For their fifth birthday, One Drop released a batch of celebratory brews showcasing the innovation and insanity that have defined their half-decade to date. Say hello and happy birthday to a hazy-as-hell hoppy ale, a timeless Czech lager and two colossal, lolly-infused sours.
Like any hyper five-year-old, One Drop have overdosed on the lollies at their party with their wild Sail On Rainbow Sherbet Sour Ale – packing 60 kilos of rainbow strips into the brew. Bright garnet with a big phat fluffy head, first whiffs reveal a strong, sickly sweet air of sparkling citrus and berries. It lands the same on the palate for the first second or two and then it hits you: a seismic, sour tsunami fuelled by rainbow strips, sherbet, real-life lemon and lime to truly turn your face inside out.
The first taste felt like that Edvard Munch painting The Scream, just with insane acidity wracking my soul instead of existential anxiety. Three different types of lactobacillus triple-team to ramp up the tang even more, with a stiff tartness to finish. Does Sail On successfully nail the taste of radioactive rainbow strips in a can? Yes, indeed. Could I drink more than one? Probably not.
The sugar rush continues with the Make Believe Watermelon Sherbet Sour Ale, Sail On’s sister sip that swaps out rainbow strips for sour watermelon candy. In the glass, it’s vibrant orange and smells like a boss-level watermelon Bacardi Breezer. Curiously, the first mouthful is striking yet more subdued than Sail On but that might be because the former nuked my taste buds.
Yep, hold on, I gave myself a ten minute time-out and a couple of dry crackers and can confirm Make Believe is also one sour mother-pucker (I think my tongue was just in shock before). Mainlining a heavy hit of citrus, sherbet, real watermelon juice and the lacto ménage à trois, this is the closest you’ll ever get to drinking liquid lollies. Dentist on standby.
After One Drop’s stop at the candy shop, we jump aboard the Plzeň Bohemian Lager and jet to the Czech Republic, the hallowed birthplace of the classic Euro pilsner. The latest in One Drop’s excellent Water Exploration series, there’s no lollies or fruit or tooth fillings here – just a delicious, deftly-balanced pilsner that I could drink all day.
Bright gold, bready and nobly-hopped, this sort of elegant, effortless lager takes me back to backpacking the Czech Republic in the early 2000s where you could score a perfect pint for a couple of dollars. They were great times and this is a great beer.
Free Flow is One Drop’s first take on a "Hoppy Ale", an emerging new style out of the US made famous by New Jersey’s Troon Brewing. It’s a curiously generic name for such a big style, considering "hoppy ale" could casually describe most craft ales on the market. Even stranger, the basic moniker masks its true identity and appeal: a huge, hyper-hop-saturated hazy DIPA or TIPA that would have hopheads frothing at the mouth (in a good way). Calling this style "hoppy" is like calling Elon Musk "a bit rich".
Style semantics aside (One Drop didn’t name it, after all), Free Flow is one juicy juggernaut, dripping with a megaton of NZ hops Peacherine, Nelson Sauvin and new kid on the block, Manilita. Pouring a pale apricot with a potent nose of super-ripe stone fruit, Free Flow delivers a full, vigorous mouthfeel and lush layers of peach, passionfruit, guava and citrus on the tongue. Laced with liquid Phantasm, it finishes nicely with a bitey grapefruit bitterness from the Manilita. It’s fresh AF, fiercely fruity and yes, ridiculously hoppy.
Jason Treuen
Read about One Drop's first half decade in their Five Years In Five Beers
Published February 6, 2024 2024-02-06 00:00:00
