The beers keep coming in clutches from Deeds, with no less than four cans departing their Glen Iris brewery in early autumn. Starting with the smallest of them, Deeds Grisette is something of a departure for the brewery better known for high ABVs and hazy hoppiness. And it's a departure done well, packing plenty of character and complexity into its sub 4 percent ABV. There's something reminiscent of champagne in the aroma (and its pale appearance), alongside some pear (even though the fruit additions are lemons and oranges) and Ardennes yeast like spices. The perfume like spiciness on the palate tends towards the dry – a dryness that builds as it warms, suggesting it's a beer enjoyed at its best colder. Given it won't last in your glass long, that shouldn't be an issue.
Even if you hadn't read the label for Low Hanging Fruit, you'd know it was fruit-laden. It looks like a Tequila Sunrise after it's been stirred, but denser. Mango in all its fleshy, slightly funky glory dominates, with the pineapple and a hop oil-heavy sweetness following in its wake. Sweet and a little prickly on the palate, there's a broad, drying bitterness bringing up the rear and doing its best to offer a semblance of balance.
When it comes to Bloodhound collab Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, there's a good chance you'll thrown at first. Native spices? Lemon verbena? The contents of a herb garden? It's highly floral and boldly citrusy, but as soon as you pick up the creamy coconut and lime curd on the palate the riddle is solved: it's hot new hop Sabro adding its distinctive (dare I say, love it or hate it) character to proceedings within another of Deeds' hazy IPAs.
Which leaves Daydreaming In Autumn, a DDH Hazy Pale that pours with lovely consistent haze that stops well short of cloudy or turbid. Grapefruit and the juice of young oranges lead the way, while there's something a little grassy on the nose and a zesty, slightly palate-quenching bitterness wrapping things up in what's an enjoyable quartet of fruity numbers.
James Smith
Published March 20, 2020 2020-03-20 00:00:00
