I mentioned in an earlier post that a handful of beers made it home with me from London in November, all of them cans, all of them plucked hastily form the fridges in Mother Kelly's.
Yes, I went to Mother Kelly's and didn't write about it. When we arrived on what I foolishly thought would be a quiet Tuesday evening in mid November, the hangar-like space of the place was heaving. Standing room only, then. Drinks for non drinkers weren't particularly exciting, so just the half for me - a characteristically robust De Molen stout, whose name I forget. It was a surprise when it arrived smoky; I'm A-OK with smoked beers and smoked porters especially, but, like my love for Ardbeg, there's a time and place and mood for such a thing. Not loving the beer and very much not loving standing awkwardly in that broad strip of open space in front of the bar, we grabbed the cans and left after a few unsatisfying sips. I hope to be back, preferably just after opening time.
Much better luck was had with the beer muled home, and first among them was Vibrant Forest's Citra pale ale. There's a lovely fresh, piney zing that screams textbook Citra, gloriously clean, until I dump a load of muddier dregs in, which seemed to add a slightly meatier, savoury edge to proceedings. Still, the goodness is bright and sharp enough to keep it tasty throughout.
I didn't really know what Beerbliotek's No Style Without Substance was when I picked it up - if I'd read the Imperial Cascadian Dark Ale on the can I probably wouldn't have bothered.
Lucky I didn't, then, because this is marvellous. There's no harshness or awkward clashing of black rubbery roast with heavy hopping; the malt plays like a superbly smooth imperial stout, with silky milk chocolate punctuated rather delightfully with a burst of lime and lychee, playing soft and warming up beautifully by the fireside. It may just as well be an extravagantly late/dry-hopped imperial stout, if not for the lack of any aggressive roast or coffee stuff. An excellent recalibration of my black IPA/CDA outlook.
Black Iris' Lost Art of Keeping Secrets brings us back to regular old IPA, and it's rather good, though it does have some of the aspects I don't like about NEW IPA. Those are expressed in this instance as heavy malt with a twang of acid, but there's still plenty of tropical and stone fruit stuff to enjoy.
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