The other night we headed off to a wine bar after work. Naturally, I enquired about which beers were available. The waiter started with Coopers Sparkling (I’m a pretty big fan), and mentioned a few more quality beers before coming this one. I was in the mood for something new, so tried this.

I haven’t had too many IPAs before – other than the James Squire IPA, which I’m a huge fan of.

This one is pretty dark in colour, and Pacific Gem hops dominate the flavour. It is medium bodied, but is too heavy to drink too many in a sitting. I read a few people saying it was pale or straw in colour – their recipe must have changed recently.

I actually have some Pacific Gem flowers that I’m planning to use in my next brew, which will be a pale ale. I think mine will be quite a bit paler than this one, but I’m hoping to get a similar level of hop bitterness and aroma.

This beer is definately worth a taste as long as you can get over the appearance, which could scare off people who are new to micro/craft brewed beer.