Given the noise surrounding them, you might think Cheeky Monkey are heavily focused on developing a reputation for brewing juicy, thick fruited sours, but while they're doing that undeniably well, they're still highly capable of putting together delicious, full-flavoured, hop-driven beers. In this case, their Space Oddity Imperial IPA is another standout example of hop utilisation from the South West brewers.
A smorgasbord of hops feature in this sizeable offering, including healthy doses of Chinook, Simcoe, Talus, Idaho 7 and Sabro. The array of hops mingles effortlessly, yielding an interplay of sweet, ripe citrus fruits like orange, grapefruit and tangerine alongside sticky pine, some gentle toasted spice character and Sabro’s trademark coconut. A residual sweetness is well played to counter a high bittering component and a length of flavour that carries into a drawn-out finish with just a little tackiness.
Coming off the back of a thick, fruited sour, it's clear the Cheeky Monkeys have quite a few tricks in their playbook and don’t look to be running out of ideas any time soon.
Jono Outred
Published June 28, 2022 2022-06-28 00:00:00
