Mountain Goat is an interesting brewery. They are one of the grandfathers of the Australian Craft beer scene, being a smidge over 20 years old, they have always produced better good beers, but never been way out there, they were one of the first to get bought by a multinational, even if that multinational is small by multinational standards, Asahi being the fourth biggest beer company in the world.
But when they bought it they promised to be hands off, and so far you have to assume they are, my case in bought is that Mountain Goat continue to run a small brewery bar in Richmond which only open two nights a week, and they continue to put out special releases, like this one the Lime Crisis Double IPA.
Here’s a description from the best beer site around craftypint: in recent years, Mountain Goat has tended to kick off the new year with a big, hoppy IPA and 2018 is no different. Indeed, Lime Crisis – a beer that shifts their pop culture naming pattern of recent times from the movies to gaming – is a double IPA measuring a hefty 8.2 percent ABV. Why Lime Crisis? Joining the American and Kiwi hops is a dose of crushed Persian Black Limes (not to mention a sprinkling of Himalayan rock salt)
So pretty typiclal craft beer sort of stuff, pretty atypical for a major multinational, but more important that all of this is the taste.
This beer is at the hazer end of the scale, also at the browner end of yellow, which is to say it’s not the best looking beer out there.
I feels like a pretty standard IPA when you first taste, which within itself is pretty impressive, even it’s balanced and hides it’s 8.2% ABV well. The real surprise is in the aftertaste though, there is this juicy lime aftertaste that kicks in, sort of like those liquid centred soothers that almost make getting a cold worth
This is a really impressive beer, there are plenty of them out there that claim they are a juicy IPA, this one delivers, not in a orange juice NEIPA sort of way, but with a completly new trick, Oh Mountian Goat thou art impressive.