They took a breather over Christmas and January, but Lost Palms are making up for it now with three limiteds.
First up is Tallebudgera Nights, a sour ale with kiwifruit, mango, lychee and feijoa.* Pour it out and you’ve got totally opaque nectar. The head disappears quite quickly, but who’s here for foam when it comes to a glass of puréed fruit? We’re here for the fruitiness and the sourness.
The sourness is definitely there, but fairly easygoing, laying the foundation for the fruits to be the main attraction. Granted, the fruits are hitting me like an entire classroom of kids pelting me with dodgeballs: who can tell which ball is which? That is to say, I can't distinguish the flavours of the fruits from each other, but the combination of them is a tropical boom-ba-pow.
The name is obviously a reference to the movie Talladega Nights, but I’m not going to spend any words there because, to be honest, I didn't find it funny. (No hate mail, please.) But that’s not because I don’t like any stupid comedy, because I found Always Sunny In Philadelphia hilarious and that’s some of the stupidest comedy there is.
Which is why I chuckled at the IASIP references on the label of Magnets – all pointing to this episode. This IPA is hazy as all get-out: I’m talking opaque as milk steak. There’s all the citrus and tropical fruits you’d expect in a hazy loaded with Cashmere, Idaho and El Dorado hops, and in the background, just a touch of the soft coconut you can get from Cashmere, accompanied by a potent, gripping bitterness.
(I’m extremely tempted to write another paragraph purely because I want to make Always Sunny references, but Lost Palms have beaten me to it with their label design and description, so I’ll restrain myself.)
Once, in a group of friends, a friend of mine said: “This isn’t the first time I’ve been to a rodeo” instead of, “It’s not my first rodeo.” Being the good friends we are, the rest of us never let him live down his minor malapropism. We now taunt him with phrases such as: “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen people holding onto bulls for dear life.” and “Believe it or not, I’ve watched bulls thrashing while people ride them before.” It’s surprising how many variations of this saying you can come up with if you try.
Anyway, when it comes to releasing several limited releases at once, the Lost Palms crew have been introduced to dangerous bull-riding for entertainment purposes before, so they’ve called this last beer Second Rodeo. It’s an affogato pastry stout, stuffed with coffee, vanilla, almond extract and lactose.
Affogato is actually a really good description of this beer. It brings the thick vanilla sweetness. It brings the tight, oily bitterness of espresso. I found the almond notes (which I believe were to simulate a side of almond biscotti) sort of blended in, but would add that there’s also a strong chocolate note from the malts that wouldn’t ordinarily be present in an affogato. So in this case, imagine the ice cream was slathered with a rich dark chocolate syrup – you know, the kind you buy from a gourmet shop for $22.95 a bottle – before the coffee was poured over it. Then it’s spot on.
In case anyone cares, I’m a big fan of ordering an affogato at the end of a meal in an Italian restaurant, and recommend you do too. It always feels a bit fancy and a bit irresponsible. Instead of being all: “Oh, I probably shouldn't have coffee because I have an early meeting with the accounts department to discuss the Johnson report…”, you just treat yourself, you know? Stuff the Johnson report.**
Mick Wüst
One day I need to have a tasting of a bunch of these fruits I’m not familiar with (feijoa, finger lime, yuzu, cumquat, etc). One day…
As if I’ve ever had an office job.*
Published February 14, 2023 2023-02-14 00:00:00
