The British may have made the first IPAs but when you buy one today, you probably don’t expect to find English hops inside. Instead, it’s American, Australian and New Zealand varieties that are the stars of hoppy beers and old English types are few and far between. But Hawkers Beer have approached IPA differently with Old Chap, New Tricks a “modern British IPA".
So what does that mean? You can read more about the brewery's approach here but in short, it saw Hawkers team up with the UK hop growers at Charles Faram to use their Harlequin, Jester and Ernest hops in a beer that more closely resembles the IPAs modern drinkers are drawn to. Indeed, even just by looking at the beer, it looks like a new school hazy, though it does have a deeper and more orange tone than many modern IPAs. There is certainly plenty of the new world flavour spectrum at play too, with resinous pine, zesty grapefruit, nectarine and soft tropical notes all a part of this chap’s profile. Given the beer follows Hawker's Sheer Terroir trio, 2023 is already shaping up to be one exciting year of hops from Hawkers.
Will Ziebell
Published February 27, 2023 2023-02-27 00:00:00
