I appreciate Paradise Lost is a reference to a Milton poem, but leaving that to one side, don't you think the names of these two beers, released at the same time by Deeds, could make for great album names for a New Romantic group, or perhaps some esoteric prog-rockers? Or, if we go with the notion of "Why not both?" I'd suggest Castle In The Sky as more suited to the former, given the talk of "the purest of hearts and minds" on the labels.
As for what's inside, it's a hazy pale featuring a not-insignificant loading of Strata, Mosaic and Lotus hops. The haze is solid for a 5 percenter, while it's also surprisingly lean, with a grippy bitterness and acidic, cleansing crispness taking it away from the soft 'n' cuddly texture often presented by such beers. There's plenty of fruity sweetness to be found up there too: grape and lemon and grapefruit rind to the fore.
The prog-rockers, who I'm imagining would all be sporting the longest of hair and flariest of trousers, would definitely be favoured for Paradise Lost, complete with fallen dark angel on the cans. After all, this is a beer as easy to get lost in as ten minutes of the most noodly of fretboard wigouts.
From the off, you know this is going to be one gloopy, viscous beast and it does not disappoint: its very brown bubbles take an age to give into gravity and crawl down your glass after a hearty swirl. The way it delivers its bitter dark chocolate tinged with espresso and accompanied by dollops of dried figs feels like the sort of thing for which the word intense was invented too. Deeds have a strong track record when it comes to dark imperials, and past knowledge is brought to bear here in a beer that's not only imperial but very stout indeed.
James Smith
Published August 16, 2023 2023-08-16 00:00:00
