It's been a while friends, almost a year in fact, how did that happen? The One4theroad.net band has been on an extended hiatus that I don't think either Dan or I thought would last as long as this. Balancing our self-imposed commitments to researching, drinking and more importantly writing about the beer we love against our other commitments - work, relationships, personal health - got to be too difficult.
But, given that 2022 hasn't exactly been a year any of us are likely to look back on with much fondness, I thought I would try and end it on a more positive note and get back to some beer writing, well more positive for me, you the reader may not share my feelings of positivity about that.
My resolve to get back to it was sharpened by an email from Beer52 about their discounted advent calendar which I promptly bought. Dan and I had had a blast with PremierHop's one during lockdown, so what better way to get into the swing of things than to do another advent calendar review? (Yes, I may have had a few drinks when I made this decision, not that it's any of your business) Any way, we've got 24 days of this, so let's get cracking.
Sunny Disposition
Style - IPA
Brewer - Hyllie Bryggeri
Hops - ??
ABV - 5.7%
The beer
Putting together a good craft beer advent calendar must be like putting together a good playlist. For me, when it comes to such things the rules laid out in High Fidelity are a pretty good way to go, i.e. start with a banger, but not the bangiest banger you have, something that sets the tone for the album to come , but that gives room for ideas, feelings or whatever to develop. I hope this is the same philosophy Beer52 are using with this advent calendar, and this is the thinking I am going to use to judge these beers.
The beer we get on day 1, presuming all calendars are the same, is Sunny Disposition by Hyllie Bryggeri out of Sweden. Admittedly a beer I have never had and a brewery I know nothing about.
The pour on this is pretty good, not amazing but ok. It pours thin, but I'm ok with that, especially as it settles into a slightly hazy, pale honey/amber in the glass. It even has a touch of head retention which is nice. But... it does pour on the thin side, the very thin side. Oh well, perseverance my friends.
On the nose Sunny Disposition offers a honey scented hit of melon notes, galia melon or under-ripe honey dew. There is a slight hint of pine resin lingering in the background which promises oh so much. But, with that slightly straggly body, I am not convinced Sunny Disposition is going to be hitting me with those big west coast vibes I'm a sucker for.
In the mouth Sunny Disposition is slightly more carbonated than I would like. It has the mouthfeel of a hard seltzer rather than an IPA. Yes, there is a very pleasing whack of malty sweetness up front, a relatively good amount of bitterness coming from that resiny note which develops as you drink on and a slightly tart, citric sour note which does serve to make you want to take another sip. But, and this is the killer for me, all the amps on this are dialled up to 7.
Nothing is really coming through and blasting me with excitement. If even one aspect of this beer, the maltiness, the tartness, or the pine resin, were dialled up a little more (I'm not asking for 11 here, but maybe a 9) then we'd be talking about a great beer. As it stands, I think there is a lot of room for improvement here, this is just too much of a lightweight to start proceedings. If this were the beginning of a mixed tape, it would likely be a mixed tape you'd find abandoned on the side of some provincial highway,
I now really hope Beer52 aren't using this to set the tone for things to come because Sunny Disposition drinks more like a non-alcoholic IPA rather than a full bodied, west coast inspired flavour demon. That being said, if they lowered the ABV on this and rebranded it as a table IPA, I could really get o board with that. But, as it stands, it sits in an ABV bracket with peers that offer a hell of a lot more bite for the booze.
We are early days in this yet, not the best start, but my optimism still remains. It's Christmas after all.
Rating - 2.5/5
Have you tried Sunny Disposition IPA?
Yes
No
Comments