S43 Brewing - Pink Chimneys
Another 440ml can this time and a cheeky 6.9% NEIPA from the Durham-based brewery, hopped with Citra two ways (standard and cryo) and its regular accomplice Galaxy.
Dan
Oh yeah, this is the kind of thing you want to be pulling out of your addy calendar for sure! A decent strength NEIPA from a brewery you have been meaning to try and of course, the trusty hop combo of galaxy and citra. I would say the ol' GC (not Gemma Collins) is in my top 3 hop combos and rarely disappoints. I was expecting a massive whack of tropical fruits and zesty citrus around the chops with a touch of dank spice and veg on the finish (a la Verdant - 'Sharks' or 'MLN' the Track, Wylam and North collab).
Unfortunately for me, whilst I got a small portion of fruit salad on the front end of this beer, the finish was resinous pine and wood lacquer of a bitterness level that knocked me off my seat. Whilst this beer did have a soft and juicy mouthfeel, it quickly dissipated into a rather harsh dry finish that left you parched rather than refreshed. I appreciate the change-up and why Jack liked this so much (being an IBU chaser if ever I've seen one, I'm more of a chubby-chaser) but I'm fully converted to the sweeter, haribo-style NEIPAs and this was too much of a departure without prior-warning.
Score - 3.75
Jack
Big, bad and bitter to boot! Finally a NEIPA with a set of cajones on it! Don' get me wrong I love a juice bomb as much as the next man, unless that man is Dan as his unrestrained love for juicy doubles (and triples) is well known. However, sometimes, and frankly I am getting this feeling more and more lately, you just want a brewer to let the dog off the chain, and just go nuts on the hop burn. The prevailing wind may be juice juice juice, but I want bitter bitter bitter (sometimes).
Pink Chimneys delivers that in spades, and then dumps a bit more on for good measure. I will admit, they come perilously close to going too far with this, and it clearly didn't do it for Dan like it did it for me, I think they just about pull it off. Playing against the bitter is just the slightest touch of juice, just to stop it getting too much. All that being said, I think keeping a glass of water to hand when drinking this one would be sensible, just to stop your tongue from mummifying from all the pucker.
Score - 4.25
Watch us have a go at this one here.
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