Deeds have been brewing oat cream IPAs for longer and with greater frequency than most, and they've brought the experience gained over the years to bear on Vaporwave (interestingly, not the first such combination of beer and visual stylings to come our way from a Victorian brewery in 2023). I could analyse what's going on here in detail, courtesy of the Strata, Kohia Nelson and Citra hops softened by lactose but, to be honest, all you need to know is that this delivers exactly what you want from such a beer: a smooth, balanced, mostly stone fruit and pineapple-flavoured experience which might be creamy of texture but still finishes dry enough. There's not much you could do to make it any better.
Its co-released hazy double IPA, Outrun – rocking a can design inspired by a similar era that inspired vaporwave – is a bit of an oddball, however. Low in haze and the colour of sunset, it has surprisingly lively fruitiness: almost tangy and veering towards cordial in its sweetness. You could easily believe citrus zest had been added alongside the El Dorado, Simcoe and Citra hops (or maybe they've been playing with terpenes); as a result, it brings to mind lemony farmhouse ales despite having no other farmhouse characters.
To taste, it's citrus-soaked biscuits with little bitterness yet little obvious booze either despite the 8.2 percent ABV. Consider my mind somewhat boggled.
James Smith
Published December 18, 2023 2023-12-18 00:00:00