aa

with care

Sometimes people ask me if I have a favourite beer.

It surely is a matter of context, each beer has his own raison d’être. And by all means, having a favourite beer in this over populated offer would be an act of a pessimist.

Rather, I’d like to think the best approach would be a question like: “what makes a good beer?”

Well, balance, and consistency over multiple brews, will certainly be fair judgment criteria. That is the trust bond between you and the brewmaster, whatever the style.

Tastebuds make up individual tastes, hard to fight against those: de gustibus non disputandum est, after all.

Personally, my preferences evolve with time, in a continuous crescendo mediated by complexity. I like the surprise effect: those seconds of silence after a sips exploding into an abrupt “damn this beer is good!”. And if the surprise effect is twofold, there you have a little gem.

That to me, is a beer worth having twice, sharing and deserving propaganda.

Having said that, apart from the Cloudwater one-offs and the spot-on Scandies, The Kernel IPA single hop Exp 431. True gem.

I spent a year studying single hop varietials and Exp 431 is such a 360 that it can stand on its own, owning the scene. It's a true all rounder, capable of grabbing all of those tastebuds at once, capturing their attention in a ballet of flavour swings.

The Kernel is by far the player able to express single hop varietals for the language they and only they can loudly speak.

Aw man, as it comes out again, freakin' enjoy.

sdg