They've been enjoying quite the 2019 to date at Hawkers. Their collab with US brewery Balebreaker, Tom Needs New Friends – an IPA featuring an experimental US hop variety and Oregon malts – is one of the finest beers to come our way this year. They spent their trip to the US for this year's Craft Brewers Conference brewing beers with some of the country's leading brewers then returned to collect Best IPA in the Australian International Beer Awards' most hotly contested category (as well as Best In Show for their now-destroyed stall at GABS Melbourne).
Next on the agenda is this pair of collabs. Against The Reservoir is a hopped-to-the-eyeballs IPA brewed with Against The Grain when the Kentucky brewers were in Melbourne. A showcase for Nugget, Centennial, El Dorado, Lotus and Citra hops, it's alive with young pineapple, paw paw, mango and stone fruit. Juicy on the nose, lively on the palate and with lingering fruit flavours alongside a fair bit of malt sweetness, a good bitterness and a touch of warmth, it's an IPA that leaves little on the bench.
As for Chateau du Tasman – Into The Limelight, another collab with NZ's Liberty, it also bring fruit to the party – finger lime, kaffir lime and kiwifruit to be specific – in delivering a palate cleansing refresher. Lime is the predominant character (no shit, Sherlock), but it comes at you without any sharp edges, sat amid a gentle acidity and soft carbonation. Pour a glass and watch it disappear fast.
James Smith
Published May 23, 2019 2019-05-23 00:00:00
