A double-header write-up from Sunday Road featuring a mango sour and a hazy IPA? What is this, December 2022?
Once you get over the déjà vu [Assuming you have an encyclopaedic memory like Mick – Editor], you’ll find that these are, in fact, two new beers.
Mango Sour is a chilled out beer. There’s no vanilla. There’s no lactose. There’s just a subtle sourness and a bucketload of Kensington Pride. Well, perhaps more like a $20 tray bought from a van on the side of the road.*
I said in the earlier write-up that simple sours have their place. Friends, this is a simple sour in its right place – for me, that’s a sweltering afternoon in early summer in Brisbane. I can only presume that the location could be swapped out for another and still be the right place for this beer. Super refreshing.
Shack Life is a hazy IPA featuring Citra, Motueka and Falconer’s Flight, and is “Sunday Road’s nod to the three small beachside communities in the Royal National Park south of Sydney – Era, Burning Palms and Little Garie.”**
The fun label by Matt Vergotis reminds me of both Footrot Flats and The Far Side – two cracking comics I loved as a child, even if half the jokes probably went over my head.
While we’re on aesthetics, the beer itself is like an optical illusion. The stream pouring from the mouth of the can looked quite clear, and even the amount filling the glass seemed clear… until I looked carefully at it and realised I couldn’t actually see anything through it.
As for the actual flavour? It reminds me of that fancy Spring Valley breakfast juice that used to come in a big glass bottle, but with a boozy edge. It’s thick stonefruit nectar, sweet but not overly sweet, with a tiniest touch of banana liqueur – just a dash, or a rinse of the glass. It’s halfway to being a tiki cocktail, really.
Mick Wüst
* I just realised this might be a Queensland thing. If this isn’t a familiar scenario to you, I swear it’s not as dodgy as it sounds. I love buying fruit from the side of the road!
** When I started googling this beer, I discovered that there’s a book and a 55-minute documentary of the same name about these communities. So if you want to learn all about these communities and the “shackies” who started it all, there’s your way to go about it.
Published November 14, 2024 2024-11-14 00:00:00
