Weird Beard Brew Company, London:
` Recently at home I enjoyed a bottle of this beer. Described on the bottle as “A Mixed Up IPA”, this is bottle conditioned with English malt, American yeast ,and Target and Aurora hops, and then dry hopped. It was a cloudy pour, but that was probably mostly due to my not very good bottle-conditioned-beer-decanting abilities. The taste was of tingly fruity hops, like a tangerine without the tangerine flavour. It was buzzy like a little bee. It was definitely a get-over-this-damn-cold tonic.Hit The Lights (5.8% ABV -- reviewed 27 October 2015)
Wells & Young Ltd, Bedford, Bedfordshire:
` One evening we decided to break open a couple of bottles of beer bought during the Christmas season. This beer emits a gorgeous bouquet of banana bread when you first raise the glass to your lips, with the bouquet literally filling the room. The bottle says it's brewed with Fair Trade bananas, which is good to know. But it's such a strange tasting beer. Who can imagine drinking a beer brewed with bananas? Surprisingly the bananas go quite well with the bitter malt and the traditional English hops character. There is also "banana flavour" added, which probably adds to the room-filling banana scent. Do I like it? I can't decide...as I keep sipping, sipping, searching for the answer...Banana Bread Beer (5.2% ABV -- reviewed 1 July 2012)
Wentworth Brewing Company, Wentworth, South Yorkshire:
` One winter day I tried a bottle of this that had been sitting on the cellar stairs for a few months. Because this beer is actually orange in colour it makes me think of Halloween, even though it's December already, with lots of snow outside. It's sparkling and orangey in flavour as well, with that lovely rampant dose of hops. Because the word rampant has several different definitions, it makes sense that this beer demonstrates two definitions of the word "orange". I feel like a scampering catgoat, an orange striped catgoat. Bring on the snow!Rampant Gryphon (6.2% ABV -- reviewed 5 December 2010)
Whitefaced Beer, Penistone, South Yorkshire:
` On the second night of Sheffield going into Tier 3 I had a can of this. Brewed with Citra and Falconers Flight hops, it’s nice and hoppy and pale, with no reddish tones like the rye ales I got used to. It suggests just a tinge of sweetness but not too much, so it's perfectly acceptable and balanced and actually quite interesting. The mint green can is acceptable as well. It had been a sunny cold day and the time had just changed back to British Winter Time. So perhaps the can should properly be called wintergreen.First Flight Hazy Rye Pale Ale (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 23 November 2020)
White Hag Irish Brewing Company, Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland:
` "Ninth wave" is an old sailing term for an especially big wave, due to the fact that it’s likely to appear after several smaller ones. The term also refers, in Irish mythology, to the barrier that separates the earthly world from the "otherworld". In this particular case, it refers to another good hoppy brew as well as my first Irish can of beer. And this good hoppy Irish beer follows the good hoppy New Zealand beer with which I preceded it excellently. It just proves that it’s worthwhile to branch out a bit from the usual English and American offerings.Ninth Wave New World Pale Ale (5.4% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
` Part of the brewery’s Union Series, SMASH stands for Single Malt And Single Hop, which is how this beer is made. The malt is Irish Ale malt, but sadly there is no mention of what the hops is. It’s just another nice pale hoppy brew, so it may be the Citra version. But with this horrendous year of 2020 nearly finished (as I drank this on the day before New Year’s Eve) perhaps, like what 2021 will bring us, it seems appropriate to not know for sure what hops are used.SMASH IPA (5.5% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
Wild Beer Company, Shepton Mallet, Somerset:
` Apparently the term “bibble” means to drink loudly, often, and well in old Somerset dialect. When I picked it off the shelf I thought it said “Bubble”. But as I was sipping this beer, which had a surprising first impression, I noticed on the bottle that the u was actually an i. And I then realised I was drinking a beer named after one of my characters in my most recent e-novel, The Hat Club, available on Smashwords.Com. (Bibble is the nickname that a trio of employees have given to their manager, Bob Jibble.) Brewed with a big hit of Mosaic hops, along with Magnum, Summit, and Amarillo, this pale ale finally settled down into a very light texture on the palate, but still a pleasant hoppiness with a balanced maltiness. I realised I felt a bit of relief that it wasn’t called Bubble after all, as I had just discovered that my box of 45s, some rare Los Angeles-in-the-late-70s-and-early-80s singles, as well as my entire collection of 1980s indy band singles picked up in Paris and Munich, had become soaked by some sort of mysterious but worrying flooding in the cellar, as this box and a couple of other more valuable boxes were sitting high on a table and not on the floor. Anyway, most of the irreplaceable paper covers are sodden, some glued to the 45s and therefore ripped, so I’ve got a big restoration and piecing together job ahead of me. So I might need to steel myself with a few more cans of Bibble...Bibble (4.2% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
` This beer was brewed with oats with a hint of vanilla in the aroma. On the can it described it as having “Modern aromatic tropical hops flavours”, but there was no mention of which hops were used. But it was very smooth and drinkable, with a dry fruitiness. I suppose it would be a good session beer in that respect; but the 4.7 seemed a bit high for thinking about having three or four of these in a row. I mean, I wouldn’t myself, especially if I were sitting out in the hot sun.Under the Sun Session Hazy IPA (4.7% ABV -- reviewed 15 November 2022)
Wild Card Brewery, Walthamstow, Greater London:
` This features Mosaic, Simcoe, and Citra hops. I don’t really like it. It feels a bit like muddy silt in the mouth, and although it’s like all the other modern craft beers -- naturally hazy, with wheat and oats -- it doesn’t grab me. It means well, though, so perhaps it’s just that I expect something more zizzly, zingy, and stimulating. On the plus side the can is really attractive, with a proud bird with a blue head sporting a Mohican on a green background. And I’m happy to see that the artist, Valero Doval, has been given credit on the can. Nice work! Reading about the brewery’s other beers, I think I’d try another offering from Wild Card, because some of the beers look promising. And I’m an optimist.India Pale Ale (5.5% ABV -- reviewed 27 August 2020)
Wilde Childe Brewing Company, Leeds, West Yorkshire:
` Once again the name of a beer attracted me first, and the fact that the hops used are Columbus, Centennial, Chinook, and Simcoe pretty much convinced me to try it. Mixed in with the hops is a strong malt presence as well. The can’s design features a splattering of psycho-ness, but it’s suspiciously a bit Jackson Pollock style. As I sip this beer I can’t help but wonder why someone hasn’t yet brewed a Bob Ross Happy Cloud IPA...American Psycho (6.6% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
` This is a Southern Hemisphere IPA with Galax, Nelson Sauvin, and Motueka hops. Whoo-hoo, it’s nice. I drank this on yet another cold and dark day; but the coolness of the day, in an almost cryo-suggestive way, made the hops feel cold on my tongue. There’s something special about cooling hops on a freezing day that warms the soul.Shoot To Thrill (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
` I bought this Chocolate and Toasted Coconut Stout over a year ago to drink during the holiday season of 2022, and I’ve only just got to it. It’s, um, definitely chocolate and definitely coconut. But it’s a bit too sweet for my tastes, though, but with only 28 IBU of bitterness I think it would please an aficionado of sweet stouts. It’s brewed with six different malts, lactose, cocoa powder, and toasted coconut, and, well, you get the idea. It’s just not my cup of tea.Thunder in Paradise (6.9% ABV -- reviewed 12 February 2024)
` Brewed with Amarillo and Vic Secret hops, and also oats, this was a welcome occurrence on a Friday after work. It’s got a lovely hops character, not a beat-on-the-head hop rush, but just a yum-flavoured easy spice about it. It’s very pleasant, if I say so, which I’m doing right now. While I was enjoying this I decided to research Vic Secret hops. They’re Australian and similar to Galaxy, with a pineapple and passionfruit character, so no wonder I like them. I mean, you can’t wear Vic Secret hops instead of knickers, so you may as well drink them.Uncontrollable Occurrence (4.8% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
Wild Horse Brewing Company, Llandudno, Wales:
` Brewed with Loral and Wai-Iti hops this beer is described on the Wild Horse website as a “rotating hop pale ale”, although my can was pretty stationary on the table. The brewery specialise in light and hoppy brews using both new and old hops varieties. Written on the can is the following: “Wedi ei fragu yng nghysgodion y mynyddoedd ac awel y môr”. According to Google Translate, this loosely means “Mastered in the mountain fisheries and the sea of the sea”. This mouthy bit of Welsh is followed by the much more useful and learnable “Iechyd da!”, which means “Good health!” (I’ve only been to Wales once, which was for a weekend break. But as a person who’s always been good at learning foreign languages, I instantly -- but sadly only temporarily -- learned many of the Welsh road-sign terms, and knew that I would be happy to learn the whole language if I suddenly found myself living there.) Anyway, this is a pleasantly easy brew, very drinkable, especially when chilled, but not terribly exciting. I did happily discover that as soon as I took a coupe of bites of our evening meal, the grilled salmon and purple potatoes with chewy caramelised garlic suddenly set the Scorched Earth ablaze, with its hidden bubbly hoppiness leaping to the fore like a stoked fire. So I’d highly recommend this beer with salmon and garlic.Scorched Earth (4.2% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
` Brewed with Galaxy and Citra hops, this beer was created as a tribute to the Llandudno Tram which carries tourists from the town up to the summit of the Great Orne. This is the brewery’s 5th version of this particular beer. It’s extremely hazy, probably the haziest of all of the intentionally hazy beers I’ve tried. It’s got a very bitter hops, like a funicular tram ride through the thick clouds with the intention of cooling off after the warm, muggy, high-pollen day. It’s an interesting combination, Galaxy and Citra, and a bit strange. It suggests a big dose of lemon zest added to a heady incense.Tramcar IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
8 Wired Brewery, Warkworth, New Zealand:
` The hops used are Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic, Citrus, and Galaxy. This is my very first Kiwi beer in a can! I’m so excited to taste it, as New Zealand is home to many of the fine hops. And I do like salads. Once again this is my Saturday Zoom pub group quiz refreshment, miles away from the Southern Hemisphere but only a few clicks virtually.Hop Salad Hazy IPA (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
Wold Top Brewery, Driffield, North Yorkshire:
` Brewed with three hops, this has a traditional taste with possibly a North American hops in the bouquet garnis, giving it a good complex flavour. It was just what I needed after yet another surreal bus ride home.Scarborough Fair (8.0% ABV -- reviewed 6 May 2017)
Yakima Chief Hopunion, Yakima, Washington:
` This is hopped with T90 Cascade, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Citra hops, then dry-hopped with Simcoe, Mosaic, and Citra lupulin powder, and including WL, P066, and London Fog yeasts. This beer is a complicated creation, with that distinct Cryo/Cascade touch on the palate, like a snowy walk on the top of Mt Rainier while listening to a chemistry class on your headphones. It’s very nice.Dewwwwd!Grower Owned IPA (6.0% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Magic Rock Brewery, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
Yeastie Boys, Wellington, New Zealand:
` This Kiwi tea-inspired beer is smoother than one would expect, and lighter, but interesting and unique. The can says it’s floral and smells like “your granny’s bedroom” -- but obviously they aren’t referring to my late granny, because “musty old lady” doesn’t sound like a beer flavour I would want to try. This was created for the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular in 2012. The ingredients include plenty of Earl Grey Blue Flower Tea as well as New Zealand’s own Pacific Jade hops. And the beer is named after Gunnamatta Bay in southern Sydney, Australia, which itself is named for the sandy hills.Gunnamatta Earl Grey IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
` This beer is fruity, hoppy, and crisp, very appropriate for the crisp and clear day on which I drank it. There was even a bit of snow, mostly melted by now but some left on the ground, and plenty of ice to reflect the clear sky above. But that sky made me very happy, as there was no wet stuff falling down and getting me soaked and shivering. This beer is most definitely reflecting fruit, specifically kumquats and grapefruit. The hops include Styrian Dragon, Styrian Fox, Nelson Sauvin, and Riwaka, and there is also Kolsch yeast and an extra dose of the beta-glucosidase enzyme. a what does the title refer to?Reflections on a Floating World (6.0% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Pivovarna Pelicon, Ajdovščina, Slovenia -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
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