CALIFORNIA LOVE WEST COAST IPA
Black Hops Brewery
Fast becoming one of our “go to” breweries. The consistency of Black Hops’ brews are exceptional and California Love is another top drop. Good malt body, super dry finish and the sensational bitterness you crave from a good West Coast inspired IPA.
PALE ALE
Hop Sauce Brewing Co.
Low bitterness and light malt profile with a magic mix of Australian and US hops delivering a delicate balance of tropical (particularly pineapple) and stone fruit aromas and flavour. Very enjoyable and extremely easy to drink
ZESTY PALE ALE
Zytho Brewing
Citrus and passionfruit notes and a light bitterness making it enjoyable enough to drink whilst not being overly memorable at the same time. Wouldn’t knock one back if offered in the future but probably not one to go searching for.
IPA
Zytho Brewing
Not the hefty hop hit you would expect from an IPA. This one is more akin to a pale ale. Wouldn’t rave about it but it was far from terrible, yet far from great.
SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD MODERN TDH IPA
Ballistic Beer
There’s simply not enough words allowed in this brief review to inform readers of how unbelievably special this beer is. Modern TDH IPA is the latest entry in Ballistic’s Sleep When You’re Dead series and features a blend of hop varieties from the present day and long ago (2010) that are triple dry-hopped to deliver a savoury, piney, resinous IPA that is somehow blended with the sweetness of candied pineapple and grapefruit. It’s sweet, it’s bitter, it’s dry… it’s complex… but it is so, so good.
ZEUS THUNDERBOLT 2 X IPA
Helios Brewing Company
You would assume being struck by lightning would result in an immediate jolt to the body but the enjoyable effect of this beer is rather a slow burn. It is restrained, it is subtle. The double hopping brings the bitterness but it’s smoothed out by the malt bill. As the 9.0% ABV starts to pulse through your veins awash with all that IPA goodness, that’s when you start to feel like a god.
IPA
Young Henrys
These guys most be smooth operators because everything they produce is smooth. Nothing is over the top in terms of hoppy bitterness and bite, just a beautiful smooth flavour of zesty citrus and pine with a dry finish that make this IPA very sessionable. Nothing but impressed by all of the beers this brewery has produced to date.
SUPER CHARGER APA
Panhead Custom Ales
It’s said to “have more bitterness than a Palm Spring divorce”, which is an absolute crack up of a description, but we didn’t think it was overly bitter. Nonetheless, it was incredibly enjoyable. Rather than being super bitter, we found it to be tasty and quite smooth with the all-American line up of hops delivering delicious mango, guava and pineapple flavours to the fore.
