Canopy Beer Company, London:
` The can announces "Brewers of Craft Beer and Humble Glories, Juicy, Tropical, Crushable, Eccentric". Brewed with Citra and Cascade hops, this is very bitter but quite tropical, I must say, with a distinct guava or loquat cromph. The day was yet another cloudy day threatening rain, as it looked like the entire Yorkshire summer was going to turn out, and my shoes were still drying out from getting caught in a massive long-lasting downpour the previous day in the woods with absolutely nowhere to go for shelter. (Yes, this is what typical Sheffield July days are now, I guess. How I dream of being able to visit California as I do every September, but it’s obviously not happening this year.) Along with all the promises, the can is decorated with a colourful creature with a dinosaur tail and legs, beaver arms, and an elephant head. Yep, I think that’s a very appropriate description of this beer.Brockell IPA (5.6% ABV -- reviewed 27 August 2020)
Castle Rock Brewery, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire:
This collaboration features UK grown Harlequin and Cascade hops, and it's dry hopped with Galaxy and Loral Cryo. So the hops are from all over the place, creating a cosmopolitan, interesting, and totally cool beer. In fact, it's too cool for school, as we used to say. According to Homer's Iliad, Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War who led the Spartan contingent of the Greek armyBut apparently Menelaus is also the name of one of the lions that flank the steps of the Council House in Nottingham, so that's where this beer's name comes from.Menelaus New School IPA (5.5% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Castle Rock Brewing in Nottingham -- reviewed 25 July 2023)
Ceres Brewery, Arhus, Denmark:
` When I was in Italy last month I had a bottle of this on my balcony in Bari Vecchia, on the final afternoon of my Italian visit. I’ve found that the beer in Puglia is a bit disappointing in general for a hops lover like me, and this bottle, although it was Danish, was not really bad at all. It must have been the Mosaic hops. The Ceres brewery operated in Arhus, Denmark until 2008, when its beers began to be brewed elsewhere. I must say that this Mosaic IPA was quite nice, probably the most satisfying beer I had on my trip. I mean, obviously Bari, and Puglia in general, is not really an IPA-exciting part of the world, brewing more German-style beers. So fair enough.Mosaic IPA (5.7% ABV -- reviewed 3 November 2024)
Cervejaria Invicta, Ribeiro Preto, Sao Paolo, Brazil:
` This beer is a collaboration with Triple Point Brewery, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Brewed with Cryo Amarillo, Cryo Citra, Cryo El Dorado, and Cryo Sabro hops, it comes in a gorgeous green, gold, and rusty red can. So what’s not to like? When I popped open the can, the aroma scented the entire room. It was very perfumey, with chewy hops. And wow! It really cheered me up.Invicta Cryo-Hopped NEIPA (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 15 November 2022)
Chapel Down Group, Tenterden, Kent:
` Recently on a night alone I tried this beer, one of my birthday bottles. It's described as "crystal, chocolate, black, and amber malts from floor malted Sussex barley, with Admiral and Goldings Late hops and matured with oak." It's a nice rich but smooth porter for a very odd day which started with heavy sudden snow instantly melting, followed by painful sleet in the face from the Arctic winds. This brew is like a little mini-fire with an imaginary big grey cat sitting on my lap. It's comfort beer!Curious Porter (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 21 February 2013)
Chapel-en-le-Frith Craft Brewing Company, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire:
` Described on the label as a light ale in a whole world of hoppiness, this brew comes in a can covered with graphics of bunnies and hops buds, just in case you thought it might not be hoppy. It was one of the bottles I bought from the Eyam Brewing Company’s shop in the plague village of Eyam. It’s copper pale and well balanced with a definite citrus bitterness, so it was an appropriate beer to be drinking after a particularly exhausting day at work, at home huddling in our currently crowded lounge as the bedrooms upstairs were being painted. I wish that I could say that it made me feel like hopping and scampering, as that’s my usual physical inclination, but I was just too tired and there definitely wasn’t enough room.Hoppy As Funk (5.8% ABV -- reviewed 24 March 2019)
Cigar City Brewing, Tampa, Florida:
` I finally opened this Lockdown-vintage can. Brewed with Strata and Idaho 7 hops, this beer is still hoppily drinkable three years later, and it’s quite hoppily satisfying as well. The flavours of mango and tangerine are suggested on the can, and also the suggestion of cigar box labels--not cigars, which I can appreciate as a beer-tasting term, but the labels. Okay...Fancy Papers Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 12 February 2024)
` When I first arrived at Orlando Airport from LAX last June, I had several hours to wait until my connection home to Manchester. So when I walked past the CIBO Express Gourmet Market (C Level 2 Departing Lounge) and spotted the bar, I thirstily went in and took a seat. Sadly they had just run out of the last interesting craft beer on tap, but I got a can of the same beer to tide me over. And it was very good indeed. The beer was named after the game which was once popular in the Tampa Bay area, and it's dedicated to the players who keep the tradition alive today. This crisp beer contains six hops, and the man sitting next to me admitted that he had the very last pint of it on draft. Oh well, better luck next time.Jai Alai IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
Cloudwater Brewing Company, Manchester, Greater Manchester:
` This DDH IPA is hopped with Citra and Mosaic. The can says the following: “Wave after wave of succulent tropical and stone fruit flavours roll across a soft, smooth bed, comnplemented by a characteristic dankness”... Yep, I’ll try to ignore the typo “comnplemented”, because this is exactly the promise that the combination of Citra and Mosaic brings to me. And wow, yes! The promise is not broken, and the boat is seaworthy. I drank this on Thanksgiving just before a short Cousins Zoom.I Have Become the Boat (7.0% ABV -- reviewed 30 December 2023)
` This beer, that I bought at a local wine shop, is brewed with Motueka, Columbus, Waimea, and Idaho 7 hops, and there are nine different can designs which feature all of the brewery’s participants from their Collaborative Brew Day. This particular can I’m drinking had a picture of Rivca Burns, Director of From The Other. Although those were some great hops promised on this can, the beer itself was really mild and pretty bland in the hoppy department.International Women's Day Pale Ale (4.0% ABV -- reviewed 21 September 2024)
` On a recent trip to Manchester, I bought this at the brewery after being so impressed with Cloudwater’s beers. This offers a really nice gorgeous zippy hops of a hazy fruitiness, definitely suggesting grapefruit and guava with a touch of pineapple. It zazoonked my tongue like the heart of an artichoke. It helped clear my sinuses, just a little bit. Hopped with Lórien, Idaho 7, and Galaxy Spectrum hops, this is a therapeutic brew.The Sun Swirls Within You IPA (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 19 August 2024)
Coronado Brewing Company, Coronado, California:
` A San Diego-style IPA with Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe, and with a taste described as “tropical dankness”, this is pretty good.Weekend Vibes IPA (6.8% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
Crafty Dan Microbrewery, Blackburn, Lancashire:
` This beer is amber in colour and very full in flavour. The label promises an "intense hit of hops", which is spot-on, actually, the hops being an array Centennial, Citra, Amarillo, Apollo, Chinook, and Kohatu. The beer was brewed in honour of the 13 original states by Crafty Dan, which is part of the Thwaites Brewery. This was a great tonic after an exhausting work day.13 Guns IPA (5.5% ABV -- reviewed 8 June 2017)
Cropton Brewery, Pickering, North Yorkshire:
` This strong brew is smooth yet full-bodied and like velour on the tongue. It's not "goaty" at all, at least in classic beer-tasting terms. The goat on the label is wearing spectacles, so he's obviously a more distinguished goat, the type that could relate charming stories in a fine Yorkshire accent about dining on shoelaces. Ah yes, the tales of his youth when he clambered about in the Dales! "Ay, tha knows, it were in t'winter of '48. Ol' Billy, he were a right tough goat!"Old Goat (8.0% ABV -- reviewed 24 January 2010)
Crosspool Ale Makers Society, Sheffield, South Yorkshire:
` When I saw the photo on the can of three famous rappers of the Sheffield neighbourhood of Crosspool, obviously I had to buy it. Yo, this beer is dark amber, so it’s a beer of colour. And it’s brewed with Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade hops, know what I’m sayin’? This is sick, man.Straight Outta Crosspool West Coast IP (5.6% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
Crown & Hops Brewing Company, Inglewood, California:
` When I was having lunch at the Hammer Collection in Los Angeles last May, I was drinking a can of Mayberry IPA, and my friend Eileen had tried a can of this. With Nobel hops, this German pilsner was brewed to raise awareness of racial equality and economic growth across the spectrum, and 100% of the proceeds donated to organisations driving sustainable change to accomplish racial equality. But the hops flavour was so mild that Eileen preferred my IPA, so we shared that.8 Trill Pils (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 25 July 2023)
Crown & Kettle Brewpub, Manchester:
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