Holgate Brewhouse Millennium Falcon 2023

Style
Imperial IPA
ABV
9.0%

Whatever you made of the closing chapters of the original nine-parter, or indeed the conveyor belt of spin-off movies and TV series, there's no denying Star Wars looks well on track to live as a long as a Wookiee, perhaps even Yoda himself. And while Holgate's Millennium Falcon is a long way off such longevity, it's up there with the longest-running sagas in Australian craft beer: the 2023 release ahead of May the Fourth brings up a decade of releases.

This time around, they've kept their "Emperial IPA" to a mere 9 percent ABV and plumped for an all-American hop bill. It comes across as a supercharged American pale ale, in the sense that the key elements – the fruity hop aromas, the softly sweet pale malts, and the oily, resinous bitterness – have grown up together.

It doesn't explode out of the glass aromatically like a tropical fruit salad, it's not as chewy as some West Coast-inspired IIPAs can be, nor as bitter. At the same time, it does possess tropical characteristics – ripe pineapple to the fore, with a dark berry, almost liquorice-like tinge to the bitterness – while there is a little stickiness to the texture, and the bitterness builds and builds too. Yet rather than attempting to knock you sideways, the brewers have wrapped it all up neatly. A lesson, perhaps, for J J Abrams.

James Smith

Published May 1, 2023

Name
Holgate Brewhouse
Address

79 High Street
Woodend
VIC 3442

Phone
Hotel, Bar and Restaurant: (03) 5427 2510 Brewery Sales: (03) 54 273 522
Open Hours

11am to late

Tours

Sat & Sun: 3pm
Book via website

CBCo Goldy
Black Bad Boy Bao 2024 B

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