If you’re going to invite some of your brewing mates to make a big and particularly fresh IPA with you, then it's hard to go past KAIJU! The Melbourne brewers have long been adept at stacking such beers with hops and booze and during the recent hop harvest, they travelled up the Hume to brew a beer with Bright Brewery. Although is it a beer or is it a beast? With Fresh Hop Monster sitting at 9.0 percent ABV double IPA made with those hops grown by HPA just around the corner in Rostrevor. The chosen varieties were fresh Galaxy and Eclipse flowers, while T90 pellets of Eclipse were also added alongside Vic Secret T90s. While the collab certainly sits towards IPAs boozier end, the hop notes are delicate in their balance between passionfruit, mandarin and melon with those fruited notes giving way to a more piney, floral combination.
Also fresh from Bright is their autumnal seasonal, Leaf Peeper. The red rye IPA is dedicated to the the stunning colours that fill the brewery’s home town this time of year and has a layered sweetness of caramel, toffee amd sweet biscuit that's balanced out by lasting spice meamwhile. Meanwhile, the hop charge is led by Cascade, Simcoe and Mosaic which bring a combination of orange lollies and plenty by way of pine.
Will Ziebell
Published April 23, 2024 2024-04-23 00:00:00
