As sure as a solar eclipse will (temporarily) halt a monorail, a fresh hazy from Banks Brewing is always just around the corner. Cosmic Ballet is a smooth, lush and juicy ride that's led by Motueka, Citra, Mosaic and Sabro hops and together, they bring fuzzy peach, mango, pineapple and tangerine. The cosmic ballet, goes on.
Utility Fry meanwhile was brewed with Banks’ pals at Range Brewing and was dreamed up while both breweries were over in the States selecting hops. Over some classic American burgers, they talked through what they loved about hops and those advanced products and came home with a plan. That mission was to brew beers that compared with the top Cali IPAs they were drinking by bringing together the HBC 586, Simcoe and Citra. and YCH 702 - a flowable hop product from Yakima Chief Hops. While you might not have been able to join either breweries on their American jaunt (which is a bit of an oversight if you're asking me), the incredibly lean beer provides a base for those hops to be incredibly expressive. Largely, they play in the arena of greapfruit, sherberty orange with a slight tropical bent that's all joined by pine and a resinous bitterness. You could certainly do far worse than pairing it with a smash burger.
Providing a less hoppy point of difference is Paloma Sour. The kettle sour squeezed in a fair whack of grapefruit and lime juice for quite a tart tang, while the tequila and agave blends both savourness and sweetness in one. To top it off, salt adds to the beer's refreshing side but if you wanted to go one further: salt up a cocktail glass and pour it in for a delightful afternoon.
Will Ziebell
Published November 30, 2023 2023-11-30 00:00:00
