Beer Deeds Brewing All Shaka No Wukkas & Booth Juice

Two limited releases from Deeds and neither is a double or imperial? Shocked, I tell ya! Ah well, it is still summer so arguably not time for such things – although we did receive a couple of beg-to-differs on socials when we posted about a barrel-aged imperial stout released close to Christmas being unseasonable, so what do we know?

All Shaka No Wukkas adds "Pacific Lager" to the lengthy list of styles Deeds have put out in their high quality, limited release lager series. And such a tag is bound to make you think of one beer above all others. Yet it's the label’s colour scheme that's a better indicator of what lies ahead: this is orange – mandarin juice, citrus rind – all the way. And, if anything, the hop character – and its underlying drying bitterness – seem to keep growing as you go, carving a svelte path through the somewhat fluffy base beer. It makes it surprising to learn that, like the original Pacific Ale, this lager features nothing but Galaxy hops, although maybe that's just a reminder of how the same variety can be caressed into doing different things by different hands.

With Booth Juice, you're getting a not-too-subtle play on words designed to prepare you for a fruity little number. In past pieces on beers featuring mango, we've talked about how the fruit can come across both deep and funky as well as sweet and fleshy. Here, the sour leans aromatically to the former (aided by the lactobacillus) yet to taste that's balanced by the pineapple-led sweetness. For all that, it's arguably the lively, cutting acidity that’s the key feature in this juice box for grownups.

James Smith