By my calculations, in releasing four new beers within the first three weeks of the year, Deeds are on track to unveil around 70 new brews in 2021. Two of this quartet are hazy double IPAs, so their fans can potentially hold out for 35 such beers this year too!
Starting in a rather different place, however, we have One Standard Drink; no prizes for guessing what it is... Very pale and deeply hazy with a finely-beaded cloudy head when given a swirl, this might be borderline light beer in terms of booze content, but it's a fair way from that in terms of impact. Grapefruit rind and a piney, resinous, smothering bitterness cut through the chalky texture, with the 15 grams per litre of Simcoe, Vic Secret, Riwaka and Sabro contributing plenty of bite in what must be one of the most expensive to brew 3 percent ABV beers in Aussie history.
Heading into hazy DIPA territory and we have Fortune And Glory, in which Citra and Amarillo hops combine to conjure mental images of a passionfruit topped, tropical curd pie with a light baked crust base. It's not heavy as that might sound, however, thanks to a prickly, perceptibly acidic texture. It might register 60 IBUs yet the bitterness is fairly light on its feet too, leaving the stage clear for a lingering, sweet passionfruit essence with a hint of the herbal.
Intergalactic Lovechild Vol. 3 adds a lick of sour to the hazy DIPA template, although it's less a case of sour, more a citric tang. Lemon citrus leads the way, becoming more lemon curd like as it warms a little, while the tanginess helps cleanse the palate so, in conjunction with a low bitterness, it feels lighter than its 8 percent, nudging its drinkability into the realms of "could get into trouble here".
Completing the foursome is DKAT Amarillo. I assumed DKAT was some new term in the spirit of DDH and that I was just late to the party; turns out, however, it's part of Deeds' ongoing conversation with their burgeoning online fanbase, relating to a "don't know about that hop..." comment in a review of a past beer. It looks like it will be the first in a series of DKAT beers, with Amarillo the hop you can run the rule over here. Within the Crafty team, we picked out both a citrusy passionfruit sharpness to the aroma and a rounder sweetness from its murky golden yellowness. You can sense the booze sneaking through the midst of what’s a sweet and slightly tangy, only mildly bitter, fruitily-attired affair.
- Style
- Mid-Strength, Hazy DIPA, Sour Hazy DIPA & Hazy DIPA
- ABV
- 3.0% & 8.0% & 8.0% & 8.5%
