Happy New Year to everyone, we hope 2022 is going to be a big improvement on what 2021 was for most!
The first beer for the year is from our most sought-after brewery toward the end of 2021, which is of course Maltgarden. Within our small beer club community, the Maltgarden beers have been gaining a nice following.
This is the baby of the Maltgarden range – a double dry-hopped hazy pale ale that highlights to experimental hops in HBC 586 and HBC 630.
The beer pours a hazy straw colour with a fairly thick, soapy head. The aroma is a nice mix of fruits – I think of apricot or peach plus strawberry.
A crisp, light malt body leaves those experimental hops to show the way. Really quite a fruit platter of flavours; again I get apricot, strawberry, some light citrus (mandarin) and then maybe even lychee at a push.
There is enough bitterness in the aftertaste to finish the beer off nicely and invite you back quickly for another taste. When talking about session beers, this is the kind of beer I think of.