31/3/2018 0 Comments Beer Review - Hop CityNorthern Monk x Deya x Verdant x YCH HopsNorthern Monk, Deya, Verdant...all in one beer?! Yeah, that's what I thought. Well they have come together along with YCH Hops to produce this years Hop City DIPA. Brewed in honour of Northern Monk's annual celebration of the same name that takes place this weekend (29th-31st March), Hop City is a 8.4% ABV DIPA. Here's the official line on this one: "A special Double IPA brewed in collaboration with Northern Monk, Verdant and Deya plus Hop City 2018 sponsor YCH Hops, a 100% grower-owned supplier of the finest hops from the US and beyond. This DIPA combines Citra, Amarillo and Mosaic Cryo pellets in a 20g/hl dry hop. The grist features malted wheat and oats plus flaked wheat to bulk up the body further. The result is a chunky, round DIPA loaded with mandarin notes and tropical fruit character." With these names behind it, my excitement for this beer was too much. Let's talk about the 440ml can first of all. The design is awesome, and it has a label that you can peel back to reveal all sorts of info regarding the beer itself - a nice touch.
Hop City pours a nice thick golden orange colour leaving a thin white head & very little carbonation. The aromas from this beer are insane! Juicy pineapple, orange, lemon, peach & melon fill your nose as you pour from the can into the glass - there's some nice earthy pine in there too. Taste wise, this beer is out of this word - huge pineapple & melon flavours are back at the forefront, combining with a thick full bodied mouthfeel making this one absolute juice bomb of a beer. These fruit flavours are then rounded off with a nice piney bitterness that compliments them perfectly. Wow. It's a shame this beer is 8.4% ABV, because I could honestly drink it all day! This beer is awesome. Without doubt one of the best DIPAs I've ever had. I'm not sure what else I expected to be honest with the level of talent involved. If you see this beer...buy it, drink it, enjoy it & be happy that it exists. Hop City (2018) gets 5 out of 5 hops from me 🍻
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Beavertown x CloudwaterRecently, to celebrate their 6th birthday. Beavertown invited a bunch of awesome breweries to brew up some collaborations. One of those breweries was the highly decorated Cloudwater, who collaborated on not one, but three beers! Those three beers were: Do Not Open Until 1985 - 9% ABV DIPA Big, hazy DIPA with lots of wheat and oats in the grist, fermented with a mixture of White Labs London Fog and Lallemand New England yeasts. Whirlpool-ed with plenty of Ekuanot and Citra, and will be very heavily dry hopped with Mosaic, Vic Secret and Simcoe. Good Night, Future Boy! - 6% ABV IPL 6% abv, Huell Melon in the whirlpool and fermented with WLP833. Heavily dry hopped with Citra BBC. As we’re doing bigger brews of the DIPA and IPL these will also be available in small pack, not just keg. Rejoice! Finally Invented Something That Works! - 3& ABV Gose Classic Gose Recipe, with 50% Wheat with salt and coriander Seed added at the end of the boil. Naturally soured in tank with Lactobacillus Plantarum and fermented with Lallemand New England Yeast to give a 3% beer with plenty of body. We then added Lemon, Grapefruit, Lime and Blood Orange Juice at the end of fermentation before infusing with Grapefruit, Lemon and Blood Orange Zest. Lightly tart, very refreshing, with big citrus notes. Thanks to Hop Shop Aberdeen, I managed to get my hands on two of these beers; Do Not Open Until 1985 & Good Night, Future Boy! I had heard good things about these beers online, so I was looking forward to getting stuck into them! Do Not Open Until 1985First up is Do Not Open Until 1985, the 9% ABV DIPA. This was perhaps the one that I was most looking forward to, because as I've said on this blog many times before - DIPA's are one of my favourite styles of beer, and one made by Beavertown & Cloudwater is one worth getting excited about! The can art is awesome as always - unmistakably Beavertown, with the two brewery logos merged in to one adding a cool touch. Do Not Open Until 1985 pours a hazy, thick, golden orange leaving a foamy white head. It gives off awesome aromas of orange, peach, melon & loads of pine to entice you straight in to having a gulp. These aromas follow straight through into the flavours too with a huge amount of orange up front followed by more peach & melon, before being rounded off with a hit of piney bitterness - fantastic stuff! This is an awesome tasting beer. What else would you expect from these two beer gods?! Warning though - it is a boozy one, and drinking a couple of these would go some way towards knocking you out! Overall, Do Not Open Until 1985 gets 4.5 out of 5 from me 🍻 Good night, Future Boy!Next up we have Good Night, Future Boy! - the 6% ABV IPL. I don't have too much experience when it comes to IPL's, with my only other venture being West Side Beavo, Beavertown's collaboration with Firestone Walker (which was great). I'd read good things about this beer online so I was looking forward to it. Starting off with the can art - it is outrageously minimalist; combining Cloudwater's trademark can layout with a psychedelic colour scheme & the two brewery logos. Good Night, Future Boy! pours a golden orange, leaving a foamy beige head. Aromas are full of citrus; orange, lemon & grapefruit are followed up with a drop of pine. The citrus is heavy again on taste with loads of lemon & orange with some floral notes followed by some grassy hop bitterness. This is a really easy drinking beer with a nice creamy mouthfeel & a smooth crisp finish. This was another great example of an IPL for me & I certainly look forward to trying more. As far as "lager" goes - you might struggle to find a better tasting one than this. Overall, Good Night, Future Boy! gets 4 out of 5 from me 🍻 Overall, these have been two pretty awesome beers from two breweries at the top of their game. I look forward to seeing these guys colab more in the future. Do yourself a favour & pick them up if you still can & raise a glass to Beavertown 🍻
14/3/2018 0 Comments Beer Review - Pulp!VerdantNext up for review is Pulp - a 8% ABV DIPA by Verdant, who are undoubtedly one of the hottest names in UK craft beer right now. Whilst I wasn't too hot on two of their pale ale's Headband & Lightbulb, I had high expectations for this beer after seeing some of the buzz for it online. As always, Hop Shop Aberdeen delivered the goods & I secured my can as soon as it was available. Here's what Verdant have to say about this one: "This double IPA is bigger in every way but still retains a dry finish that hides its strength. Massive fruit aromas and flavours combined with hazy golden looks and chewy body really do make this beer a stone fruit pulp fest!" It sounds like an absolute winner, and I have a feeling I may just be right... Pulp! pours a hazy tangerine colour from its bright purple can, leaving a foamy white head. The aromas are quite typical of this style of DIPA; big juicy tropical fruits of mango & pineapple along with some peach and a helping of piney hops. Wonderful stuff!
The flavours are just as exciting as the aromas themselves; huge juicy flavours up front - orange, pineapple, mango & peach are then balanced out with a crisp, bitter finish. This beer is quite similar to a NEIPA style, however not quite as thick & pulpy. It really is great to drink This has been an awesome beer that has got me even more excited about Verdant. Between this & their excellent collaboration with Beavertown, I can't wait to see what comes next & hopefully sooner rather than later, I can get my hands on the elusive DIPA called Putty. Overall Pulp! gets 4.25 out of 5 from me 🍻 8/3/2018 0 Comments #northhopabz 2018The Final FlingWith a little just over three weeks to go, Aberdeen's premier craft beer festival North Hop is nearly upon us. Dubbed "The Final Fling", because it is the last North Hop festival in its current form, this year's North Hop Aberdeen will again be held at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on 30 and 31 March (Easter weekend). North Hop Festival Director, Michelle Russell, said: “This is our 4th Aberdeen festival and it will be our 12th festival since North Hop began in Inverness in 2014. It has been an amazing journey so far and we have worked with some awesome producers and folk from across Scotland and beyond. But the time has come to take a step back and some time out to come up with fresh ideas for the future of the North Hop brand.” Michelle continued: “We have always been at the forefront of new trends and like to keep things fresh and unique. Aberdeen has always massively supported North Hop and we love running festivals in the city and that is exactly why we have chosen Aberdeen for our final fling to send the current festivals out in style!” Having been to the festival a couple of times over the last few years, I can say from experience that festival goers are in for a great time. As always North Hop will be bringing along some of the best breweries & food vendors that the North East has to offer, with several returning from previous festival years along with some first timers. Alongside the wide range of beer, cider & street food on offer, there will be a cocktail lounge & a specially designed "North Hop Bar" that will feature five spirits from Berry Bros & Rudd (including a newly-launched London Dry Gin), natural mixers from Lamb & Watt, and the finest ice from Edinburgh Ice Co. In the cocktail lounge, there will also be a special pop-up market place featuring hand-crafted goods from local creative curated by the Aberdeen Etsy team.
On the music front, the line-up very much echoes the "support local" message with all acoustic acts and bands linked to Aberdeenshire. Sweet White headline the Friday evening session, The 101 will top the bill for the Saturday afternoon session and North Hop favourites The Harmonica Movement headline and close the festival on the Saturday evening session. As this is The Final Fling, famous bagpiper Spud the Piper has been invited to the AECC to accompany Festival MC Nicola McAlley from STV News to open and close the festival sessions. Over 2500 people are expected to descend on the AECC across the three sessions for ‘The Final Fling’ & with nearly half the tickets already sold, it really is shaping up to be one hell of a bash.
Full dates & ticketing info are as follows: NORTH HOP ABERDEEN “THE FINAL FLING” AT THE AECC Friday 30 March 2018 - Evening Session - 7pm till 12am Saturday 31 March 2018 - Afternoon Session - 12pm till 5pm Saturday 31 March 2018 - Evening Session - 7pm till 12am TICKETS: £16.00 plus Booking Fee per session. Each session lasts 5 hours, and the ticket price includes festival access on the specified days/times, a North Hop glass, festival programme and drink tasters on arrival. Available at http://northhop.co.uk/festivals/aberdeen, via Ticketmaster or locally at DogTap (Ellon), Brew Toon (Peterhead), BrewDog Aberdeen (Flagship), BrewDog Castlegate and Melt. ACCOMMODATION: North Hop has teamed with the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express next door to the AECC to offer festival goers discounted rates for the weekend of the festival. Deals are as follows: Holiday Inn Express - £45 per night* B&B (continental breakfast) Holiday Inn - £49 per night* B&B (full cooked breakfast) *Discounted rate available for Thursday 29th, Friday 30th, and Saturday 31st March 2018. You can keep up to date with all things #northhopabz on the following channels: Website 6/3/2018 0 Comments Beer Review - Soup IPAGarage Beer Co.You know sometimes you get a beer & you just know it's going to be great? Soup IPA by Garage Beer Co. from Barcelona is a beer I've seen doing the rounds for a while now & a beer I've been extremely keen on getting my hands on. So when Hop Shop Aberdeen delivered the goods a couple of weeks ago, I made no mistake on getting my hands on a can. "A big, juicy IPA from Spain's hottest new brewery. This New England style beer is loaded up with hops to give you a burst of juicy, tropical fruit, then as with their US cousins, a delicate malt base makes this silky and delicious on the finish. 6% ABV." It sounds like an utterly fantastic beer...if only I'd known about these guys when I was in Barcelona... The moment you open this beer you are transported to beer heaven. Wow. The aromas are incredible - HUGE pineapple aromas along with mango & orange are backed by the slightest hint of hoppy bitterness. Soup IPA pours a thick, extremely hazy golden yellow with a foamy white head - it looks almost exactly like boozy mango juice.
If pineapple flavoured beer soup is a thing...then this is it...and it is glorious! This beer is outstanding, and one that you simply must try. Garage Beer Co. are well & truly on my radar now, and I cannot wait to see what comes next. Overall, Soup IPA gets 4.75 out of 5 hops from me You can check out the latest updates from Garage Beer Co. on their social media channels: |
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