When you’re called Earth Beer, you’ve got to release a couple of beers for Earth Day weekend, right? It’s a rule, or something. And it’s a great opportunity to raise some money for Tweed Landcare to help the conservation of precious Gondwana rainforest.
Simcoe Single Hopped XPA packs the kind of flavour I’d expect from a punchy 6.5 percent ABV IPA rather than a 5.2 percent ABV XPA. It’s all about the citrus zest, like you spent the afternoon just peeling ribbon after ribbon of ruby grapefruit zest and chomping happily on each one while you got to work on the next. Some piney bitterness is in there too, and it just amps up the citrus oil character.
And of course, because this is an XPA as opposed to an IPA, it’s got that refreshing leanness and staying power that makes this beer good for a few in a row.
Then there’s Equinox Oat Cream IPA, which IS a 6.5 percent ABV IPA – but this one’s less about the punchiness and more about the smoothness.
Does that Splice ice cream have a tropical flavour? I don’t think it does, but that’s kind of what’s going on here: Citra, Amarillo and Galaxy work together to create a rich tropical smoothness with citrus and passionfruit. All that fruitiness comes with a balanced sweetness that relies on the malt, with lactose just providing a little something extra rather than being leaned on for everything.
Mick Wüst
Published April 17, 2024 2024-04-17 00:00:00
