330ml can. Almost clear golden amber colour with a small off-white head. Aroma: orange, malt, fruity, tropical. Taste: fruity, orange, tropical, marmalade, malts, light sweet with a moderate bitter finish, clean and crisp. Medium body, soft carbonation. Quite nice, almost like a hybrid of a traditional English IPA with a modern American IPA, with the latter being better represented here.

Cask. Shakespeare’s, Sheffield. Golden, with a very light haze. Thin, dense, creamy, fully lacing, lasting, white head. Not sure a cask golde could look any better. Nose has tinned peach and pear. Hint of pineapple. Hint of white pepper. Richly sweet, grainy malts in the background. Taste is sweet to start, with a fruity, citrus oil bitterness. Smooth mouthfeel. Soft carbonation. Zesty and oily bitterness.

On tap at Taboo. Orange color average white head, mild persistence. Aroma is mostly fruity, malt, tropical fruit, orange, raisins. Aromatic resin hops with citric tones, mild bitterness. Light to medium body, average carbonation. Clean finish, yet malty, some bitter hops, slight aromatic. Decent english ipa.

Modern IPA from a pretty ’craft beer can’ bought at Plan B. Rather thinnish, egg-white head leaving some dots of lacing and a diffuse veil in the middle as well as a stable, moussy rim around the glass; cloudy peach blonde robe with slightly olive greenish tinge. Dank aroma of stale lime juice, granadilla, grapefruit peel, sweet onion, spruce needles, rainwater, wet hay, withering flowers, old orange juice, green banana, sweet paprika, artisanal cider, dry cereals, pineapple, apricot. Vividly fruity, crisp onset, accents of pineapple, passion fruit, green banana and a touch of peach with a sourish, softly kumquat-like edge as well as a vague salty touch somewhere already announcing hops; minerally, but not overly sharp carbonation, smooth and rounded mouthfeel. Sweetish biscuity and bready malt middle with sharper graininess supports a hoppiness that was there from the start, but only grows in intensity towards the end, eventually becoming very resinous, peppery, yellow grapefruity and tonic water-like, lasting very long and producing retronasal grapefruity, piney and floral aromas. The hop bitterness dominates the finish completely, making for a very dry effect, a bit on the harsh side even for a 21st-century IPA - so this beer clearly lives up to its name. Bready yeastiness, however, is there to soften things a bit in the tail. The British were among the first European people to hesitatingly embrace the American craft beer movement - not surprising considering the cultural and linguistic connections on the one hand and the historical origins of the most succesful craft beer styles on the other - and since then, a colourful ’avant-garde’ of strongly internationally oriented British craft brewers, ranging from Thornbridge and BrewDog over The Kernel and Weird Beard to Siren or Wild Beer, has established itself on top of a vast world of traditional, 20th-century breweries, and seeing both worlds interact is as interesting as observing the same phenomenon in Belgium, where something similar has happened. This Redwillow brewery from Cheshire clearly belongs to that modern avant-garde and does it correctly, though I’ll have to taste more of their beers to be able to fully situate them in the ever-shifting British beer landscape. This particular one sure delivers, though it lacks a bit in finesse, depth and delicacy as seen in e.g. Buxton, The Kernel or Brew By Numbers. In any case a very pleasant IPA.

0,33 boks (thanks, Cimbasso!), hjemme: lett uklar gylden med fint skum som varer. Forførerisk aroma og smak av mandarin/clementin, mango, fersken og appelsinmarmelade. Myk helhet med superb balanse og delikat bitterhet i avslutningen. Mot slutten ønsket jeg at det hadde vært en 0,5 boks.

Gravity dispense at Craft 100, 06/10/16. Golden amber with a well presented egg shell white head. Nose is orange rinds, melon, juicy hop quiver, light Tropicanac flesh. Taste comprises toasted malts, mango, pine needle, tangerine, juicy tropical fruits. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, semi drying close with a juicy hop tang. Solid cask IPA.

Tap at the Birmingham Beer Bash 2016. Poured a crystal clear light amber with a thin white head. The aroma is weedy hop, light citrus. The flavour is moderate to strong bitter with a floral medicinal hop bitter palate. Medium bodied with average carbonation.