Beer Deeds Brewing As You Wish & A Quiet Deed

One of the joys of raising kids is introducing them to the movies that were part of your own childhood. There's always the challenge of age appropriateness, especially when there's the best part of five years between one and two (it just means number two gets to grow up quicker). The most recent bout of nostalgia at Crafty Towers starred The Princess Bride, an occasion that's led to much, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." and associated sword-fighting in the house, garden, walking down the street, in shops... Looks like we got in a little early with the viewing, however, as I wasn't able to judge how well it paired with Deeds' tribute to said movie, As You Wish.

The pale ale, brewed with 12 grams per litre of Nelson Sauvin, Vic Secret and Simcoe Cryo hops, delivers its fruity explosion with a candy (or should that be dandy?) manner aromatically, before switching to something sweetly oily as it tumbles across on your palate like Dread Pirate Roberts and Buttercup. While it's not a reference to The Princess Bride, it brings to mind one of those piles of fruit carried on someone's head being put through a blender (the fruit, not the carrier's head). There's pineapple, coconut, white wine and mandarin oil plus a resinous bitterness underpinning things. Yum.

Taking things rather deeper is the brewery's tribute to themselves – or at least their first ten years of beers. A Quiet Deed references the brewing company's original name – Quiet Deeds – and is a double IPA featuring Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Centennial Cryo and Citra Incognito hops in a beer they say uses everything they've learned about brewing IPAs over the past decade.

The eagle-eyed will spot plenty of hop varieties from the era in which craft beer grew to prominence in the US: classics such as Cascade, Chinook, Columbus and Crafty favourite Centennial. They're typically used as background hops by brewers today, but here are allowed to hold court in a DIPA that's way clearer than their usual offerings and a little darker too, the colour hinting at the citrus-flecked caramel sweetness to follow. It’s a much deeper hop character than most Deeds IPAs: oily grapefruit pith and something a little diesel-esque. There's also bitterness for days, one that's all-encompassing yet arriving in a beer with a softness of texture that lessens the blow.

Definitely one for those who favour old school DIPAs over today's bitterness-free fruit bombs.

James Smith