“Brewed using fresh hops within 24 hours of being harvested from Bushy Park in Tasmania’s south. The Rye IPA base has a rich and toasty malt character, to which the generous hop additions add lifted apricot jam and Seville orange notes. The primary hop is HPA-035, an experimental variety with a spice & citrus character, as well as Ella, a variety which adds stonefruit and floral notes. We added fresh hops at a rate of 30 grams per litre at the end of the boil and allowed them to steep for about an hour before chilling and transferring to the fermenter. Adding the hops so late in the process means we preserve all their wonderful aromatics.”
Served in an IPA glass. Very attractive pour – offers a kind of burnt amber with a reddish copper hue. It constructs a thumb of finely beaded foam which hangs a sheet of lace down the sides of the glass. Looks magnificent!
The nose is brimming with rich and sweet caramel malt, mango, paw paw and peppery rye spices. There’s a good dose of toasty bread and dry spice but the focus really is on this ripe tropical fruit character. Underneath that…a hint of berries, blackcurrant and forest fruits. Lovely depth to the nose.
The flavour is quite intriguing. Starts off sweet with that spicy rye tailing right in behind. The interesting feature we get is an almost sharp juniper berry note along with pine, grapefruit, mixed citrus and a somewhat sappy/jammy sweetness. It finishes dry and mighty bitter with grapefruit and orange peel on the rear.
Moderately bodied and creamy for the most part. Quite an aggressive bitterness develops in the swallow.
We hadn’t heard of this Tassie brewery until we stumbled across them at one of our favourite bottle shops. Interesting name, certainly helps their cause once we link it to a couple of hilarious scenes in the movie Dodge ball. It stands on its own though, looks great, smells even better and it all follows through in flavour. Solid drop here.