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.

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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: 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: Abbeydale: Wanderer West Coast IPA

Abbeydale: Wanderer West Coast IPA (England: IPA: 6.5% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy lemon juice at the edges to apricot skin main body colour. Thin, loose bubbled white head.

Nose: Lemon juice. Flour. Apples. Some prickly hop character and bitterness. Apricot.

Body: Peach. Good bitterness. Peach syrup. Apricot skin. Green feeling hop character. Slightly dry. Apples. Slightly resinous. Fudge.

Finish: Greenery. Good hop character and bitterness. Apples. Quite dry. Apricot skin. Slightly resinous. Kiwi. Crushed custard cream biscuits and a dry general custard touch.

Conclusion: I was surprised how cloudy this west coast style IPA was on the eye. Thankfully though there is no New England style IPA shenanigans going on here. It isn’t 100% in my preferred interpretation of of a west coast style, but it knows to make it bitter and kick a bit.

It is just slightly dry, not as much as you would expect from the style – there is a chewy fudge backing that shows the malt a bit more than usual, but still dry enough and it gives a base for a reasonably bitter and resinous character. Nothing too hardcore but, you know, bitter and resinous. That is what I am here for and they are doing the job right as long as they get that bit sorted, in my opinion anyway.

The bitter base is then a launch pad for a dry, apple character along with some dry apricot skin notes – a fruity but restrained experience. That said, there is a fruit syrup core to the whole thing that is sweeter and thicker than I would expect for the style, but despite that works pretty well here. It results in a sticky, fruity kind of hoppiness. Clinging but not so much that it gets harsh of dull.

While not a show stopper of an IPA this is a solid mix of bitterness, resinous character and fruitiness and does the job. It is just about dry enough for what I want, and gives a lot of flavour. Very solid indeed.

Background: Abbeydale used to be a brewery I knew for turning out more traditional ales. They seem to be experimenting a lot more these days. Their Wanderer series is bunch of different beers taking inspiration from things around the world – in this case the West Coast IPA which is a favoured style of mine. Single hopped with Citra, which is a classic of USA IPAs this was one I was hoping to enjoy a lot. Another one grabbed from Independent Spirit, I went back to the Animatrix album for backing music – I think I enjoyed the music from that even more than Animatrix itself.

Tasting Notes: Moor: Hoppiness

Moor: Hoppiness (England: IPA: 6.5% ABV)

Visual: Darkened apricot skin coloured body, with a moderate sized white creamy head. There is a very small amount of small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Apricot skin. Peach. Black liquorice touch. Muggy hops. Slight tart grapes.

Body: Grapes. Grapefruit. Malt toffee. Medium sticky hop character. Apricot. Dry fudge, yet in a sticky way. Light charring. Slight sulphur. Pineapple.

Finish: Malt chocolate. Dry hoppy character. Toffee. Light grapefruit. Good bitterness. Apricot. Black liquorice.

Conclusion: Ok, I have an IPA type, and that type is this beer. My love for West Coast IPAs is well know, but I also have such a soft spot for this distinctly more local take on an IPA.

It has that real ale thickness and grip, along with that slightly sulphurous touch that a lot of real ales have on hand pump, and combines all that with a range of hops that bring out my favourite hop flavours from the mid 2000s.

The old friend of hop flavours is definitely the peach and apricot notes. They aren’t pushed too hard, but are there and welcome as I haven’t seen them much recently as newer hops get the centre stage. Similarly, hello there light grapefruit tartness and a sweet yet tart pineapple mix. Not as overlooked as the apricot, they still get some show these days, but still good to see again. This feels like the best hits from my misspent hop loving youth, delivered in a more sticky, thick real ale way than you often find.

In a trade off for that, as often found in actual cask IPAs the hop feel and bitterness is not as clear as in its non live counterparts. Instead of crisply bitter hops it is a sticky, muggy hop thing, which is an acquired taste, but again one I love and I have missed a lot in my experience with a lot of recent IPAs.

So, it has all the strengths and some of the flaws of that style, as is to be expected. One being that there is a very small black liquorice style touch in the aroma and the finish, I think expressing from the slight sulphur touches, and that liquorice style I have never been a fan of, but I am happy to take the bad with the good here.

There is a moderate toffee and malt chocolate style to the body, not heavy but again that real ale like thickness makes it stand out more than you would expect for the flavour’s intensity.

This is peak cask ale style tradition (in a can) meets mid 2000’s hop flavours all made with years of built up brewing skill. For all the good and all little bad that comes with all that, and it is definitely far more on the good side of things. I adore this and can definitely drink a lot more of it.

An IPA pretty much made for me.

Background: I have tried this a few times recently and swore to grab a can to do notes on, which I finally did – grabbing a can from Independent Spirit. This is part of Moor’s canned “Live Beer” range, which seems to be basically an attempt to do real ale style beer, but in a can. I doubt they will ever get a CAMRA says this is real ale stamp, but in my experience they deliver that. Moor don’t list the chosen hops for this, just saying it is a crossover of their favourite IPA elements from around the world. Laura Jane Grace: At War With The Silverfish. had just been released as I was prepping to do notes on this so I put it on while drinking. A lovely small burst of a mini album, feels more varied than her last solo release with lots of different styles on show.

Tasting Notes: Other Half: Showers DDH Mosaic

Other Half: Showers DDH Mosaic (USA: IPA: 7.4% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy apricot juice colour. Massive loose white bubbled head. No evident carbonation.

Nose: Gritty bitter hops. Marmalade and orange shreds. Fresh dough. Light greenery and herbal notes. Slight sulphur. Cake sponge. Flour. Apricot.

Body: Egg yolk texture. Tangerine and blood orange. Milky. Eggplants. Nettles like bitterness. Apricot skins. Peach. Hop oils.

Finish: Bitter hop oils. Bitter Seville orange. Marmalade. Melon. Gritty, prickly hops. Slight charring. Egg plants. Nettles. Gunpowder tea.

Conclusion: This is the tie breaker! So far I have had one Other Half IPA that was kind of meh (Which is the one I did notes on) and one I really enjoyed (The Nelson Suavin hopped Triple IPA – Which, of course, ended up being the one I did not do notes on), So with the score at one all, I decided to grab one more Other Half IPA to see which way it fell on the quality scale. Just the one more though, these things are darn expensive in the UK, so one more is all I can justify splashing out on.

This started out well. Hmm, ok correction, after not getting much from the aroma initially – maybe due to the fecking massive frothy head getting in the way – After that, THEN it started well.

The texture is that odd, thick character that seems to be Other Half’s trademark. A thick, egg yolk feeling thing which seems to come across as either positive or negative depending on the quality of the beer strapped on top of it.

So, what does this do with that texture? Well generally orange to marmalade notes, delivered in varied ways from sweeter marmalade to more bitter orange notes. Not unexpected, that is pretty much what I expect from mosaic hops, though here it does have some edge peach and apricot like notes which were nice.

Early on it has some bitterness and hop character that didn’t mesh too well. As time goes on that element fades, which is a mixed blessing. It reduces the rough edges, but also it removes the hop character which is what I come to IPAs for. Ah well, I guess not all IPAs are aimed at my preferences and that is fine.

FINE!

There is still a nice hop oil character under there, as well as some matching bitterness, but the bitterness is not clearly defined – a kind of general, muggy bitterness for lack of a better term.

As a tie breaker beer this is not meh, but not great. It really rocks the marmalade orange and apricot notes a clear and sometimes bitter way. Very good hop use in that side of things. The eggy, thick texture is ok, so works, but the more general hop prickle and bitter hop character is ill defined and occasionally harsh here.

So if fails to break the tie as it is half way between the other two. Ok, but not great or bad. Fuck. So, not bad but not worth the high UK cost. Lovely expression of the mosaic flavours but the backing beer doesn’t quite pull it off.

Background: Other Half really have to work on making their beer naming clearer. I thought this was just called Showers but nope, there are many beers called Showers, this is Showers Mosaic Double Dry Hopped. That last bit isn’t just a description it is a name indicating this is a different beer to other Showers. Making a name clear and easy to work out was obviously not on the table here. Anyway as indicated in the main notes I have had mixed encounters with Other Half, some matching their apparently huge rep, others less so. So I grabbed this one, going for the mosaic hop as it is one I have grown a huge fondness for. I mentioned when I first grabbed an Other Half beer that it was fairly darn fresh, even now this is canned on 13/05/2021 so at time of drinking was only three months old – pretty good for getting over from the USA. As before this was grabbed from Independent Spirit. I went with Caracas: Surgical Steel as backing music, been on a general metal music kick recently which is the whole of the reason.

Tasting Notes: Drastic Measures: Road Warrior

Drastic Measures: Road Warrior (USA: IIPA: 8.5 ABV)

Visual: Pale, slightly cloudy lemon juice. Large, mounded white frothy head that leaves suds.

Nose: Lemon curd. Vanilla toffee. Cream. Apricot. Grapefruit. Slightly sulphur bitterness. Passion fruit.

Body: Grapefruit. Tart. Resinous. Good bitterness and some hop oils. Apricot touches. Slightly sulphurous. Greenery. Gooseberry. Passion fruit. Marmalade.

Finish: Grapefruit. Good bitterness. Gritty hop character. Resinous. Dry apricot. Gooseberries. Light malt chocolate. Dry mango. Marmalade.

Conclusion: Ok, yep, this is exactly what I want from an IPA (Double or otherwise). Though initially I thought it wasn’t going to be from first encounters with the aroma. It wasn’t that the aroma was bad, it was very pleasant. It was just kind of sweet so not what I was expecting from a beer that was pitching itself as a west coast IPA.

Over time a bit of sulphur and bitterness comes out in the aroma, closer to what you would expect, but by that point I had already started sipping. So let’s jump ahead to that and see how it went.

It opens up tart, with full on grapefruit against sulphurous, resinous bitterness. A dry mouthfeel in general that is offset by the tart grapefruit notes. Over time other dry fruit notes come out,with dry mango and passion-fruit giving a thicker flavour that the dry body would otherwise suggest. The tartness is helped by some gooseberry notes that help contrast, until, at the tail end, a most unexpected dry and yet sweet take on marmalade notes give a final unexpected burst before leading out into the resinous hops in the finish.

So, the beer opens up soft and sweet, rapidly stomps on that with a tart character and dry bitterness, then roaming though dry fruit, before surprising you with the mix of sweet and new tart fruit at the end without sacrificing the dry west coast style.

If it wasn’t so expensive to drink in the UK I would be drinking this a darn lot as it is gorgeous. Which, considering the abv of this big beer, I guess I should be thankful for. The high cost of this is saving a lot of damage to my liver.

A great IPA.

Background: Beer Bruvs got a new batch of beers in recently. They specialise in smaller craft brewers in the USA, so have my interest. People who read this blog a lot may remember last time their canned on dates were very variable – which was quite a hit when you got a nine month old highly hopped IPA that was far past its best. Still, it sounded like these were teething troubles for a new company – it sounds like they got far more stock in than they could turn over quickly for a new start up. So I thought I would grab a batch from this new set and see how they did. It was much better, everything I got was between one and two months old, which is a perfectly fair time to get stuff over from the USA, especially with the current situation. So good news, hopefully will keep it up, as this is looking so much better. Anyway, don’t know much about this brewery, but it was a double west coast IPA and that was all I needed to hear. Went back to Rise Against: Appeal To Reason as backing music while drinking. Not up there with Endgame but still a good album.

Tasting Notes: Neptune: Lost and Grounded: Lost at Sea

Neptune: Lost and Grounded: Lost at Sea (England: IPA: 6.2% ABV)

Visual: Darkened, slightly cloudy caramel brown. Massive loose bubbled caramel touched head.

Nose: Malt toffee and chocolate. Chocolate lime sweets. Lightly bready. Cake sponge.

Body: Good bitterness. Tart grapefruit touch. Dry pineapple. Charred bitter notes. Greenery. Ovaltine. Dry chocolate orange. Sulphurous and sour dough.

Finish: Grapefruit. Charred bitterness. Pine needles. Vanilla. Malt chocolate to ovaltine. Gunpowder tea. Orange juice hints. Chocolate orange. High hop bitterness.

Conclusion: Ok, this is, at the very least, slightly atypical for a a West Coast style IPA, but in a way I appreciate. Most west style IPAs I encounter are light and bright on the eye, with the malt out of the way, concentrating on a dry body and bitter hop character.

Now this is fairly dry and bitter hop forwards (Which makes me very happy) , but the malt, while not sweet or fully east coat, does show darker ovaltine to malt chocolate and toffee notes. Still dry, but more present that expected. What makes this work is that it seems to give a lot more grip for the tarter hop flavours to work from. On the lighter end you get clean grapefruit and orange, at the low end it mixed with the malt to give slightly sweeter but still dry choc orange and choc lime notes.

It is kind of a drier take on an East Coast malt in feel, if that makes sense, but apart from that has a distinct West Coast attitude, and has a lot of room for hop expression in bitterness, feel and flavours. You may notice I kind of skipped over the aroma here, it isn’t bad, just not showing that much compared to the rest of the beer. A hint of what may be in there, but definitely doesn’t properly represent the weight of flavour you get in the rest of the beer.

I have the feeling I won’t always be up for this particular take on the style, sometimes I will just want a clean West Coast IPA, but it is still a delicious take and I approve – and right now it works fine for me.

Not traditional, not one to always go to, but definitely a great beer that is at least ¾ of its claimed West Coast influence in its final style.

Very nice.

Background: Neptune is a new brewery on me, but Lost and Grounded is a familiar friend over at Bristol. This was one of many West Coast IPAs that came in to Independent Spirit recently. As a west coast fan I was overjoyed. So overjoyed I tried most without remembering to do notes on them. I remembered to do notes on this one. Yay! This lists Citra, Simcoe, Bravo and Columbus as the hops used. I don’t know much about Bravo but the rest are very good go tos for a nicely bitter IPA so I was hopeful. Went back to Garbage: Not Your Kind Of People for backing music, I only picked it up recently but it is already firmly a big hit with me.

Tasting Notes: Other Half: Ain’t Nothing Nice – Double Dry Hopped

Other Half: Ain’t Nothing Nice – Double Dry Hopped (USA: IPA: 6.2% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy lemon juice body. Large, loose white bubbled head that mounds.

Nose: Lemon curd to lemon meringue. Cream. Clean. Apricot. Zero bitterness. Fried eggs. Thickens as it warms.

Body: Peach. Milky. Hop oils. Slightly resinous. Egg whites. Some bitterness. Slightly gritty. Strawberry hints. Thick. Orange juice.

Finish: Moderate bitterness and hop feel. Passion-fruit. Oily. Kumquat. Orange juice hints.

Conclusion: Ok, so I am surprised a bit by this. Since it is cloudy on the eye, I was initially guessing this as NEIPA with all that goes with that. Ah well, NEIPAs are far from my favourite IPA style but I can live with it.

The aroma confirmed what I was expecting, that being absolutely no bitterness, but quite fruity and creamy. Generally light and gentle. Well done for what it is, but still not my kind of IPA.

The body is thick and surprisingly it is also slightly oily and resinous which I would not have expected from the aroma. It is not hugely bitter, but still more than I expected up to this point. The finish then gives an actual decent amount of bitterness in yet anther twist.

Overall the feel is thick and slightly oily, which can become an egg yolk like thick and slimy character sometimes, if that makes sense? It also shows that slightly vegetable bitterness of simcoe very nicely -its always been odd that works, but it does and continues to do so here.

The other hops used here seem to show their influence more subtly, with orange hints and passion fruit touches. The general milkiness of the beer seems to make defining the actual flavours more difficult than they would normally be.

It is well brewed, just well brewed in an IPA style that I am not a huge fan of. The thicker feel seems odd to me here, but even with that I can’t deny an intrigued pleasure at the bitter, yet milky and eggy thick feel.

Very odd, too thick fried egg yolk feel for me to get on board with, but well made for what it is.

Background: Apparently Other Half are a super hype brewery. My finger must no longer be on the pulse of the craft beer community. I’ve run into them once as a collaborator on a Beavertown beer, and that is it. I am old. I have lost it. Anyway…

This turned up as part of a large batch of Other Half in Independent Spirit, so I grabbed it and a Nelson Sauvin hopped IIPA from them (Which was pretty darn nice). I’m not often one for listening canned dates, but since this is a USA IPA, and I recently did so with some from an online supplier, it seems only fair. This one I grabbed about two weeks back and was canned 29/04/2021 and the Nelson Sauvin one was fresher, so pretty nice – about as fast as you can expect to come across from USA without super special measures. Of course Independent Spirit have the advantage that I visit them regularly so can grab stuff as it comes in. Anyway, this is hopped with Galaxy, Mosaic and Simcoe, then dry hopped again with Galaxy pellets and Mosaic Lupin powder . Which is some serious hype hops for me, so is pretty much why I grabbed it. Went with Noctule – Wretched Abyss for music again for this. Nice big, Skyrim inspired black metal. As you do.

Tasting Notes: Cushnoc: All Souls IPA

Cushnoc: All Souls IPA (USA: IPA: 6.2% ABV)

Visual: Clear gold to yellow. Massive white mounded head that leaves lace. Lots of small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Vanilla fudge. Pine needles. Light crushed custard cream biscuits. Lightly resinous. Soft kiwi. Light flour to floured baps. Apricot touch. Cake sponge.

Body: Prickly bitterness. Dank hop oils. Light charring. Kiwi and grapefruit. Popcorn hop feel. Floral. Vanilla. Dry fudge. Moderately dry overall. Lightly chalky. Slight sweet grapes.

Finish: Flour. Popcorn hop feel. Good bitterness. Light charring. Slight chilli seeds.

Conclusion: This has a nice range of notes from the hops, yet keeps the bitterness on point. While I knew this was made with a mix of West Coast and Australian hops it didn’t explicitly say it was West Coast style, so I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I kind of hoped for west coast influenced at least.

Anyway, it is very west coast like. Yayz! And it does it well as well.

So, let’s dig into things, how does it feel?

Base body is pretty dry, not bone dry – there is some vanilla and drier fudge notes in there, so the malt base isn’t completely out of the way. It is however dry enough to be exactly what I want for a hop delivery system.

Those delivered hops emphasise bitterness, mainly in the popcorn feeling hop kick and some charring notes. I will admit the charring isn’t my favourite thing, but in general I am down for what this beer is selling on the hop bitterness side.

Outside of that it is more subtle. There is some tart grapefruit and hints of apricot sweetness and soft kiwi. They are not pushing any element too heavy but they are there – little grace notes around the edges.

It is lovely being able to try more USA made West Coast style IPAs, even if again I think this comes from the east coast. I think. This is quality made – light charring aside- there is nothing unusual, but is another good example of exactly how to do a lovely bitter kick IPA with just enough release and interesting qualities that it isn’t one note.

I may just be recovering from the NEIPA trend and just jumping onto any proper clear and bitter IPA, but I am loving these in general and enjoying this in specific.

Background: Another IPA grabbed from Beer Bruvs, this one with canned on date of 22/12/20. So a bit older than perfect, but on the line where I would expect it to still hold a lot of the flavour, if not the full effect. I have had two other IPAs from them that were older, around the 9 month to year mark and they were definitely past their best by that point so I didn’t do full notes on them. The oldest one was on sale, but still felt it lost too much to be worth it even like that. At this point I would say most of their beers are from very fresh, to decent if not great freshness, but if you want fresh IPAs it is worth keeping to their more recent arrivals. Again, I have sympathy, as a new start up in these times, but I would not be doing my best for you all of I did not advise. Hopefully as they get more established their turnover will increase keeping things fresh. Anyway, this is made with a mix of Australian and West Coast hops, which is what caught my eye. Not much else to add, put on a mix of Television Villain tunes while drinking. I am biased as I know one member, but I think they are amazing.