Slipstream’s Fruit Cart series of sours has been running since 2020, but the newest entry brings a burst of freshness to keep you on your toes - not just in the flavour, but with a label design facelift and a gold medal from the Royal Queensland Awards.
Considering I drank this Fruit Cart Lemon Lime Sour immediately before a hazy IPA, I was expecting something less hazy by comparison. I was wrong. It’s a good thing I like my juice with pulp, because this baby is completely opaque. Just how much citrus did they put in there?? This beer smells like the zesty sorbet you get after a huge plate of pasta, when you want something sweet to cleanse your palate but can’t handle the sight of the three-scoop Nutella fudge sundae. But while that first spoonful of lemon-lime sorbet would be nice and sugary, the taste of this Fruit Cart doesn’t have any of that sweetness - just the citrus-flavoured tartness that cuts right across the tongue with a fresh zing.
Turning to a different series, Jetsetter New Zealand Hazy IPA follows the first of the globe-hopping hazies, this time travelling aaaalllllllllllll the way to our closest neighbouring country to the east. (They’ll get around the globe, eventually.) Now, New Zealand doesn’t really do subtlety. The All Blacks rule the rugby field with the "Ka Mate" haka, Lord Of The Rings is the best trilogy of all time (and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees), and NZ hops stand tall like the peak of Mount Cook against an ice blue sky - in the case of this beer, Superdelic, Motueka and Waimea hops.
It’s one of those beers you just want to keep sniffing forever, with super fresh hop character pouring into your face like you’re wearing a feedbag full of hop cones. There’s candied berry and lovely ripe melon on the nose, washes of mango and pineapple and a blend of other tropicals that join the party in the mouth, and a background of soft pine forest bitterness keeping it from tasting a bag of jellybeans.*
Mick Wust
*Which wouldn’t be a bad thing… but it’s not this beer.
Published April 2, 2024 2024-04-02 00:00:00
