The utterly unique birthday beer that is B2 Bomber eases its way to number 14 as the brewery behind it nudges ever closer to two decades of beers. Mach 14.0 comes at the end of a big year for the Beechworth brewery too, one in which they took up residence in Melbourne with a contemporary brewpub in East Brunswick Village.
There's a shot of the contemporary about the 2024 iteration of the black Belgian imperial IPA: the use of "thiolisation", a technique Bridge Road are practising with ever greater frequency to boost flavour- and aroma-enhancing thiols in the beer. That said, such is the might of the dark malts, the booze, and the Belgian yeast strain that they're merely a team player in a beer so dense it swirls; at a push, I'd say they're responsible for a tropical purée character in its midst.
Tuck into the black liquid sealed by a thick, sponge-like brown head and there's dark fruits and toast crusts upfront, sticky treacle / molasses, and a richness reminiscent of a strong Vietnamese coffee. A veritable meal in a glass.
James Smith
Published June 22, 2024 2024-06-22 00:00:00
