Hop Nation's Mornington Peninsula production brewery is just a short drive from Banks' home in Seaford, but it feels like more than the location that connects the two breweries. Both love IPAs and are always looking ahead when it comes to hops by searching out new varieties, products, and brew techniques to pump up the lupulin.
So Hi-De-Ho Neighbour feels like a double release with an air of inevitability, and of course, they're both IPAs. But while both stem from the same style, have the same 7.0 percent ABV, and feature Nelson Sauvin, Citra and Simcoe, they bring quite radically different results. In the case of the "North West" West Coast IPA that was brewed at Banks, it's more of a throwback beer thanks to the heavy resin and pine that lead the charge. There's also the slightest sway of richness from the orange-hued beer's malt profile, a floral touch, and a soft bitterness that lands the beer quite gently.
The Hop Nation-made Cali IPA, meanwhile, has a far more assertive bitterness, a lean malt profile, and some radically different characteristics. Maybe it's thanks to Simcoe and Citra both being used in Cryo form, but the crystal-clear and pale golden beer brings a whole load of citrus, largely in the shape of sweet blood orange and grapefruit along with a side of gooseberry and stone fruit. TL;DR it's Hop Nation and Banks doing what they do best: bringing together favourite hops for entirely different final beers.
Will Ziebell
Published September 13, 2024 2024-09-13 00:00:00
