When you’ve had three drinks, are you ready for a fiesta, or ready for a siesta? I’m a little from Column A, a little from Column B – I start yawning a lot, but I swear I’m having fun on the inside.
Drink number one: Once Upon A Time In Mexico Margarita Sour.
(Is it bad that I haven’t seen Once Upon A Time In Mexico? I’ve seen The Mexican, in which Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts argue about their relationship a lot and people accidentally get shot. That’s basically the same thing.)
It tastes like a margarita. I don’t mean one of those strawberry-mint-pineapple-smoke-coconut-chocolate margaritas from a modern Mexican restaurant. I mean a margarita. Like you’re drinking boozy Bickford’s lime cordial with a sour tang and a salt rim. It’s definitely not the colour of one, but with agave, lemon, lime, orange peel, salt (plus, you know, sour beer)... yeah, it’s a margarita.
Drink number two: Holy Smoke Manuka Smoked Red Lager.
There aren’t many red lagers around. There aren’t many smoked beers around. Smart people would probably say: “That’s because there isn’t a market for these styles.” To which the Working Title boys would say: ‘Let’s make a smoked red lager!"
A lot has gone into it: Manuka smoked malt from Gladfield together with some nice specialty malts for that red colour and a touch of caramel depth, along with Magnum and Tettnang hops for some earthy grounding. But for all this complexity, it’s drinks as just a crisp, malty lager with a smooth, hammy smoke. The smoke is inviting rather than overwhelming. The body is comfortably dry rather than heavy. It’s surprisingly easydrinking and moreish, and unlike many smoked beers, asks to be consumed by the pint rather than the pot.
Drink number three: Braindead Strawberry, Guava, Raspberry & Hibiscus Fruited Sour.
This was brewed as the official beer for Netherworld’s BORLFF, which is Brisbane Only Repulsive Liquid Film Festival – not to be confused with last year’s Brisbane Only Rotoscoped Lightning Film Festival.
It pours electric pink – think watermelon meets guava meets Ryan Gosling’s face in that new Bladerunner movie – and gives off a truly captivating aroma. There’s hibiscus (which I often can’t smell in hibiscus beers), there’s guava… basically all kinds of florals out the wazoo, with some strawberry Hubba Bubba and Allen’s raspberry lollies in the background. Or still in the wazoo, maybe? What is a wazoo? Is it crude to speak of lollies in a wazoo? Anyway, there’s also light zap of acidity like one of those electric dog collars. Perhaps it’s warning you to keep your wazoo to yourself.
Speaking of braindead: I’d like to revise my answer from earlier. My son is three months old today and decided to have a fiesta at 5am, so I’m officially ready for a siesta.
Mick Wüst
Published October 19, 2023 2023-10-19 00:00:00
