes, less alcohol, if still a bit prickly. It does feel smoother in general though. The biggest change is in the finish which gains a nutty character and a yeastie feel that reminds me of the more rustic saisons (however I will admit that I am convinced I must be imagining that as I know they used saison yeast to make it – so hard to get over these mental influences – still imagined or not that is what I encountered)

Overall it isn’t that impressive – with water there are some interesting notes but not enough to warrant a purchase – especially as it seems to have a roughly 100% mark up when people resell it these days. Hopefully later releases will build on the interesting notes and make for a much better whisky, but right now not worth grabbing.

Background: This is the first whisky distillery to be made in Bristol for a long time, and their inaugural release of that as well so darn I was tempted. I was also worried, it is single grain and young, which can be a bad combination, but I figured it was worth a risk just to see how it goes. This lists saison yeast as the choice for making this, which seems an unusual choice and an interesting one. It is 37 months old, aged in first fill bourbon casks – first fill is probably a good call considering how young it is. At one of 518 bottles I was chuffed to be able to grab this from Independent Spirit before they ran out of their allocation. Music wise I went with Lesbian Bed Death: Born To Die On VHS. If you are wondering why THE BAND IS CALLED “LESBIAN BED DEATH” AND THE ALBUM IS CALLED “BORN TO DIE ON VHS”. Hopefully that answers the question.

Tasting Notes: Original Stormtrooper: Goon Squad

Original Stormtrooper: Goon Squad (IPA: England: 5.5% ABV)

Visual: Clear with just the slightest bitty haze to the yellow body. A large white mound of large bubbled head that leaves lots of sud remains.

Nose: Orange zest. Crisp hops. Lemon juice. Slight gritty bitterness. Slight crushed rocks. Fresh. Cake sponge. Light malt drinks.

Body: Bready feel, moderate bitterness. Lemon cakes. Sugared orange jelly sweets. Crushed rocks air. Slightly thicker feeling middle, but moderately dry in general.

Finish: Orange – a mix of blood orange and tangerine. Solid gritty bitterness. White bread feel. Drying.

Conclusion: Now, I have repeatedly said that in general the UK doesn’t match the USA when it comes to West Coast IPAs. It makes sense really, they have home court advantage. Ones in the UK almost always seem to not quite get all three aspects that I adore – the dry, well attenuated body, the heavy hop bitterness and the layers of complex hop flavours on top of that. They seem to manage two of the three ok, but always seem to miss at least one.

This one … does pretty well actually. I feel that, as they probably have a wide net of potential buyers from the definitely not Star Wars imagery, they are holding off on going fell bore with the harsher edges of the West Coast IPA style, so not to put people off, but even with that said this is a very solid take.

What this nails is the fruity hop flavours, lots of orange notes, from sugared jelly sweets to blood orange to tangerine – it is very well layered around one simple concept for the most part and very enjoyable. It also leans into lemon notes with fresher lemon juice to sweeter lemon cakes. That cake sponge aspect seems to come through quite a bit – which leads us onto how well this manages a dry attenuated base.

It is pretty well done there, not super dry, but with enough attenuation that you can recognise the style. There is a bit more malt showing than normal, some sweeter notes giving a slightly thicker mid body than I would expect, which matches with the bit extra weight of mouthfeel that aforementioned cake sponge character adds but nowhere near east coast style malt levels or sweetness. So, a bit more malt led than expected but generally dry and out of the way so pretty well done.

Finally, the bitterness! Also pretty good – me, I could do with more, I want a west coast that kicks, but I am aware I like silly bitter stuff – this is still solid. Not full USA West Coast, slightly toned down, but still enjoyable.

Overall, yep as you may have guessed a very solid beer and a pretty good take on the style. No complaints here.

Background: This was part of an x-mas present pack of Stormtrooper beers from my Sister and her family, many thanks! I decided to do notes on this one first as I am such a sucker for West Coast IPAs. Like a huge fan. Shocking I know. What did shock me when I saw this was all the stormtrooper Star Wars imagery, how the heck did they either a) afford that? Or b) get around Disney’s lawyers? Turns out it is pretty simple, this is not Star Wars themed. They instead got the rights to use the Stormtrooper armour, which exists completely separately from Star Wars – so it looks Star Wars linked, but is not. Clever marketing. The glass used came with the pack, which, while pretty, all the images on it did make it hard to look at it properly for the visuals section of this guide. Went with The Cybertronic Spree: Ravage as music for drinking to – more sci-fi themed tie ins made sense – a fun 80s feeling bunch of metal from a band that cosplays as transformers. Because of course!

Tasting Notes: Elusive: Pomona Island: Rippin’ Rick

Elusive: Pomona Island: Rippin’ Rick (England: IIPA: 8% ABV)

Visual: Clear yellow, with just a slight bitty haze. Thin white bubbled head.

Nose: Musty malt drinks. Pineapple. Grated choc lime sweets. Chocolate eclair sweets. Granted choc orange to orange zest. Crushed nettles.

Body: Orange zest. Lemon cakes. Sugared lemons. Nettles. Earthy touch to the core. Slight bready character. Thick mouthfeel. Pineapple.

Finish: Malt drinks. Sugared orange. Good bitterness to greenery. Turmeric. Pineapple. Lightly fresh. Grapefruit.

Conclusion: This is a very satisfying beer. The double IPA malt load gives it a lot of weight despite how dry the flavours are for that west coast style. The malt is much more evident than normal, in a way that gives a malt drink choc orange/lemon/whatever set of notes that show up semi regularly behind the hops. The notes may make it seem that they are a bigger deal than they really are though. They are a competitively subtle set of notes, but it alters and informs a lot of citrus flavours in the beer so it is worth noting. It is never heavy, just a slight chocolate malt drink, kind of dry ovaltine like note that shows in the malt character, which heads into a more bready weight.

The bitterness is solid, not an assault – but I may be a bit blasé about bitterness levels these days, so keep that in mind if you are not a hop head. Still, solid bitterness is good. It had enough pop to it to give a nice hop punch.

The citrus character from the hops is lightly tart, mainly showing as orange and lemon notes which gives a lovely freshness to the whole thing, but with sweeter pineapple and tarter grapefruit doing some work at the edges.

It is nothing new, but it is a solid west coast IPA given bit more weight from the thicker mouthfeel that the extra abv a double IPA gives it, and with that a touch more evident malt.

What I am saying is I am enjoying.

Background: Elusive and Pomena are breweries I’ve had a few from recently, they haven’t managed to get into my fave brewery category but both are good enough that I’ve returned to them a bunch of times – so when they collaborated to make one of my preferred IPA styles – West Coast IPA, BUT DOUBLE – I decided to grab it and give it a go. I am always charmed by Elusive’s 8 bit style can images anyway and I am that easy to sell to. Grabbed from Independent Spirit (yes I know, you are shocked) this loads up on Simcoe (an old fave), Columbus and Amarillo hops – leaning more old school in the USA hops which sounds good to me. Or older school. I’m old now I lose track of what is considered “old” in beer terms. Get off my lawn. Music wise I went with Kill Mirror Image’s new EP KLL MRR IMG. Bias warning, I know one of the band members, but also it rocks.

Tasting Notes: Sureshot: Dunblobbin

Sureshot: Dunblobbin (England: IPA: 6.5% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy apricot to yellow. Moderate mounded white head.

Nose: Peach. Green grapes. Fresh fluffy hop notes. Cream. Peach melba.

Body: Lightly oily. Milky. Good bitterness. Greenery. Palma violets. Hop oils. Vanilla. Peppery. Peach. Grapefruit and pineapple.

Finish: Good bitterness. Peach. Light fatty butter. Palma violets. Aubergine.

Conclusion: This is a weird beer. I know, a Mr Blobby themed beer being weird, who would have thought it? But yes, it is weird – if I sit and just sip this beer I am really enjoying it – but if I examine it and try to analyse why I am enjoying it so much it seems quite simple, and I’m finding it hard to pin down what elements actually make it work so well.

Maybe it is my brain trying to reject the fact I seem to be really enjoying a NEIPA style IPA.

Ok, let’s dig into it – the aroma is an obvious plus for it – a huge amount of peach in a mid 2K USA IPA kind of way. There is crisp bitterness there, but not an overpowering amount of hops, which actually calls a lot to east coast style in my mind despite the obvious NEIPA influences.

The body is creamy, showing more of the NEIPA influence but with an oily hop character that makes me smile. It is not quite “Dank”, as is probably no longer the cool term but fuck it, I’m old, but it is a nice call in that direction. Along with the slightly aubergine like savoury notes it really does remind me of mid 2K IPAs, but not as bitter hop heavy as those used to be.

There are hints of fresher grapefruit and pineapple notes that give it some pep, and below that is a gentle east coast style sweetness – no one element says “Banger” but combined together I am really enjoying this.

Without the scary pink blob can images, this would still be a good beer, and one I will probably revisit and enjoy once more if I can.

Background: Ok, if you are not British then those weird pink abominations on the can may confuse you. That is fine. Keep your innocence. You deserve it. It is a cursed image. Anyway, yes I grabbed a can of this because it had Mr Blobby on it. Yes I am easy to sell to. Yes I bought it because of that despite just insulting its existence. I am a complex and confusing entity. Anyway, turned out it was actually pretty good so I grabbed another can from Independent Spirit to do notes on. It is a hazy IPA, which, ok, not my favourite style so bias warning there. Music wise I went back to some Rage Against The Machine – the self titled album. Current world status is making me listen to them more at the mo. Oh, the brewery and beer? You want to know about that? Looks like Sureshot was started by an ex head brewer and founder of Cloudwtaer – so that is a heck of a good heritage for your new Brewery. The beer is double dry hopped with one of my favourite hops – simcoe – so I had high hopes at the start for it.

Tasting Notes: Lost and Grounded: Brave Noise Lager

Lost and Grounded: Brave Noise Lager (England: American Pale Lager: 4.6% ABV)

Visual: Clear, lightly yellowed colour. Good sized mounded white head. Moderate to a lot of small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Fresh crusty white bread. Light sulphur touch. Light lime cordial touch.

Body: Sweet. Light honey sheen. Vanilla. Slight liquorice like backing. Slightly oily hop oil sheen. Crusty white bread. Mild mead.

Finish: Light chalk and flour touch. Mild bitterness and hop character. Vanilla. Hop oils and lightly resinous notes. Honey. Dried apricot. Mead.

Conclusion: This is not what I expected from my first impressions up front. On the eye it looked a pretty darn pale lager, and on the nose nothing really stood out beyond the usual lager character. So I have to admit I was expecting something kind of dull.

On first sip it was thicker than I expected from the pale, light and clear body – though admittedly by now I should know than to make assumptions based on that. It had more grip than I expected with a good level of hop oiliness and even a light amount of resinous notes in the finish. Very light, but there.

It is not heavily bitter, and the bitterness that is there is oily not prickly, but it is a nice gentle weight and shows a bit of a different style of hope usage than often comes from fancy takes on lagers.

Behind that is a fairly sweet base, from a honey sheen up front, through vanilla into dried apricot in the after effects. Combined with the oiliness it gives the lightest mead like imagery to the whole thing.

Now, before I put people off by making them think this is nothing like what they want, while it is a tad thicker, sweeter and oilier than the norm, this is still a lager. While it gets a tad more sickly as it warms up in this current absurd heat, when it is chilled down it is pretty easy drinking despite that extra weight, so still gives a freshening lager style.

Overall it is not bad, it seems much more a set of feels than flavours for the most part, but it has a lot of interesting character there. I enjoy it, but it doesn’t feel like one I want to have too often, more an interesting, quirky lager to occasionally indulge in than a mainstay.

And, that ain’t a bad thing at all to be.

Background: :Not done a lager for a while, or in fact many notes for a while. Trying to pull my thumb out. Anyway I saw this in Independent Spirit – a collaboration with brave noise beer, who are dedicated to a safe and inclusive environment in the beer industry without discrimination – something I can definitely get behind. Also it was waaaaaay to hot that week so a lager looked nice, but I’m going to claim the anti discrimination was the main cause. Had seen UK Subs warm up for Bad Religion in a gig recently so was listening to their “Before You Were Punk” compilation while drinking.

Tasting Notes: Mash Gang: Alpha Delta: High Definition

Mash Gang: Alpha Delta: High Definition (England: Low Alcohol: 0.5% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy pale lemon juice coloured body. Thin white loose bubbled head.

Nose: Lemon juice and grapefruit. Lightly tart. Light flour like hop feel and light bitterness. Grapes. Light peach.

Body: Flour feeling. High hop bitterness. Light charring. Greenery. Sour lemon juice backing. Light menthol. Grapefruit.

Finish: Lemon juice. Flour. Gunpowder tea. Grapes. Menthol. Grapefruit.

Conclusion: This is odd in many ways, but mainly that is is a low abv beer that manages to come across as very, well, beer like, and yet not in a style that a see much in the normal beer world. Maybe, I have encountered a beer or two in the vague ballpark as this, but in general it feels like a low abv beer that is happy to experiment and be itself rather that trying to ape the style of a higher abv beer.

Well, that or my finger really isn’t on the pulse of beer styles any more and beers like this are turning up everywhere. Which is possible.

It is actually a really good style I would like to see more of. It reminds me of an XPA (which is itself an odd style) with heavy bitterness and an out of the way dry malt base, but lightly soured in a way that takes away what can be an overly harsh feel to the XPA style.

I mean, it is still harshly bitter, with a flour like, clingy hope feel into gunpowder tea and charring at the end, it is just the light tartness makes it all much more manageable.

Flavour-wise it has gentle tart lemon juice and grapefruit notes as the main job, generally tart fruit juice like notes that work well with the bitterness.

It isn’t perfect. The harsher notes can become too present but it is a really good beer with the deliberately out of the way malt character of the style meaning that those elements don’t feel like a tell of low alcohol like they normally would, instead feeling like a natural part of the beer style.

Drunk blind I would not have guess the actual abv of this, and would have still very much have enjoyed it. A very impressive, very experimental beer and a great one at the low abv.

Background: Took me a while to work out the name for this – initially misread the symbols on the front of this as ADHD, and did a double take before realising it was a Delta symbol in the middle. Anyway HD stands for High Definition, the name which is only actually visible on the side of the beer. Nothing like making it hard for me to work out what your beer is called. This was grabbed from Beercraft which tends to have an interesting low alcohol selection. This being a collaboration with Alpha Delta who I haven’t encountered before, and described as being inspired by a New York State Sour Pale Ale, it definitely caught my attention. Looking online it uses El Dorado Incognito, Citra Spectrum, Talus and Mandarina Bavaria for the hops and has Orange oil, Madagascan bourbon vanilla, malic acid, yerba mate, and green coffee bean in it. I had to look up what some of those were! Also they describe the malt bill as including “rye, spelt, wheat and oats and features multiple grain size of the same variant “ – So, well they went full on in on making this an odd one. For appropriate background music I went for Polyphia – New Levels, New Devils. The odd math rock stylee seemed appropriate.