Beer Bandicoot Brewing Havoc XPA

When you call a beer Havoc you're instantly conjuring ideas of bedlam or a riot in the drinker's glass. Yet this XPA – added to the Echuca brewery's core lineup in summer 2020 – is a pretty pared-back offering, at least when compared to much of Bandicoot's range which tends to sit at the heavier end of each beer's style spectrum.

It puts new Kiwi hop HORT 4337 in the spotlight, a variety of which much is expected thanks to its vibrant range of fruity characteristics. Pale golden in colour with a grassy, soft melon aroma, it's rather reminiscent of a lightly hopped English summer ale, albeit with more bite on the palate where sweet, cracker like malts and some deep tropical fruits pave the way for a lingering, faintly resinous bitterness.

James Smith