It's always reassuring when you finish making tasting notes on a new release then take a look at the can / label to see what the brewer has said about the beer and find validation. (FYI I always prefer to do things that way around so as not to have any preconceptions before setting the olfactory system to work.)
That was the case with Dangerous Ale's fourth birthday beer Zodiac Pig, an orange almond hazy IPA, as I tapped "If anything the additions just give it the intensity of a dense citrusy slice of cake" into Notes. Flip the red tallboy cans around and the sole note on the back is 'YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO'. Aside from that, all you really need to know is that Dangerous Damo knows his way around a hazy and this is a cracker.
He's become close mates with the team at Sailors Grave, even touring Tasmania with them and their respective beers not that long ago. It's understandable given their shared backgrounds in the world of restaurants, fondness for experimenting with unusual ingredients, and branding that stands out from the crowd.
Now that friendship has been turned into another collab: One Eyed Purple People Eater. It's the sort of beer you'd expect from such a union: a double fruited oat cream gose featuring sea salt, blackberries, beetroot and milk sugar (lactose). It looks rather like a V8 juice and leads with an acidic sweetness on the nose reminiscent of a light Flanders red. There's a real rootiness in the background (is rootiness even a word?), while it's less sour than tangy – maybe due to the lactose – with the salt intensifying the impact of the fruit and root flavours.
James Smith
Published April 30, 2024 2024-04-30 00:00:00
