Boatrocker are here with a double drop of beers for those that can't squeeze enough hops into their lives. Fresh & Foolish is an IPA featuring a quartet of NZ hops, which have been the talk of town for many brewers in recent times with growers from across The Ditch forging relationships with, and dropping new products into the hands of Aussie brewers.
Often the newer varieties from New Zealands have been deemed best suited to hazy IPAs or new world pilsners. Here, Boatrocker take the heft of the former and combine with the lean cleanness of the latter. If not totally clear in the glass, it's near enough, with a sharp focus to the citrusy, stonefruit hop aromas and a bitterness that’s genuinely quenching. The "Foolish" refers to the volume of hops involved – namely Nectaron, Riwaka, Moutere and Motueka – with the punchier, higher alpha acid among them (I'm looking at you, Moutere) seeming to shout louder than the juicier varieties in what's a dry, bitter beast.
Stepping up into bigger beast territory is the returning Flux Capacitor. We first wrote about this hefty, boozy, resinous DIPA back in 2022 and what we said then stands now. Its inspiration is drawn from past eras of American craft beer, so don't go expecting anything flighty or overtly fruity as this balances sweeter malts with plenty of old-school US and NZ hops bringing a drying bitterness that heads deep, deep down.
A little aside – or, more accurately, a note about the side of the Fresh & Foolish cans... Boatrocker have included some timely excise tax-related messaging:
WARNING: GOVERNMENT TAX ADDICTION CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH EXCESSIVE EXCISE TAX MAKE UP 56% OF THE COST OF THIS BEER
James Smith
Published December 18, 2024 2024-12-18 00:00:00
