I swear it was only shortly before I first heard of Stoke Dealer – for the sake of dramatic effect, let’s say it was the day before – that I thought of the concept of a hazy lager. I thought to myself – no, let’s say I said it out loud to someone: “Everything’s hazy nowadays. It’s only a matter of time before hazy lagers are a thing.”
And, sure enough, the very next day, I heard of Stoke Dealer. And that person who’d heard my prediction? Well, they were so impressed with me that they went out and got a tattoo of my face on their forearm, using a little birthmark as my moustache. True story.
This beer started as a collab between Black Hops and surf brand Boardcave for the summer of 2022/23. Between the surf crew’s craving for an easygoing beach beer and the brew crew’s obsession with shoving hops in wherever they could, between them they came up with the idea for a hazy lager.
It turns out a hazy lager captured the right balance of cruisy refreshment and fizzy orange juice for plenty of drinkers, because popular opinion grabbed Stoke Dealer and wouldn’t let go. The first batch sold out quickly, so they brewed it again, then it sold out again, so eventually Black Hops caved* and went ahead and made it core range.
As for the label… I don’t know what a bear is doing with a surfboard. Surely a bear’s proportions are all wrong for surfing. Not to mention the muscle mass. The centre of gravity alone is—
You know what, it doesn’t matter. We’re talking about a hazy lager. Reality’s already been broken.
Mick Wüst
* Pun not intended, but I’ll gladly take credit for it.
