Three Pale Ales and One DJ

I was feeling quite thirsty on Saturday, so I decided to have my own little beer tasting. I've spent a lot of time with the darker ales of late so it seemed like time to explore something different. Enter the "Three Pale Ales and One DJ" tasting. OK so there wasn't really a DJ.

First up, Epic Pale Ale. I can still remember being blown away when I first tasted this. It was one of the first craft beers widely available in supermarkets and back then as an uneducated Lager drinker it rocked my world. This is quite possibly the first Pale Ale I ever tried. Wow. The label doesn't lie - it does indeed just taste bigger.

The nose is all citrus with a bit of caramel, the colour is the most appetising of bright gold, then the taste. BANG Hops. Fruity Hops. Crystal sharp taste and that lovely lingering bitterness. Yes, Epic Pale Ale is all good.

Next out of the gate, Wigram Mustang Pale Ale. It might be that I did this tasting in the wrong order, but I kind of expected more from this. Granted, the style is intended to be American Pale Ale, but to my mind the differences should only be in the hops flavour and Epic uses US hops.

So maybe it's me but first whiff and a distinct something missing. Nice chocolate malts, but not really any hops up front. Not to be put off I pushed on. Colour was slightly muddier than I like a Pale Ale, but again, nothing too amiss and the colour is easily representative of a clever malt mix right? On to this sipping. There they are! The hops flavour starts coming through, unfortunately instead of the crisp fruity American hops I'm expecting, I get the earthy subdued flavour of UK Fuggles or something fairly similar. This might have been a passable bitter, but as an APA I feel a bit let down.

Now comes the stars of the show. I recently discovered that a local bottle shop stocks a fine, fine range of craft beers, including a couple that I've been hearing about for a long while. Last years Epic Hop Zombie was high on my "must sample" list.

What to say: If Wigram didn't meet expectations, Hop Zombie blows them out of the water. I almost think this is something beyond beer, except it most definitely is. Aroma is like the undead, earthy, musty, fruity sweet floral and honey, incredibly pleasant and already promising succulent fluid within. Lovely colour again, gorgeous, light golden as you'd expect from Epic. The taste, it's like they've resurrected hops from the dead, really just unbelievable. It's alsmot sweet but the sweetness doesn't seem to come from the malts - theres really something special about this hops (it's classified) and I'm not at all surprised that Epic are keeping this one close to their chests. Simply put, this is a beer unlike any other and highly delicious.

No, It's not salty, but it is Zythos.

Epic Beer make a lot of incredible beer. They have stood as beacons of great beer for a fair while now, and just keep getting more and more inventive. They have informally specialised in IPA - Indian Pale Ale, a fact for which I completely understand, and am very grateful for. Armageddon IPA has been turning heads for a while now with it's potent hoppiness, and the latest in that line of thinking (or drinking) is Zythos IPA.

There is apparently a hop shortage (but don't panic). Back in 2006 a glut in the US hops market forced prices down, and in response farmers pulled up their hops in favour of more profitable crops. The saving grace is that this primarily effected US Hops varieties. It's a cycle of boom and bust, and pretty much a classic example of supply/demand economics. Things were looking up in 2009 when Epic started making Hop Zombie, a tribute to the big American Pale Ales and American IPA styles. But (gasp) disaster struck again and we're back into the "shortage" part of the cycle. 

This presented an obvious problem in the production of Hop Zombie. Not to be dissuaded (and obviously happy to craft up a hoppy beer at a moment's notice) - head brewer Luke Nicholas whipped up Zythos using some hybrid hops and some good old fashioned kiwi ingenuity.

The result is spectacular.

Much has been made of the name - no it's not the Greek name for the salted Egyptian brew. Much has also been speculated on the exact hybrid and blend of hops that goes into this masterpiece. I don't know that (though I would love to hear!). 

What I can say is that this forging of flavours is truly something to get your lips around.

Satisfying deep red to amber in colour with a lovely light amber head, it's easy on the eye but offers some surprised for the palette. The nose is all warm citrus, there is something herbaceous almost christmassy about it, and there might just be a pinch of fresh bread in there too.

The taste is crisp and bitter up front, softening to rich fruits and citrus and maybe a hint of woodiness. These are all incredible things. It tastes like so much more than the sum of it's parts, I almost to find out that this is more than just the usual combination of malt, hops and water. It has a lively carbonation with light bubbles and a full malty mouth feel.

It's good. Bloody good. It might just be better than Armageddon if that's even possible. I have heard that this is in fairly short supply, so I'd get out and get some quick if I were you...