Ballistic’s Sleep When You're Dead range returns as 2020 ends as an iron fist in a velvet glove (with the brawny robot on the label clearly the owner of said iron fist). It doesn’t let you forget it’s a bruiser, offering up enough alcohol heat to remind you of its potency. But the booze doesn’t get in the way of it being juicy and creamy and smooth.
While the NZ hop varieties Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Riwaka might ordinarily flood the senses with citrus if left to their own devices, their interaction with the yeast in this brew has amped up the tropical and stonefruit character – it drinks like a platter of mango cheeks ringed with peach and apricot halves, all zig-zagged with a light drizzle of sweet pouring cream and a spritz of grapefruit juice.
(For the brewing nerds: the Hazy DIPA uses Verdant IPA yeast, a strain Lallemand selected in collaboration with Verdant Brewing, who built their global reputation on New England style hazy beers.)
It’s hard to imagine this beer would change much after the SWYD’s Dead By date of eight weeks from time of packaging. But it’s best to drink it straight away, you know, just in case.
Mick Wust
Published December 13, 2020 2020-12-13 00:00:00
