Beer – #825 – Good George – Fogcutter
Good George make some nice beer, and this might the strongest one they’ve ever made , Fogcutter a double IPA.
Pretty much a mystery
From the fill station 9% of a beer in the 1 litre quantity, making it 7.1 standard drink units,
Brewed by Good George Brewing in the style that is : Imperial/Double IPA and that happened in the ‘tron or Hamilton, New Zealand
Wooly not Foggy
It’s an intensely hoppy, very strong pale ale perfect to cut through those foggy mornings.
The brewer lets on on twitter where I spied “Dried out a little more than I wanted so was a bit out of balance.”
So, what could possibly go wrong?
Thudding sugary malty hop aroma when I flipped the top on the trusty bottle.
Pour is lovely light golden brown with a lovely head of fullness whiteness and persistence, and because you have to listen to beer it is quite noisy too.
In the glass it’s quite calm and the aroma is fairly muted a wet cut grass hop aroma though underlies it all.
The alcohol tang is strong in this one, there is no mistaking that this is a beer to pay attention to, it’s not often that I get or sense that up front. Bitterness is manageable and not unpleasant.
Then after you get the rush of the alcohol lout of the way this settles into something really mellow and disruptive.
There is a bunch of sweetness in this that lifts the middle and dulls the bitterness, making this a really easy drinking beer where it s consistent through the whole thing.
A beer where a few would make you foggy because, after that little astringent bit at the first sip there isn’t a lot to let on that this is going to make you squiffy.
Love;y tropical sugariness and little pricks of bitterness in and around make this quite the thing really. Take out all the hop forward oily hop resins and you get a beer that is really a bit staunch.
Even after it sits and wars a bit, and that alcohol tang returns you’re still drawn into how nice this is to drink and how consistent it is, no underlying things bubbling up, or the higher tips of the bitterness disappearing under the fog of malt.
Could though do with another dimension, another layer, another taste that adds some peaks or prickles. Just a bit, that’d make it something special. Just something a little strong tropical bit or something, then again I’m not a brewer and that’s up there with the best of the fantasy things. I’d hate to change this, as is, to make it something else that ends up as was, and removes that spark that this clearly had.
Good George and Liquorland Forrest Hill, doing the right thing since ages.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. This is a tidy bit of work, almost the perfect bit of work. Except that the initial astringent bit and the alcohol tang that hangs around and is there lurking. Crazy consistent beer that is the same now as the scant few minutes since I’ve listened to an album, ate dinner (Fish and Chips), and came back and carried on.. it’s not quite a live blog, that’d be boring…. . This is well nice and only on tap or in the keg at the rare fill station, there are going to be disappointed people.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? It’s a keg only beer, I got mine at the Liquorland in Forrest Hill
- Am I enjoying it? It’s light on aroma, and in taste points, but high on drinkability, yes it’s very nice.
- Would I have another? I would, but it’d end badly, perhaps tomorrow 🙂
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I might, because this is a hidden talent of a beer, where you don’t have to crash the palate to get stung beer that is well behaved and drinkable, this is a tidy bit of work.
Music for this: “Lou Rhodes” “theyesandeye ” on Spotify
Lou Rhodes is a Mercury nominated singer-songwriter and one half of electronic genre-benders Lamb
IMPERIAL/DOUBLE IPA
Imperial IPA, Double IPA or DIPA is a strong, often sweet, intensely hoppy version of the traditional India Pale Ale. Bitterness units range upward of 100 IBUs and alcohol begins at 7.5% but is more commonly in the 8.5-10% range. The flavour profile is intense all-round. Unlike barley wines, the balance is heavily towards the hops, with crystal and other malts providing support.
