Thus Let Us Drink Beer – New England Brewing Co new range
Located on the East coast of Australia, imbued by an ambitious willingness to innovate yet inspired by traditional Teutonic approaches to brewing, the flying ram that adorns the logo of New England Brewing Co has established itself as an eyecatcher but a veritable heavyweight on the firmament of craft beer breweries, especially the ones channelling their alchemy in the creation of hazy IPAs.
With a solid core range comprised of hop forward expressions as well as delicately calibrated saisons, farmhouse ales and collaborations, I am intrigued every time New England Co announces a new release, which is why it should be further wondrous that I could not wait until I got my mitts on the Naughty Corner Hazy IPA.
While a lot of breweries have “hazy” IPAs as part of their line-up, things are redefined and taken to new levels when New England is at the helm with Naughty Corner IPA just being a recent example for them knocking things out of the park in the realm of bitterness getting lost in mango nectars, which are flanked by a melange of Galaxy, Citra and Callista hops.
Given the velvety mouthfeel, other than the slightly higher ABV of 7.1%, there is hardly any naughtiness to be detected. Having paired it with a dram of Ardbeg Corrywreckan, it proved to be one of the better and dangerously moreish IPAs I have had the fortune of trying this year.
Truckload IPA is New England Brewing Co’s expression marrying Australian Enigma and Vic hops with Centennial and Mosaic suds from the new world, with the result being a wonderful homage to distinctly fruity, resinous and earthy aromas with a reverberating bitterness that traditional American IPAs became known and loved for.
While I usually find stouts to be an acquired taste, New England Brewing’s Patchwork Oatmeal Stout is a borderline ideal entry point to what can be achieved in the realm of darker beer territory. Based on a foundation of an array of malts, bitterness reminiscent of coffee beans mix in with a chocolatey, chewy sweetness, which evokes a Pavlovian response with its soul-warming warmth and the faintest hint of smoke.
Hope to see New England Brewing Co release DIPAs in the future.
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images from company website
