Neepsend Brewing Company, Sheffield, South Yorkshire:
` This is a session IPA with Citra and Mosaic. I was struck by the pretty can, yellow blending into orange as a backdrop for strong modern black print. But when I seated myself in the back garden and poured some into a glass, I was a bit put off by the colour. It was quite amber and very hazy. I mean, I’m used to the pale hazy ales that tend to look like pear nectar. But this looked a bit like a swamp, or some body of water I wouldn’t want to be swimming in, even with goggles. But it tasted nice and refreshing and tropically hoppy. I suppose, having had a few black IPAs as well as a green beer and a purple beer, that I can just close my eyes to fully enjoy it. After all, the afternoon had turned out to offer the most perfect temperature and feeling I have experienced in a long time, and as I sipped my beer (without looking at it) I laughed at a massive pigeon who was thrashing around in the top branches of a tree that was too small for the bird. And I was fascinated by the spider who was resting in between paving stones by the wall, also absolutely massive both in legspan and body and head mass. I know this would put off arachnophobes, but I found it absolutely fascinating. What a pleasantly slightly surreal afternoon it had turned out to be.Alcis (4.2% ABV -- reviewed 27 August 2020)
` hazy IPA brewed with Ekuanot, Azacca, Citra, and Simcoe hops and a Vermont yeast strain, oats, and wheat, this is another nice beer. My lip was still a bit numb from an earlier dental appointment in the day, so I was hoping I didn’t dribble this beer down my front. It reminded me of sitting in the garden of the Neepsend Brewery’s tap, the Wellington, back in the days between lockdowns, because the Wellington has consistently felt like a safe pub with a clean, socially distanced garden with heaters. Someday, someway, we’ll be back in the pubs, and I could end up having a pint of this on cask. I couldn’t help wondering where the name Bahamut comes from. If it’s a Mexican dog, it’s misspelled. When I googled the name I learned that it’s a sea dragon that lies underneath the supporting structure of the earth, and it rides on a giant whale. Hmm, is that what I’m getting on my palette?Bahamut Hazy IPA (6.8% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
New Bristol Brewing Company, Bristol:
` Brewed with Idaho 7, Strata, and Citra hops, this is a hazy brew, featuring butterflies, bees, and ladybirds on the can. I drank this on a day that I was sent home from work the moment I had arrived, because of the transportation stoppage threats of Storm Babet. Earlier, in just the one minute it had taken me to run for the bus for work, I got totally soaked, so when I arrived at work I really wanted to dry out first, not to mention have a wee, before I turned around and headed back home. When I finally did get back home, the rain was very light outside on the hill where I live, but apparently lower parts of the city were experiencing flooding. So I really needed a can of something interesting to cope with my sudden Friday cabin fever. This beer is hazy and lightly hoppy, like the little insects that are hopping and flitting on their wings on the can. It was pleasant enough, but perhaps I should have opened that year-old coconut stout instead.Wings New England Pale (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 19 November 2023)
North Brew Company, Sheepscar, Leeds, West Yorkshire:
` TThis is a hazy double IPA brewed with Idaho 7, Talus, and Citra hops. Late last May, on an extremely jetlagged day and after sleeping long hours and still being sleepy, I pushed myself out of the house between rain showers for a refreshing walk. Back home I refreshed myself even more with a can of this. I sat on the sofa reminiscing about my extremely recent California trip, the last week spent drinking craft beers up and down the Central Coast and the Bay Area. And sipping this beer jetted me back to Santa Cruz, just for the day, where I could duck out of the rain and into the ocean breeze. What a refreshingly uplifting beer, possessing a complex strength cooled with whistling breezes.Abstract Lens DIPA (8.0% ABV -- reviewed 15 November 2022)
` The only thing I could find out about this beer is that it contains Kveik yeast. But whatever hops are used, they are totally cool. Basically a wheat beer, this was slightly sweet in a banana-pineapple way, and gentle. As the can was a cool green, I felt as though the beer should be green as well. But it was surprisingly yellow, in a very hazy way.Green Curve (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
` This is a hazy beer brewed with Mosaic and Ekuanot hops. I tried this on the first day of Sheffield’s Tier 3 limitations, which meant our local pub had to close again. So we’ve once again started up the weekly online Olly’s Zoom Quiz. Because there are always at least seven of us and therefore the time on Zoom is limited, we decided to try Google Duo. But because of sound problems, we ended up going back to Zoom. Ah, the trials and tribulations of virtual life...anyway I'm pleased to say that Lost Cosmonauts is absolutely AMAZING! Delicious! It's wonderfully hoppy and perfect! This is a truly delicious beer! I apologise for all the exclamation points, but they're well-deserved! Now, I just have to remember where I bought this so I can get some more.Lost Cosmonauts (6.0% ABV -- a collaboration with Thornbridge Brewery, Sheffield, South Yorkshire -- reviewed 23 November 2020)
` This is really nice, with quite a strong taste, but it has a sort of an Abbeydale Deception aura about it. The hops are Citra, HBC 353, and Bru-1, with Maris Otter, Oat Malt, and Flaked Wheat malts. North Bridge (7.2% ABV -- a collaboration with Thornbridge Brewery, Sheffield, South Yorkshire -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
` I bought this beer was because the front of the can says “PNTA”, which is a company I knew well from Seattle, as my ex-husband and another good friend worked there, and I even designed their first website and used to go in to do occasional scanning and editing work. But on this can of beer, as the N has a tilde over it, it’s actually PÑTA. Still, the thought of piñatas reminds me of the Christmas parties with cousins we used to have when I was a girl, eating Mexican food and smashing the piñata, years before my cousins and I all discovered more rewarding things in life and the festive season than little wrapped candies hidden inside papier-mâché donkeys and chickens. Inside this non-papier-mâché-but-festively-green-and-yellow can is a very hazy beer imparting guava-rich zoopy tropicality. It’s quite a nice brew.Piñata (4.5% ABV -- reviewed 27 August 2020)
Northern Monk, Leeds, West Yorkshire:
` This is a very drinkable IPA, and I can easily imagine being thoroughly content with a couple of pints of this in a pub. Remember those things? Do you remember sitting at the bar on a stool, sipping a freshly poured pint and talking to, I don’t know, maybe three or four three-dimensional friends? Wow, those were the days...as I sit sipping this can of eternal comfort I can only hope the pub closure will not become eternal as well.Eternal Session IPA (4.1% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
` On the can it says: “Brian Dickson, brewer, described as an affable and vaguely eccentric brewing wizard in oversized wellies", so somehow I can picture him perfectly. The beer he’s created is quite a nice starter for this c’mon-let’s-get-it-over-with New Year’s Eve before 2020 is finally done and dusted. Thank god! It’s got an appropriately cool, frosty hoppy character for the cool, frosty day.Faith Hazy Pale Ale (5.4% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
` "Twist Edition". This beer is a collaboration between Northern Monk and INSA, who’s a graffiti artist from Leeds, and also the Faith in Futures Foundation who, with each can of beer sold, donates money to charity and community projects that tackle injustice across society, which is a great thing for a beer to do. It’s brewed with Citra and El Dorado hops as well, so it tastes pretty good as well.Faith In Futures DDPA IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
` Brewed with Amarillo, Azacca, Citra Incognito, and Citra hops, this beer is described as having accents of pineapple, tangerine, and grapefruit. So it’s basically fruity. I drank this at home after work on the day that Sheffield was the site of one of the recent planned right-wing anti-immigrant rallies and riots around the country. Fortunately the anti-immigrant racists were well outnumbered by anti-racists and the police, so there was no problem at all, and after all the businesses had closed up, making the city centre feel a bit like the height of Lockdown. But they all re-opened with no damage, and things are back to normal, which is a relief. And this beer is definitely fruity in a peppery hoppy way.Fresh From - Hop Focus IPA Series (5.3% ABV -- reviewed 21 September 2024)
` On the evening of my mom’s hip replacement surgery, postponed from the day before, I calmed myself with this brew. It’s in a pleasantly greeeeeeeen 330ml can, evoking images of green grass, green pines, green mountains, a green logo, green letters, greenly calming caresses. “Hoppy, Tropical, Zesty”, it says on the can. “Welcome to where the journey began, now let our journey begin. Canned in the North with Kelly Hall. My fears are outer space and lava.” “Brethren #008" is also printed on the can, along with a friendly and northern “Ey up!” So enough about the can which could take slow readers a long time to get through. Just drink the beer, becauses it's good. In fact, drinking it is like walking through the pines, through the pines, where the sun never shines...along with a zing of something tropical. Definitely worthwhile. Save the can for later, if you want.New World IPA (6.2% ABV -- reviewed 4 May 2020)
` This is a New England IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops. And there’s something really interesting about the taste, something surprisingly nostalgic...that’s, um, quite...something! It smells great as it’s poured out of the can, like a fragrant waterfall. It’s like an ice floe through a field with a touch of sage blossom and juniper leaves, and a cat’s wet chest where it’s been bathing itself. In other words, well, just use your imagination. This is a very imaginative beer.Scafell (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
` I bought this can because of the name, obviously, and also the fact that it says “Twist Edition”, whatever that means. But there was no mention of what hops were used, only the Brethren #094, Pietro Maltinti, who brewed it. But wow, it’s certainly coconutty! It’s quite fun at first; but by the end it becomes a bit too over-the-top coconutty. Now, I love coconut myself, but there is a limit.Shipwrecked Transient Piña Colada IPA (7.0% ABV -- reviewed 12 February 2024)
Oakham Ales, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire:
` This beer was brewed for sale in Marks & Spencer. Not long ago, as I was dashing through my local M&S before work, I noticed they had a display of little bottles of Lagunitas IPA, one of my favourite California beers. As I was headed for work I didn't buy any, but I really should have. Anyway, weeks later I finally stopped in on my way home and checked out their beer selection. This time they sadly had no more Lagunitas, but I decided to try this beer. I was surprised by the long list of ingredients which included glucose syrup, but Andrew thought that was reasonable, and he liked the taste. I thought it was okay for a supermarket product, although I have to admit it's actually brewed by the Oakham Brewery. It was hoppy with tropical fruit and citrus, so you can't really complain about it.Double Hopped Citra IPA (4.8% ABV -- reviewed 22 November 2016)
This was my Beer of Day 8 of the Covid-19 Lockdown. It's brewed with Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook hops grown in the Yakima Valley. I haven’t had an Oakham beer for years. It’s clean and sparky and quite pleasant, a nice reward for walking all over trying to get my once-daily exercise plus shopping. As I got a late start this afternoon, I did pass the occasional friend, one out walking, one running his two little dogs, and a legendary sax-playing friend I’d never seen walking in his stocking cap just like everybody else. I threw a quick long-distance chat to the dog walker, but we didn’t dawdle at all, just in case the Exercise Police are monitoring this. Yep, this beer is definitely Sparky, like a friendly animated electrical spark. I won’t pass it by if I see it again on the shelf.Inferno Blonde Ale (4.4% ABV -- reviewed 4 May 2020)
Off Peak Brewing, Bakewell, Derbyshire:
` This is a hazy DDH IPA, brewed with Cascade, Comet, and Ekuanot hops and described as “Papaya, Mango, Grapefruit”. It’s an interesting hopzy brew, with a hint of sweet character to the bouquet of hops, like a bunch of lilies and orchids in a gorgeous vase.But What Is Normal? (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
` Presented in another indecipherable can, this hazy beer is brewed with Cascade, El Dorado, Pacifica, and Huell Melon hops. What a unique fruity hops character it has, and it’s definitely another new taste for me. Is it the Pacifica hops? Are they from Pacifica, located down the California coast from San Francisco? Or are the hops grown on the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire, miles away from any ocean? After a mildly stressful day, after everything fortunately was sorted out, this brew was a very pleasant reward.You Have Been Disconnected (7.1% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
Orkney Brewery, Stromness, Orkney, Scotland:
` Now this is a proper dark malty beer, with a good chocolaty head, a chocolaty character, and complicated flavours. This is a dark beer to make you think. If you like malty stouts, definitely try this one.Dragons Head (4.0% ABV -- reviewed 12 August 2007)
This beer tastes like hoppy toasted grapefruit -- if you could toast a grapefruit like a piece of bread, that is. It was quite nice and cooling, welcomely cooling, even on such a suddenly brisk and windy day. It brought to mind a lovely crunchy ripply orange scarf wrapped around my neck, which I would have appreciated just then.Northern Light (3.8% ABV -- reviewed 12 August 2007)
This beer distinctly says "toast": not as in "Cheers" but as in "buttered wholemeal nutty toast".Raven (3.8% ABV -- reviewed 12 August 2007)
This is definitely a barley wine, with a touch of coke syrup -- although this impression comes from my childhood when I still liked Coca-Cola. My friend Ali claims it tastes like Bass No. 1, which was the very first barley wine to be mass produced. Please go with Ali's description, because it was his beer and I wouldn't want to see anybody do something horrible like mix it with rum. It's very attractive from the top view into the glass as well.Skull Splitter (8.5% ABV -- reviewed 12 August 2007)
Ossett Brewery, Ossett, West Yorkshire:
` Andrew and I shared a bottle of this beer. The description on the bottle was promising: "Pale and Well Hopped" with a graphic of the Cascades, as Cascade hops is used. This beer does indeed has a grapefruity hoppiness, but sadly it's a bit lacking in character and would taste much nicer if it were bottle-conditioned -- so we felt as if we were standing on a drumlin rather than a mountain peak. So it's close...but no cigar.Excelsior (5.2% ABV -- reviewed 28 August 2011)
!-- *********************************************** -->
Otherworld Brewing, Dalkeith, Scotland:
` Brewed with Idaho Gem and Idaho 7, this is gently hoppy and very pale in colour. I drank this on a pleasant day with a gorgeous blue sky and puffy white clouds, at home after work, which was just work. So this was a pleasantly gentle ending to the day.Atropos Idaho Hazy Pale (4.0% ABV -- reviewed 21 September 2024)
|