Well, here’s a couple of releases from Tallboy & Moose that let us know a seasonal change is on its way. Like the sun bursting out from behind a cloud, the Spring Chicken comes to life in the shape of the Preston brewpub's juicy pale ale, which was first brewed as a hazy IPA but has been given a little tweak. Here the focus is the hop BRU-1, known for pineapple and floral characteristics, and one of the few hops out there that offers precious little in the way of puns (that's not a challenge – come to think of it, there is some room to manoeuvre there).
Here it provides soft tropical juice that leans a little towards pineapple and, more specifically, is quite close to those yellow and green soft lollies. That flavour coupled with the beer's soft body and limited bitterness makes it the kind of beer you'd likely enjoy by the pint, in a beer garden, with the spring sun on your back. I can picture it now.
Crayzon, on the other hand, is a traditional beer made with some new techniques, with Tallboy trailing a new yeast strain and using Cryo Loral in the dry-hop. Thus, while the saison has all the classic spice and herbal notes you'd expect from such a beer, they're a little more present than in classic versions of the style. Alongside that, there's a touch of mandarin and melon, a further fruitiness from the yeast esters, and a substantial dryness too.
Will Ziebell
Published August 20, 2021 2021-08-20 00:00:00
