Seems like just yesterday there were rumours of a brewery opening up under the Story Bridge. Now Felons is six years old, and they've just opened another waterfront venue on Manly Wharf in Sydney. They grow up so quickly.
They’re celebrating the milestone with Paradise IPA, a Cali-style IPA with flavour-bangers Strata, Talus and HBC 1019 strutting their stuff. It’s clear and pale, with a clean and fairly dry finish, but in true Cali style that’s not at all at the expense of flavour. While the latter two hop varieties can be known to bring a creamy coconut note that rounds off other flavours, I got none of that here. It’s all crisp and zingy and bright hop notes, with sweet fruit juices and a dank acidity whipping through the mouth like a west wind.*
Even as I write this at my desk, I’m jealous of anyone sitting at one of Felons’ venues, looking over the water at either the Brisbane River or Manly Wharf with a Cali IPA in hand, thinking: this must be just like living in paradise.**
Mick Wüst
* The Paradise IPA label is the only time I’ve ever seen the word “zephyr” in a beer description. Figured I owed it to Felons to make a reference to it. ** I know when I link to music videos I usually cut straight to a pertinent part of the video, but this video starts with David Lee Roth dangling from a cliff with no sound but a whistling wind (a zephyr??), then cuts to him on stage doing a butterfly kick in harem pants, then his guitarist with a three-necked loveheart-shaped guitar – all before the lyrics kick in. I couldn’t bring myself to make you miss that. Enjoy the whole thing.
Published Today 2024-11-15 00:00:00
