Murray's Retro Rocket

Now here's a beer that's got Crafty intrigued. Billed as Australia's smallest IPA, it's a 2.8% beer that somehow packs in a lot of flavour - including pretty fierce bitterness, according to brewer Shawn Sherlock when we caught up with him last month for an interview we'll be running on the site soon. According to Murray's, it's brewed with British malts, "carries a big, almost over the top hop flavour and aroma" and is coppery red in colour. Perfect with tandoori chicken or a tikka masala or rogan josh curry too, apparently. Given the success of last year's Punch & Judy, which crammed plenty of malt flavours and hop aromas into a sub-4% beer, hopes were high for the Rocket and, having tasted it, we can say it justifies the hype. Quite how Shawn Sherlock achieved so much body, colour and hop character into a beer of this size is something of a marvel.

Published April 2, 2011 2011-04-02 00:00:00