Fair State Brewing Cooperative, Minneapolis, Minnesota:
` This is a Strata DDH Pale. that was recommended to me by Jay at the Walkley Beer Company, as he thought I’d like it, seeing as how I’d just been wowed by a pint of another Fell brew with Sabro and Talus hops. Looking up the fascinating Strata hops, I learned that it was developed in 2009 in Corvallis, Oregon and has been described as “passion fruit, grapefruit, dried chili, and cannabis”. This beer was light and drinkable, and I could definitely get the dried chilli and cannabis aroma. It wasn’t blatant, mind you--just a little figment of a suggestion, similar to dank. Yes, dank in a pale brew.Less Cowbell (5.5% ABV -- reviewed 15 October 2023)
Fell Brewery, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria:
` Sold in a one-pint can, this beer contains Citra, Simcoe, and Denali hops, wheat, and oats, and is quite tropical. In fact, when I popped open the can it scented the entire room. It’s tropical like an ocean breeze through the pineapple and mango trees. It’s quite gorgeous, actually. I selected this for my pint refreshment as I wait for a Cousins Zoom session to start, featuring one uncle, one brother, one sister-in-law, and cousins and second cousins galore. As most of them are on the Pacific Coast of America, where they’ll be having their second cup of coffee, and the one in Hawaii probably having his first cup, I’m sipping slowly because I don’t want to end up sounding pissed.Pahlay Hazy Pale Ale (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Buellton, California:
` Brewed with Cascade, Columbus, and Simcoe hops, this easy-drinking beer features a floral bouquet, and it comes in a can decorated with pretty California poppies. The Central Coast brewery is named after a mountain which can be seen from Los Olivos, and it's won lots of gold medals recently.Hoppy Poppy IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 25 July 2023)
` With 60 IBUs, this was good for an IPA that my nondrinking sister-in-law had picked out for me. Hazy and a bit fruity with a balanced malt, it's a pleasant enough “Hello Bakersfield” beer for the yearly opening of our Cat & Bell Pub on the back patio. Described on the can as a New School West Coast IPA, it's brewed with Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, and Sultana hops, and Two Row Barley, Dextrin Malt, and Flaked Barley. The beer is named after Point Conception, a headland in Santa Barbara County along the Gaviota coast. I've camped at Gaviota State Beach before, as well as Refugio State Beach. Point Conception refers to the top point of the Southern California Bight, which is a curved coastline that ends at San Diego. The native Chumash people named this point Humqaq, and they considered it the gate through which the souls of the dead could pass between the mortal world, Similaqsa, or Paradise.Point Conception IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, California:
` When I was visiting California, and my unofficial brother Kim and I returned to Bakersfield one night from a short road trip, we stopped at a shop to pick up some beer to take home. Sadly they had no more Lagunitas IPA, and the selection looked pretty grim. A young man told us that this was a good beer if we liked IPA. So having no choice, we picked up a sixpack. And I think both of us have to admit it's really awful. If you don't really like hops, you should enjoy this. But why Firestone Walker has created this bland, slightly malty drek, I'll never understand. When Rick and I were later driving all over the Central Coast, we saw billboards advertising this brew. I guess some people will never have any taste.805 (4.7% -- reviewed 4 July 2022)
` This beer is brewed with Simcoe, Talus, and Callista hops and then double dry hopped with Mosaic Cryo, Idaho 7, El Dorado, Cashmere, Nelson Sauvin, and Riwaka hops. So no wonder it's so delicious! All those uniquely excellent hops are all thrashing around in there together, without any egos clashing, suggesting mango, passionfruit, and lychee. How do they do it? Besides using a wide array of excellent hops, the cryo hops are pellets made by collecting the concentrated lupulin from whole-leaf hops. And who doesn't love that lupulin?Hopnosis IPA (6.7% -- reviewed 25 July 2023)
` It was a completely dead and deserted Saturday and I wanted and needed a strong beer, so I decided to try this one. The pretty blue can features a rampant lion facing a rampant bear, with their dukes up. (I’m assuming the lion stands for England and the bear for California.) The hops are listed as Idaho 7, Mosaic, Cashmere, El Dorado, and Simcoe, and the resulting character as Mango, Grapefruit, Tropical Fruit, Pine, and Chicken Wings. Huh? Oh sorry, that must be the food pairing suggestion. As soon as I popped open the can I realised that this is a really lusciously good beer. It is truly yummy! Even Andrew agreed instantly with me as I insisted he taste it. And happily I bought the can just down the road at a very local shop, so I can run back and buy some more. This is really a lovely brew, absolutely lovely. I suppose it’s those characters, the triad of tropical, grapefruit, and pine, that can turn out so perfect, and the melding of such an interesting collection of hops. I can’t say it enough, but this is absolutely lovely. I can’t really detect any chicken, though...Ponderosa West Coast IPA (6.7% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Thornbridge Brewing Company, Bakewell, Derbyshire -- reviewed 27 August 2020)
` This West Coast IPA is hopped with CTZ, Cascade, and Centennial hops, then dry hopped with Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, and Chinook. The malts are Two Row, Munich, and Crystal Light. The can features a rampant lion and bear facing each other as if they’re having some sort of duel. This was just a fine strong hoppy traditional West Coast IPA, I’d say. It made me dream of my next visit to California, hopefully later this year, and there is a plan afoot when I do go to visit this actual brewery in Paso Robles -- along with many other breweries, of course.Union Jack IPA (7.0% ABV --reviewed 20 July 2021)
First Chop Brewing Company, Eccles, Greater Manchester:
` Wow, what a smell that bursts from the poptop! Yes! This is a pretty cool beer: a zizzy buzz rolling itself out across the tongue of tropicality. And it’s in a very neon-bright can as well. It would look good at a picnic, if one were allowed such a social type of thing these days. I suppose I could go to the park with a couple of cans of this while one friend sat at least two metres away from me with another couple of cans, and each of us could have a sandwich or a packet of crisps or something as well, just as long as we didn’t share. I suppose at a stretch one could call that a picnic. But I don’t think any ants would be particularly interested.
Juicy IPA (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
Five Oh Brew Company, Prestwich, Greater Manchester:
` Recently I had a bottle of this gift from a friend. Brewed with fresh bergamot, this is slightly tart, which I like. It’s bottle conditioned so I screwed up the pour slightly, producing a bit of cloudiness. But it still tasted nice, like a hoppy sour beer.Magic IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 16 October 2016)
Flying Dog Brewing, Frederick, Maryland:
` For my birthday last month Andrew gave me four bottles from this American craft brewery, all presented in a Have A Totes Amazeballs Birthday bag and accompanied by a sexy Jimmy the Bull card. My first taste was this lager, which is part of their Heat Series, brewed with ancho peppers and lime peel. It’s a fun beer. It’s not punch-out-wow-it’s-lime-and-chile exactly, but it’s fun. It would be great on a picnic. On second thought, with the high alcohol you might want to make that a picnic in your own back garden. There is a pink tinge to the tawny colour which makes me think of white zinfandel. Hey, I’ve had green beer and purple beer, so why not pink? This could be marketed as a Women’s Movement beer, perhaps with a pink kitty hat on the label. As I contemplated all of these things a pleasant heat was growing on my palate like a creeping rug on a cold night.Ancho Lime Paradise Lager (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 26 February 2017)
` This brew is good and zingy. I consumed a can during a Zoom pub quiz with eight friends whom I haven’t actually seen in the literal sense since March, even though three of the participants live a five-minute walk away. (I did well at the quiz but didn’t win, which doesn’t really bother me. At least I forced myself to be sociable after my awful grief-filled isolation week, and I’m glad I did.)Thunderpeel Hazy IPA (6.2% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan:
` A Session Hazy IPA, this is brewed with Citra, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops and malted with 2-R, Red Wheat, Rolled Oats, and Simpson Crystal Lite. I had my first can of this on a lazy afternoon at the Bastrop, Texas house of my cousin David and his wife Judy, with my cousin Laurie and her husband Ron visiting from their cross-country trek between their homes in Key West, Florida and Meridian, Nevada--and here I was all the way from Sheffield. This beer is actually very pleasantly drinkable and hoppy enough without being high in ABV. Yep.All Day Haze (4.9% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
Fourpure Brewering Company, London:
` This beer was “inspired by adventure”, which of course all of us are having just too much of this year. Let me recount some of my exciting moments in 2020: discovering a new local park? Buying a new prepared entree at the local Sainsburys? Organising a Zoom virtual pint with a friend? Whoa, slow down, girl! (And then there's today, which is the first day in my entire life that I got off work and could not go have a pint or a drink, whether I wanted to or not. This is because all of the pubs have had to close again, but I still have to walk several miles to work and back. Anyway, quit complaining because it’s a challenging world at the moment...) But back to this beer. It's refreshingly hoppy, tropical, crisp, and breezy, like riding in a fast-moving boat -- in my imagination, of course. We’re not allowed to travel at the moment...Hemisphere Session IPA (4.2% ABV -- reviewed 23 November 2020)
` With a graphic of a cassette tape on the can, this music-inspired beer has some fresh orange zest on top of the tropical fruitiness. I forgot to chill it a bit, which I’ve been doing with all of these cans of craft keg. But it is mid-December, the day that Boris has announced that 2020’s Christmas is still on, so the beer is cool enough to enjoy. And to add to the anticipation, I dropped the can on the kitchen floor, so I had to open it very carefully. With all that in mind, it’s turned out to be an easy drinking brew with a semi-modern hoppy bitter.Juicebox Citrus IPA (5.8% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
Freeminer Brewery, Coleford, Cottswalds:
` Located in the Forest of the Deans, this seven-year-old brewery bottles twenty percent of its beer. This particular selection features Maris Otter barley and choice grade Worcester Golding hops. But enough about ingredients; let's talk about taste! This is an OOOHH! beer! As I was picking up my glass in the kitchen I heard this "OOOHH! OOOHH! OOOHH!" bursting from the lounge where my tasting companion was taking his first sip. Mmm, yes, this is a fine brew! It has a golden colour, a delightful hoppiness, and the flavour of a spectacular sky with big, billowy clouds covering the entire grayscale, like a pleasantly cool, crisp, fresh breeze as you ride alone in your convertible, your favourite song on the radio...Trafalgar IPA (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 1 November 1999)
Full Circle Brewing Company, Fresno, California:
` Dry hopped with 100% Mosaic, this is very hazy and orange (in the night light), making it look like a peach smoothie. Sadly our cans weren't cold enough, because there was some problem with the beer fridge. Captain Save A Hop! Hazy IPA (7.0% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
Gamma Brewing, Copenhagen, Denmark:
` Brewed in collaboration with the London Beer Factory as part of their Wanderer series of beer styles from around the world, this is quite a refreshing beer, as one would expect with Citra and Cascade.Fuzzy Recall (6.3% ABV -- reviewed 4 May 2020)
Golden Road Brewing Company, Los Angeles, California:
` Containing 30 IBUS, the ten hops specified are Chinook, CTZ, Idaho 7, Simcoe, Motueka, Amarillo, Cashmere, Galaxy, Strata, and Centennial. On the can is a picture of a surfer van at the beach, with a dog playing soccer. Kim says it tastes like orange Fanta. And I have to admit there is definitely something orange about it in a hazy way. As it says on the can, it's a "smooth ride," very smooth.Ride On 10 Hop Hazy IPA (7.5% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
Good Chemistry Brewing, Bristol:
` This beer is dry hopped with Sabro, Talus, and El Dorado, with notes of pink grapefruit and coconut. I had a half pint of this recently at Two Sheds, and it was gorgeous. Drinking this out of the can was quite enjoyable, and of course quite exciting with those hops, and it was also a just reward for a stupidly physical day at work. I do love a piña colada every now and then, and I also love a coconut pineapple smoothie. So I’m pretty damn happy with this.King Piña DH Pineapple Pale Ale (5.0% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Abbeydale Brewing of Sheffield -- reviewed 30 December 2023)
Goose Eye Brewery, Keighley, West Yorkshire:
` I keep seeing this brewery in bottles -- this brewery's beer in bottles, that is. (I've just pictured a shiplike building in a bottle with casks piled outside on the dock...although that would be fun to build, I'm getting sidetracked again...) This is a nice pale hoppy zippety-dooh-dah-what-a-nice-day brew. It's not a knock-your-socks-off kind of beer, but it's pleasant in a gently hopped sort of way.Wonky Donkey (4.3% ABV -- reviewed 1 July 2012)
Goose Island Brewery, Chicago, Illinois:
` The label promises a "Bold Hop Finish". It is good and choppy-hoppy, clean and crisp, and much needed after wearing myself out moving furniture books all afternoon. It didn't occur to me until I was drinking this that I've had a couple of pints of this at the airport in Chicago, sitting at the bar being watched over by the goose head on the tap. Yes. This is good.Goose IPA (5.9% ABV -- reviewed 6 May 2017)
` Brewed with Amarillo hops and Pale, Pils, and Maris Otter malts, this is a very gentle, “easy drinking” beer. In fact, it’s so easy-drinking that it would probably go great with easy-listening music, and perhaps a really easy-going companion. I mean, if you really like that sort of thing. As I sip this, yes, I’m sure I could drink several of these at a party or a pub session without even being really aware of what I was drinking. But I miss the excitement of Goose Island IPA. I want to jump on a rocket to the moon! I want to skydive from the thermosphere! I want to pogo and skank on the head of a pin suspended above a flaming cauldron of HOPS-HOPS-HOPS! But then again that’s just my palate’s spirit. But I still think this is like settling for a zero-alcohol lager in a worldwide pub full of interesting brews. There’s nothing wrong with it, of course. Since I‘d bought a 4-pack I had three more cans, so hopefully it would grow on me.Midway IPA (4.1% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
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