Hop Thief 7 Galaxy & Mosaic
Malt Shovel Brewery

 

 

The Hop Thief 7 is a good beer. Trying it at the generous squire in perth. It poured a clear copper with white head that is leaving a lace. The scent has pine and floral tones. The taste is slightly sweet malt with a juicy fruit zeal. The Mouthfeel is medium in body with good carbonation. Overall it's a solid offering from Squire.

From bottle, pours clear Amber off white head that disapates to a thin ring. Aromas of citrus and passionfruit. Taste of tropical fruit, biscuit malt. Ok for an Aussie.

Reviewing a while after tasting so will keep it brief. Poured from the bottle into IPA glass. Nice reddy brown colour and OK head. Good strong hoppy scents come through with citrus and passion fruit notable. The taste followed the scent reasonably well but it just lacked the roundedness of, say, a Little Creatures Pale Ale. I enjoyed it and would certainly have it again but felt the hops were maybe there to cover up a lack of backbone. Good mouthfeel and overall a good beer and possibly my favourite James Squire to date but doesn't quite make it to the favourites high rotation list.

 

345ml bottle, 28 Feb 2016. Bright, pale amber colour with a decent, off-white head which lasted well and left some nice lacing. Passionfruit aroma dominates with some pawpaw. Light to medium sweetness and similar bitterness. Light to medium body; smooth texture; average carbonation and some lingering resin bitterness in the finish. Some mouthfuls I quite enjoyed, others I wasn't so sure about. 7.

 

 

It appears that great minds do think alike with James Squire’s Hop Thief #7: Galaxy & Mosaic hops - as my last homebrew was dry hopped with Galaxy & Mosaic hops this puts me in the unique position of having a brewers perspective on what to expect from the hops and to compare how our brews stack up against each other [spoiler: the James Squire WILL be better - they have the technical know-how and proper brewing equipment, and I’m still brewing with malt extracts]. In any case this brew will be compared, more fairly, to the last Hop Thief #6: Columbus & Simcoe, which I was none too impressed with TBH.

Poured from a 345ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Clear amber bodied with a red tinge and an off-white half centimetre head that slowly dissipates into a thin lace. Looks disappointing with the lacklustre head retention and IMO APAs should be hazy in the least. 5/10.

S: Here is where the hop promises begin with a definite bold Galaxy passionfruit hop character upfront... I’m missing the Mosaic hops though, I find that they usually add a solid mango note to my brews (and I am quite heavy on the Mosaic hops in my Ales - they’re my favourite hop ATM). A hint of papaya, which could be the Mosaic, lingers in the background with a solid caramel and biscuit malt base. 9/10.

T: Caramel and biscuit malts provide a sweet base to which the hops never really end up challenging. The above hop aromas are present in the palate (passionfruit & papaya) but they aren’t really at the level that any reputable American brewer would respect, and again a grainy note hits towards a slight bitter finish and funks up the taste (and not in a good James Brown “I feel good!” way). 6/10.

M: Mid to light bodied with hints of hop oils and a light but dense carbonation. 8/10.

D: So again James Squire comes up short - in my eyes and compared to US craft brewers - in attempting to provide an Australian Pale Ale of high repute. If I can pinpoint anything, apart from that grain character that appeared also in the last Hop Thief, it would be that for a brew called ‘Hop Thief’ it appears that the thief didn’t get away with too many hops at all... or maybe the thief put a heap under his pillow to help him sleep and left out the best hop flowers, sprinkling them around the house and in his cereal, who knows? All I can say to Mr. Squire is to get a West Coast APA and try to imitate what they do. 7/10.

Food match: The tropical fruit flavours will work best with SE Asian cuisine such as; Yam wunsen kung, Som tam or Gỏi mit.