Today I'm celebrating two of the thing I love about craft beer, one that big coorporate beer never does and one that it tries to fake but never really gets right.
It's collaboration brews and IPAs
The Collaboration brew is always interesting sometimes it just two like minded breweries, something friends in other breweries that you want to brew with, and often with international colloborations like one which we have today it's all tied in with Festivals and releasing beers in markets you haven't been in previously.
So let's get down to today's first brew. It's from Chur with is a New Zealand brewery and Gweilo Beer from Hong Kong, which feels like a great exotic pairing. The beer is a Double Hazy IPA called Dreams of Green
It pours a dirty orange, and certainly has hazy. The smell is sweet manadrian and pineapple which bodes well for a big juicy fruit bomb. For a double IPA it is so drinkable, so refreshing, it wonderfully balanced and just plain enjoyable.
Next up we head to the home of the Indian Pale Ale (or IPA) with Thornbridge brewery in colloboartion with Magic Rock (also English) with Yelamu. Which tells me it's a West Coast of the USA style IPA, yelamu being a tribe of people from near San Francisco I believe.
And this tells you everything you need to know about IPA's originally and English style, highly hopped and high alcohol to survive the sea voyage to India (And other colonies like Australia, but India was probs a bit more marketable than Australia, home of convicts)
This is an amazing example of the style. It's a lovely orange colour with big dense foamy pure white head. Smells of marmalade, which is a product of high malt content and citrus hops. There is a little grass and maybe some funk in the scent as well.
It is a very smooth tasting beer, nice mouthfeel not too much carbonation, nicely in balance, refreshing summery hops without being a fruit bomb.
So there we have it two great IPAs done in a let's all work together style with makes craft beer great - just like #Beersaturday, organised by 