Good vs evil. Hazy vs sour. Citrus hops vs actual citrus. Since the dawn of time, these have been the battles that plague humanity and here to pick a winner is MechaRoo. The sour hazy IPA is a collaboration between Japan’s Coedo and our very own Bright Brewery, and it can’t have taken those collaborators long to pick yuzu as the star. Sure, the citrus fruit has myriad uses in Japanese cuisine but Bright’s home in the High Country boasts its own fields of the citrus thanks to Mountain Yuzu.
When it comes to MechaRoo, the citrus is particularly tangy (maybe not quite enough to level a city but you never know) and tastes as if the yuzu has just been squeezed into juice form, while there’s also a touch of tropical fruits. Despite the pithy sourness leading the way, texturally MechaRoo far more closely resembles a hazy IPA then a sour thanks to its soft, smooth mouthfeel.
Also new from Bright is Cherry Pie Stout: a dark beer with cherry, vanilla, coconut and lactose thrown into the mix. The cherry comes across like red Starburst Chews whose disappearance from these shores I'm still mourning; if only I had some kind of large, metal kangaroo to import them for me. Beyond that hit of cherry, you’ll also find rich chocolate fudge that’s been sprinkled in coconut.
Will Ziebell
Published August 17, 2023 2023-08-17 00:00:00