2019 has been a great year for trying new beers for me, I've been mixing it up in style, and have been trying everything from sour beers to fruit beers through Belgian beers, IPA's, lagers, DIPA's and even some BIPA's. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of different (local) festivals, the notable stand-out of which was "Craft Beer South" down in Southampton in October. The year isn't quite done yet but I feel confident enough to release my top 20 beers of the year, and here they are...
1 - Leyana by Vibrant Forest (New Forest, Hampshire) A 4.5% hoppy pale ale featuring Citra and Summit hops. A delightful beer, had this at Craft Beer South in October, a real stand-out for everyone, hopefully visiting the brewery in the new year.
2 - Summer Ale by DEYA (Cheltenham) A 4.5% pale IPA made with Galaxy and Vic Secret hops (Australian) Drunk at the Siren Barista festival back in April, blew everyone away at the time.
3 - Rock, Paper, Scissors by Siren (Berkshire) and Northern Monk (Leeds) An absolute beauty, hiding it's 8.5% ABV dangerously well. Layers of flavour in this one, a real fruit-bomb of a beer.
4 - Citra Mosaic IPA by Polly's Brew Co. (Wales) Had just a quick half of this in the Fox & Hounds in Caversham one evening, it was stunning!
5 - PUPA by Vibrant Forest (New Forest, Hampshire) Another Vibrant beer, this time a 4.5% pale with more flavour than you can shake a stick at, excellent.
6 - Thousand Things IPA, 5.5% IPA made by Siren (Berkshire) especially for the Tate Van Gogh exhibition, flavoured with Cypress wood, wonderful combination (great label design too)
7 - Oats on Oats, Another Siren IPA a hazy one this time made in conjunction with Kings and Daughters an American brewery. Interesting combo of Nelson, Citra, Mandarina and Hallertau hops a thick gloopy haze-bomb of a beer, delightful combination of flavours.
8 - Into the Haze, from DEYA (Cheltenham) One of the standard DEYA beers, it's a classic NEIPA (New England IPA) and one of the UK's best IMO
9 - Running with Scepters, a lager from Lost and Grounded (Bristol), flavoured with American hops and absolutely delicious, if you see some buy it immediately!
10 - Farmhouse, a collaboration between BBNo (London) and Finback (New York) Brewed for the Skyline project, by far the stand-out beer of that 6 beer series.
11 - Headband, classic Verdant (Falmouth) NEIPA drunk at source in Falmouth; wonderful
12 - Socks & Sandals, a collaboration between Siren (Berkshire) and Humble Sea (USA) a murky 6.6% IPA featuring Citra, Centennial and Simcoe hops. Had this at the Siren investors party, you could say I was in from the first sip!
13 - Corbel, made by Eight Arch down in Dorset this light 5.5% IPA uses just Mosaic hops but the flavour was fabulous, drunk at Craft Beer South.
14 - Medjuica, Siren (Berkshire) A classic session IPA from Siren, could drink this all day and not get tired of it, excellent from cans.
15 - In the Belly of a Shark, Another Siren beer, this time an unusual black-IPA, very pine forward flavour, worth seeking out. Quite pokey at 6.5% so take care!
16 - Light-bulb, Verdant (Falmouth) Another banger. 4.5% Totally hazy, light in colour but so much flavour, top beer.
17 - Sabrage, Siren really topped themselves with this one, unusually dry style, lemon sherbert flavours in this pale 6% IPA, hope they brew it again soon!
18 - Small Pale from Cloudwater (Manchester) Low alcohol beer 2.9% but not as you know it, I'd happily drink this all night long, flavour in spades, reminds me of some of their 8%+ DIPA's
19 - Saratoga Springs, a 5.8% Cascadian ale, dark ruby colour and wonderful hop combo from Pressure Drop (London). Drunk from can, hopefully will see again some time.
20 - Striding Edge, Northern Monk (Leeds) A supermarket beer but a pretty good one, low in alcohol 2.8% but not flavour, try it!
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