Beer – #103 – Epic – Mayhem
On the premise that it can’t get worse for me, only better now it’s the turn of an Epic Mayhem to step up . Epic Brewing Company brewed at the Steam Brewing Company
in the style of an American Strong Ale
500ml (pint) of a 6% ABV beer, which is about 2.4 standard drinks, which means that I’ve had my allowance for the week all in two beers, dagnabit. Standby Kidney and Liver.
We have set out to wilfully maim and cripple the palates of the most extreme hop head. This act of wanton destruction is in the true spirit of what festive brews are about, to create something unique and fun. It is our intention to create a violent and needless disturbance in your olfactory senses. The riotous confusion, from the unnatural quantity of dry hopping, will leave your palate satisfyingly violated after having just one taste. Only the brave can be assured to tame this hop insanity.
Expectation list: “Festive Beer” – warning might be a mistake, “Cripple the palate” Might be over hopped… on the other hand might be a fairground attraction.
So we have then an intense hop aroma, a lovely rich brown pour and a decent head from a well carbonated beer, might have cracked this head thing. Although it might be the hops that do that.
The grassy hoppy aroma doesn’t seem to hang around, and I get some malty richness. There is tangy on the tongue, but it seems “thin” and transient, ambivalent. Not exactly mayhem or an ambush, and unlike the Cilla Black song there is “nothing there to remind me”.
It really is thin. The pdubyah-o-meter has been tested of late with some magnificence, and sadly this isn’t in that class and the result will be 7 things from the arbitrary scale of things. Not a beer that I’d race you to the bar for.
This was an expensive beer, and I’m not going to lie, it might have been money spent elsewhere. 7 makes it “acceptable in social circles” but I wouldn’t take it home and introduce it to mother. Let’s be fair I might not get the dry hopping, which I could be totally wrong on, but if this is an example, and it’s an improvement, then perhaps this is best off as a “festive” “limited edition” beer. Someone is going to love it, but I bet it’s not going to be seen again. And Epic are astute enough to be discovering new things, they’ll find something that hits a sweet spot and we will all love them for it, but to get there we have to get through this.
I’m happy to make that journey with them.
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