IPA
Revel Brewing Co

A new Brisbane brewer! Huzzah! I’ve heard glowing reviews about this brewer from many craft beer aficionados like me: “Have you tried their IPA? It’s good”, “That Revel IPA, it’s a cracker!”, “I can’t seem to find my car keys, have you seen them?”. With high praise like this it was only a matter of time before I cracked open a can and did ma-thang (that is; review it). So what do we have here Revel Brewing Co? A 7.5% ABV West-Coast style American IPA with Mosaic, Citra and Simcoe hops? That is one damn fine hop bill and I expect this to be a helluva brew. One note about the marketing, it’s clean design work but it doesn’t catch the eye as much as other Brissy brewers (Green Beacon, Newstead, and now Slipstream with their redesign).

Poured from a 375ml can into a nonic pint.

A: Slight-hazed pale-golden body with heaps of sediment floating around (aka “the good shit” or “hop particulate” if you want to get technical) and a reasonable 1 centimetre white head that adds a touch of lacing as it goes down. 8/10.

S: Rather juicy hop profile on the nose: rockmelon, peach and mango, with a nice biscuit malt base providing back-up to those loveable hops. Pretty decent aroma profile, generous all round when it comes to hops/malt, and not a whiff of anything close to that 7.5% ABV, the impression is one of a smooth, well-crafted American IPA (albeit one that is more of a Pacific Ale style rather than West-Coast). 9/10.

T: Bit of hop fade, would love to have tried this fresh (canned 07/08/18), but despite the hop fade this is a really tasty IPA, with notes of: rockmelon, peach, mango, dash of piney hops, biscuit/caramel malt base, and a finish that is medium bitterness with a bitter orange flourish. After-taste is peachy/piney/citrus. A touch of that 7.5% ABV does come through towards the finish, however a fresher sample with more hop character would probably have covered this up. 8/10.

M: Nice and chunky IPA feel, medium-bodied with a thin but dense carbonation, add in some hop oil and this is a solid IPA body. 8/10.

D: Things Doc looks for in an American IPA: 1) full-flavoured, 2) brings something new to the table, 3) repeat #1 and 2 ad infinitum. Revel Brewing Co IPA fulfils Doc’s IPA criteria, and aside from getting a can that was a bit “long in the tooth” I enjoyed it immensely. The flavour profile was very much in the Aussie IPA vein with rockmelon/mango/peach notes, and the glass was polished off in minutes, Revel should revel in releasing a beer this tasty. #seewhatididthere 8/10.

Food match: I reckon Revel’s Salsiccia pizza would go awesome with this.