This quintet from Deeds feels like a bit of a run through of "things we're good at" (albeit without a dark, barrel-aged 11 percenter or anything fruited and mixed ferment in the mix). It also means my plans to pack light for an upcoming family trip to the UK just got one 440ml can heavier as how can I not take an Underworld with me to share outside Alexandra Palace when I mark 30 years of seeing them live?
The beer itself is, of course, a lager, although it's a long way from the Carlings I imagine the protagonists of Born Slippy would be slamming. Instead, what you have here is a delightfully floral, crisp and pilsner-grainy offering. No dirty epic here, this is clean and utterly quaffable.
Lost City is a hazy pale built upon a familiar Deeds lightly-sweet-sponge-cake base that's infused with grapefruit, pineapple and a leaner grape-like tropical vibe. It’s fruity without being flabby, hazy without being murky, dry as much as bitter, and very much a pale ale for today.
It feels like something of a tautology to call a NEIPA tropical in an age when most hazy beers warrant such a descriptor; the justification here is the use of Phantasm thiol powder from NZ sauvignon blanc skins to boost the Citra, Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin hops. It does so in a way that gives You're Welcome a creamy fullness of texture and a fruit curd-like density of aromas and flavours with a punchy passionfruit top note.
Curd nerds will find much to enjoy in Panacea too, with the hazy double IPA firing off aromas like whipped passionfruit curd and delivering a juicy, citrusy, ripe stone fruity fruitiness (talking of tautologies...) that manages to stop short of stickiness despite little in the way of bitterness and plenty of booze.
Which brings us to dessert – and another musical reference – in Polaroid Picture. The berry milkshake IPA feels like a flashback to another era: not as far back as Hey Ya! days, more that period when ever other brewer would have a fruited milkshake IPA on their bar at festivals. It's the sort of beer for people who need all their sensations tickled at once, a bit like Thai cuisine but with the sweet, sour, salt, heat and umami replaced with all manner of sweet, creamy things. Berry coulis, fruit straps, vanilla, bitterness like a slap for misbehaving... You'll be ready for a cleansing Underworld by the time you're done.
James Smith
Published February 21, 2024 2024-02-21 00:00:00
