Swings and Roundabouts
Whiplash
Whiplash have hit us with 2 returning beers and one brand spanking new brew
First Rebirth
The newbie of the bunch, First Rebirth is a West Coast DIPA. As I mentioned in the header, there has been a shift from the haze craze we've seen to a more traditional and hop forward flavour profile. This is going to be one of the beers of the season, if West Coast Ipas wore watches they'd set it to this.
Hoppy Dank, and Piney, with a restrained fruit softness that cuts right through and leaves you gasping for another sup.
Never Cursed
A bit of a fan favourite, farmhouse ales have been creeping their way back onto shelves after a small absence. If you're familiar with a bieres de garde or a saison, this is right up your alley. With a refreshing tartness indicative of a farmhouse ale, this is one to keep in the fridge for a hot day.
Prisoner of Love
I've always got time for a cascade pale ale, and I've always got time for good craft beer. This ticks both boxes and that's why Whiplash have brought this beer back for another run. Not too heavy as it weighs in at 5.2% so it might be one to add to a summer rotational!
Parting Ways with the Haze
Since its meteoric rise in the late 2000s and early 2010s, The Haze Craze has dominated the craft beer scene both at home and abroad. This is because, in my opinion, Hazy beers are the most accessible for both brewers and consumers. They sell well, they're hard to get extremely wrong, and they offer a unique flavour profile that has crossed over into the palates of the non-beer drinker.
Because of the mainstream success of the hazy IPA, more people than ever are drinking craft beer. I'm thinking that these new drinkers have begun to branch out, a lot of them having acquired a taste for craft beer and wanting to see what else is out there.
West Coast IPA has been the biggest winner out of this, it usually has a bit of the soft fruit flavour that hazy drinkers will be familiar with but with just enough of a difference to be exciting and new.
But it's not just them, more and more breweries are finding success in different styles of beer. We now have a definable sour season (which I wrote about here), we've seen limited releases of styles that haven't had a day in the sun in years.
Do I think that the Hazy IPA is going to continue to wane in popularity? To an extent, but it will always have its place and I for one am going to find it hard to turn them down!