With all due respect, this thread was set up to post beers of the week and subsequently discuss those. Can the industry debate be taken to another rather than derailing this one?
I’m not saying it’s not an interesting topic, but in here it’s a bit much. Tantamount to me going into one of the politics threads and (obnoxiously and against the flow of conversation) moaning about modern politics and how everyone should be supporting the party I like best.
I nearly reviewed something crap purely to avoid that bullshit cropping up again. It’s not been a stellar week for beer (nor a Stella one, thankfully). But Ship Wreck has been my favourite so why compromise?
It’s clearly possible to ‘support’ more than one brewery. I had two Vibrant Forest beers last night. Great brewery, but neither of those two were anything special, thus no mention here.
Ant, sorry, but albeit with tongue-firmly-in-cheek, I am not sure why a discussion on beer of the week should include a debate about the culture and history as well. For years in the 80s and to some extent 90s, most beweries came under tremendous pressure, many were shut down because of the trend was for brewed under license ‘lager’ etc. So the current ‘trend’ has a big impact on the current availabilty - its all context and background.
If there is a dominence of a particular brewery in Beer of the week, then surely including questions on why its dominating (eg trendy brand) is worth discussion?
I have now consumed - if being totally honest - a little too much of my beer of the week which is not brewed by Brewpigs, cats or dogs… but by strange men who are called StJohn or Cornelius and have had the recipes handed down for 27 generations, weighing out malted barley to the nearest picogram (x10 -12 sorry cant do super script), whilst doing the Bledington Morris naked save for their bells a jingling.
Though I generally tend to just buy beers whenever I find them, some enthusiasts always seem to be champing at the bit for new releases. Bit odd if you ask me. Anyway, there’s been nought but good feedback on this double IPA - Cloudwater’s third attempt at the recipe - so when The Rockstone advertised having sourced a case of it, I thought it’d at least be worth checking out.
Nice to know that I’m right sometimes.
This is not a subtle beer. Modern IPAs tend to come in the American style i.e. loaded with hops and a lot of flavour - but even in comparison to those, this is utterly pumped. Presumably unfined (it’s opaque and virtually glows orange), it’s also a little thicker than your average (*snigger*). Absolutely zero alcohol in the taste, though it does give it some body. Very juicy (grapefruit-esque); no harshness in the aftertaste; near-perfectly balanced.
As I’ve noted before, I’m no IPA-enthusiast. Even so I’m struggling to recall any preferrable examples of the style. Reliable sources claim V2 was slightly better, but I haven’t had it.
Score: 4.75 (out of 5)
Buy it:
The Rockstone or online (though stock seems sparse).
Yeah, I drank a shedload of this at Stoke away last season. It was good. Shame about the locals - didn’t like us in their pub apparently - not that it stopped us.
Quite enjoyed a couple of offerings from Joule’s too.
Bump… I am more excited about this than the next star wars film…
and unlike actual stromtroopers this fucker will definitely hit the spot
’‘Towards the end of October we welcomed back two firm favourites with the re-release of Peaches and Cream and Frambuzi. On November 2nd we launched Imperial Puft. Yep, you heard us, we’ve amplified everything you love about Stay Puft with this decadent imperial porter. Get yourself ready for this flavour explosion that’s like a proton torpedo in your exhaust port. This IS the beer you’re looking for…’'