To mark their sixth birthday, Hawkers brought back their original Pale Ale in big cans, dusting down the recipe for the first beer they ever shared with drinkers. At the same time, they released a beer of the sort no one on these shores was making back in February 2015: Triplicity, a "tri-hopped double NEIPA". You could argue the beer would be as well served by the name "Duplicity", given it stars a trio of US hops that predate the world of NEIPAs and hazy IPAs by quite some time: Cascade, Centennial and Citra, rather than the newer varieties that have grown up alongside these modern beer styles. Or you could just crack a can and drink it...
When I did, the first impression was of a dank doona – one you'd left in the tent while you headed out for a spring hike through the woods, although that could be due to the fact I cracked mine while camping in the middle of the woods... This opens up to reveal a grassiness and a dry, pithy, grapefruit like bitterness within the fluffy, cloudy, sweet, soft 'n' hazy stylings familiar in such beers. It sets you up for a leaner, drier finish with little in the way of the flamboyance or flab often found in big NEIPAs, a realm that recent releases suggest is one in which the Reservoir brewers are ever more eager to play.
James Smith
Published February 24, 2021 2021-02-24 00:00:00
