King Road’s Wet Hop Ale is a novelty beer in the most affectionately quaint sense. Equally because it highlights the agricultural nature of beer in a world which covets proprietary vac-sealed options, contracted ahead of season, and also because its resulting convivial nature feels like the avant-garde of the mid-2000s: hoppy hubris and excess be (quietly) damned.
For their third annual collab with Preston Valley Hops, freshly-picked cones were driven two hours north to be added to the kettle just after lunch. The varieties in question are Victoria, which was dropped by Hop Products Australia many years ago only to be kept alive by homebrewers, and Beedelup, a variety with unknown genetic sequencing named by an online public vote.
Their judicious use shows as fresh cut and tinned peaches with apricot hints through a light pale malt body that wisely knows this beer isn’t about the grain. That said, eschewing dry-hopping presents more perceived malt sweetness, but in a whole that remains cohesively homespun; as head brewer Steve Wearing says: “It’s my favourite release of the year. I love it because it’s something very different to what we normally do. Having hops in an unprocessed state lends a cool, delicate hop character.”
Meanwhile, new US hops have also made an appearance at King Road. Farmhouse is a broad house, however their Farmhouse Ale carries the same restraint as its wet hop sibling. Pouring with the slightest haze, there’s lemon / lime citrus via the new Lórien hop, subtle white pepper and clove spice plus veiled banana, bubblegum hints and an arid length. They're all descriptors which seem farmhouse familiar but closing your eyes this could be the crispiest lager going, just with a little more character. And, although it’s been said before, it’s the kind of beer that Australians could be drinking in greater number, if only we could get over our aversion to anything remotely saison-esque.
Guy Southern
Published March 11, 2022 2022-03-11 00:00:00
