There was a Halloween party at my local bar on Friday, complete with costumes and creepy food and special beers all from a Australian brewery called One Drop who themselves are reknown for some pretty out there brews.
Being me I of course missed said party, but I did manage to pop into said bar on Sunday afternoon to sample three of the special Halloween beers, and another very good brew from One Drop. You see Sunday afternoons is more civilized time to drink than a Friday night.
Behold - Round 1 as you can already see these aren't you normal beers, no plain yellow fizzy stuff here, we have the entire rainbow of weirdness
On the Right is Hellraiser - which billed itself as a Heptafruit Smoothie Sour, One drop is famous for Smoothie Sours, which are these big sweet, but still balanced beers which are more akin both in texture and flavour to a fruit smoothie than a beer - they are always enjoyable, but I do often think - I'm not sure I'm drinking beer anymore. And for those playing a home HeptaFruit is not a fruit, but seven fruits mixed together - think Raspberry, Strawberry, Blood Orange, dragonfruit, guava and Papaya.
On the left is a beer called Poltergeist - which is a colloboration with Vault City and is a pumpkin based beer, with cinnamon, vanilla, lactose and a few other things, this was a delightful beer, nowhere near as sweet as the Hellraiser, it was more balanced and the flavours were more subtle, could easily have drunk more of this.
I should also say - this locval bar - benchwarmers has become a victim of it's own success - basically every friday and Saturday night is is packed and it is very difficult to get a seat, but the secret is to come on a Sunday afternoon, where it was like going back to the early days of the bar and we could sit in our spot in the window, what the passing trams and catch away to Lachie the Bartender
And Now - Round two, and things are getting both weirder and more normal. On the Left is the non Halloween beer, Tallahasee Crema which is a Imperial Hazy IPA and was the pick of the day, it is a reminder that when One Drop aren't do gimmicky beers and focus on more 'normal' styles they are exceoptionally good at it.
But whilst we are talking about Gimmicks, lets look at the beer on the right - It's called Void and yes it's frozen, it's a beer which is served in slushie form. It is another big juicing smoothie sour, this time purple and it surprisingly works as a slushie, it the coolness of a 7 Eleven Slurpee without all the sweetness. Oh and they serve it with a straw, but it's better if you just sip it like a normal drink - it does also allow you to maintain some sense of being a normal beer drinker.
But lets face it these are beers which are more cocktails than beers - not that there is anything wrong with that.