Lupulin Effect New England IPA
Deep Creek Brewing Co.

Well isn’t Deep Creek the little NZ brewery that could - last year they didn’t have a single entry in the GABS Hottest 100 Kiwi Beers 2016, but this year (i.e. 2017) they’ve got 4! Say what you will about the weird politics going on behind the scenes that allowed a beer like Gage Road Single Fin to reach #5 on the Aussie version of the charts this year - I mean WTF are people even thinking to vote Single Fin, a piss-weak Summer Ale over so many great IPAs?! Rant aside, Deep Creek Lupulin Effect New England IPA is #74 on the Kiwi Hottest 100, and I like the style, ergo: good times ahead (yo!). I thought their Double IPA was decent, bit of ethanol in the flavour profile aside, I’m expecting more of the same here (with NEIPA characteristics of course).

Poured from a 440ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Pretty cloudy, not the murkiest NEIPA I’ve seen, but it’s got a nice haze regardless, with a Jonquil yellow body and a 2 centimetre off-white sea foam head that crumbles away like nan’s scones [I miss nan’s scones...] leaving nothing. 7/10.

S: Aroma is a tropical fruit salad (papaya, lychee, pineapple) with a slight grassy hop character towards the end. As typical with the fruit salads that are NEIPAs the malt is barely perceptible (if you get a fresh NEIPA at least). Great tropical fruit aroma in this one, it’s nice and “IN YO FACE!” good work here Deep Creek. 9/10.

T: Oh dear! Deary dear! Dearest dearingtons! This is a real swing and miss brew! Flavour is just not up to task unfortunately (same with mouthfeel), comes across thin (flavour-wise) with the above tropical fruit flavours, no malt (wasn’t expecting malt irrespective) with that same ethanol note that their Lupulin Effect Double IPA has. The DIPA is tastier though, this is tropical-flavoured mouthwash. Finishes quite bitter too, against the NEIPA tradition. NEIPA TRADITION I SAY! *bristles* 6/10.

M: Yep, mid to light, watery for a NEIPA, with a thin slightly gassy carbonation - it’s pretty fresh too, no chance of secondary refermentation AFAIA [sadface]. 5/10.

D: What a roller-coaster of emotions: from the lows of missing nan’s scones, to the highs of “IN YO FACE!” aromas, then the lows of rest of this beer... plus NEIPA TRADITION! [I of course say this with irony as NEIPAs - as a style - haven’t been around that long] Personally I don’t think Deep Creek are ready to be rubbing shoulders with NZ giants like Garage Project/8 Wired/Tuatara/Epic/Yeastie Boys - they’ve got fundamental problems if this is their best NEIPA. 6/10.

Food match: Fruit salad... with beer? Go on, I dare ya.