Last week of February brought out not only sunshine to my days, but also some beautiful brews that have just been released recently and I was very excited to taste them. Shall we see what’s in the basket this past week?
I’m back!
And jumping right into bringing my little write-ups about some beer highlights that I tasted. (But to be honest – mainly to make my little brother jealous about what kind of beers I can easily have, and he can’t!)
Last week of February brought out not only sunshine to my days, but also some beautiful brews that have just been released recently and I was very excited to taste them. Shall we see what’s in the basket this past week?
To Øl – Kokomo – Berliner Weisse 5% ABV
What a refreshing beverage to start with! I used to absolutely hate sour beers before (and I would slap my face for saying this now!). My tasting pallets thankfully opened (you know – training makes perfect and I feel like a champion considering the amount of beers drank!) and I remember Berliner Weisse being the perfect start for dipping my toes into the world of tart and sour flavours in my beer.
The sourness is not overpowering and usually nicely complimented by the choice of some fruity flavours in there that balances out any uncomfortable sourness! If you have any doubts about going the sour direction and taking the next step, definitely look out for some nice Berliner Weisse style brews. It truly is a thirst-quencher for the days we are in! The season has started!
Hope – Limited Edition No. 23 – Nitro Stout 4.8% ABV
This is a very delicate topic to go into, especially if you live in Ireland with many… Jaysus SO MANY beer drinkers (including craft beer lovers, and it’s pretty standard and understandable!) who consider the most famous ruby red nitro drink being sacred. To be honest, I did not grow up being fed Guinness instead of the breast milk (stereotypical joke I couldn’t resist writing down, I am very sorry) and I only drink it with blackcurrant cordial (yes, please don’t throw a stone at me now) so I am not too petty about it. I honestly don’t think that guys from Hope aimed to fight ‘the big boys’ and ‘call out the war’, I believe that they just love experimenting with what’s missing on the Irish craft beer market and just went for it! If I’d be absolutely mad about stouts, I would say this would definitely become my fridge beer, bringing out a nice proper stout with addition of nitro bringing smoothness and creaminess to it. Nothing super crazy mad about it flavour-wise, but a proper stout you can enjoy and feel good about it.
I always enjoyed their limited-edition stout releases, and I think they know exactly how to simplify the craziness happening around the beer experiments these days. They just bring something that will be such a satisfying proper product that you can rely on with every sip you take. We can only hope that HOPE will consider including this in their core range that is available all-year-around. Go on, go on, go on!
Hopfully – Quicksand – DDH NEIPA 6.5% ABV
Shining bright with its can appearance and a beautiful artwork supporting small craft artists. It looks like a sunshine for these dark times! And it works perfectly.
I was so happy to see and hear about the newest release Quicksand coming from gipsy brewers at this relatively still young brewery on the scene. They sealed the deal with their re-branding into 330ml cans for their core range (which looks amazing!) and specials in a bigger package, thankfully! They know how to treat New England pales and NEIPAs very well and they proved it over the time, and the newest one is one great brew to enjoy. Reading the description, it promised to become one of my best friends for the weather transition these days and the time of the release worked perfectly with such an unexpectable weather conditions here (let’s be honest, got used to it at this stage, it’s honestly not that bad but still…).
You open that shiny can rimmed with the sprinkles of sun and it hits you with a full world of discovering the hops world. It hits you with a tropical fruit notes, and you just want to dip into it like you would dip into your favourite cocktail sipping on the hot sunny day on the beach on your holiday (yeah, let’s keep going with our dreams of travelling again soon.) What a punch of a liquid holiday in a can! Surprisingly I though it would be a little sweeter according to the smell, but its mild bitterness brings it down to a nice balance. Gimme a straw and I will thank you for that! (Just on a side note I already had 4 of them since the release, because it is so nice to go back to. Hopfully there will be plenty around to keep me going in the coming weeks!)
Trouble Brewing – Voodoo Logic 2021 – Imperial Maple Stout 10% ABV
Trouble Brewing’s latest limited release of Voodoo Logic was my first date with this brew ever and I am a little sad not being able to compare it to its previous releases! I was surprised that it was not sweet-as-hell coming at ‘only’ 10% ABV, considering the use of maple syrup in there. And it was very much appreciated. Stouts in general are a very heavy beverage (speaking for myself anyway) and adding on a higher volume bit can be very challenging. I wasn’t annoyed by the whole package of dark&malty&coffee&sweet&roasty&chocolate concept. It was well balanced considering the imperial side of it. Very nice to share as a dessert after dinner for sure!
This is definitely a ‘beer cellar’ material (we just love hoarding up on beers and then discovering them randomly around the house, and some of them are still absolute legends and even nicer after a few years of hiding and ageing! I will make sure to hide a can in our gaff and can’t wait to find it randomly in few years!)
Basqueland & Fuerst Wiacek – Digital Symphony – Double NEIPA 8% ABV
The last, but certainly not least! I do love my DIPAs. Not because of the level of booziness that comes with it – it’s actually the opposite. One well-made DIPA won’t kick your taste buds down with its alcoholic flavour and will hide it well behind the flavour. Basqueland and Fuerst Wiacek made their appearance in Ireland this year for the first time with their showcase of what they do, and from my previous experience they proved it very well.
Here we got one juicy bomb, pouring hazy and exploding not only in its hops flavour but surprisingly not coming out super sweet, but perfectly smooth. Perfect symphony of flavours and I will be stocking up on this one for sure. Bursting in fruity flavours and playing its symphony in the perfect harmony. Nice juice!
That’s it for today.
Until the next one.
Sláinte – Cheers – Nazdravie!
