A creamy IPA with native Australian ingredients... Sounds fairly straight forward these days, right?
In the ever-expanding, multiplicitous style world of the late twenty-teens many would consider the aforementioned beer de rigueur for any brewery grappling with hype, relevance and creativity. Indeed, motivation for crafting such a beer may well appear to be an afterthought, at least until you consider the collaborators behind it.
The Beerfarm’s ethos of celebrating provenance with equal consideration of its impact on the future is probably best manifested in the Native series collaboration with Fervor Food. Likewise, before running unique pop-up restaurant experiences in regional WA, Paul "Yoda" Iskov had previously worked at some of the best restaurants in the world, including Noma, DOM and Pujol – all of which work closely with the land. This combined experience and shared sensibility has produced some the most intriguing beer releases from WA.
For their fifth journey together, handpicked desert lime and lemon myrtle were added with lactose to an IPA that’s finished with nitrogen in the can to accentuate the creamy mouthfeel. South African Southern Passion and Sorachi Ace hops ramp up the unique citrusy complexity, although it’s the lemon myrtle that appears first in a combination that almost appears fleetingly sherbet-like. Bitterness is firm but balanced and the resinous length adds to proceedings. It’s another celebration of collaboration that genuinely showcases what each partner does best.
Guy Southern
Published January 8, 2019 2019-01-08 00:00:00
