Smells like an IPA, fruity like mango, very ripe rockmelon, theres some kind of funkyness i just cant identify to it? Theres some dankness to it as well. Looks like apricot juice, a muted opaque amber colour, head is nice, no real lacing but who cares. The taste is initially a big old style IPA, first hit is straight big bitterness with a really noticeable biscuity? malt character that soon disappears to straight up pine bitterness. And its just pine bitterness from then on. Nail’s VPA meeting Feral’s Biggie Juice, supposedly, and I guess that’s correct, but it still seems vague at what its trying to do character-wise, its not juicy like a NEIPA/Hazy, and its not malty enough for a old style IPA.
Edit: 21/8/22 – I had another one of these, and its not bad. I kinda get it, but its still a bit of a mess. Add half a star.
Stuck on my old fridge with a mess of other beer labels. I wish Nail Brewing would bring this back. The old original recipe, the bottom label version or earlier.
At some time in the late 90’s good second hand records were easy to find and I got quite a few real gems over various genres…and here’s a few.
I got Kreator – Endless Pain album second hand before the internet when second hand record shops just had stuff there at any random price because there was no vinyl renaissance, or a Discogs , to say its worth $$$$$!!!! I remember hearing it talked about in whatever zines we could get our hands on or word of mouth from fellow metal heads. A particular famous black metaller would say this is an influence or whatever and being pre-internet you’d have to find it in a store, ask them to order it in, or find it second hand…or contact a distro you found in a zine via snail mail. I got all of these from DaDa Records, classic important record store..
Around the same time…. I also got a copy of Kreator – Pleasure to Kill. This was before I had even heard Behind the Mirror radio show on RTR FM, who’s name was taken from the final album track of the same name. Its more polished, tighter, more “modern”, but still hard and wild thrash. I prefer Endless Pain , but not by too much, these are both pretty great albums, Endless Pain being more dirty, raw and influential on the type of music I personally like.
At some point, around the same time I got a copy of Cadaver – Hallucinating Anxiety, and its still one of my favorite albums ever. I knew nothing of this band compared to Kreator, its death metal. Its brutal, twisted and oldschool as hell. I used to think my copy was really worn out, but nope, it seems to just sound like a demo tape. Which is a positive.
Around the same time I also found a copy of Voivod – Dimension Hatross, and what the fuck was this? Canadian technical science fiction thrash? Obviously my mid was going wild, an amazing album from an amazing band that still never really gets its due respect.
Oh and around the same time I found a copy of Sadistik Exekution – The Magus. An insane extreme bizarre and infamous band from Australia…holy shit. An absolute classic. The copy I have is an original first pressing on Vampire Records and out via Modern Invasion. and it does still have a little DaDa Records “review” sticker still on it, so it was taken back a few years later, I wonder what they got for it. “Review” says Warning This One Will Haunt. Contents Will Offend. Link to album images
Nowhereman – Fresh Hop Lager, 5.3& 375ml can. A collaboration with a local hop producer. This kind of stuff will always be best on tap at the brewery as fresh as possible, unsure when this was canned but it seems to be about 3 months ago. Regardless, its a nice lager, nice malt character balanced with a real nice crisp bitterness from Victoria hops, they smell orange, mango, passionfruit. Though not as fresh as could be, this is still a real good beer that ticks all the boxes. 2.5/5.
★★★
Garage Project – Epuni Street Bitter, ESB, 5.5% 440ml can. An Extra Special/Strong Bitter. Big thick creamy head like a tap pour, very nice. Colour is amber/brown and and not fully translucent. Smells very malty, wholemeal bread, slightly yeasty with a touch of hops. Taste is biscuity, toasty, some slight sweetness from the malts, but the stand out is a herbal, earthy, very forward hop bitterness. The earthiness of the hops is really nice. This is really good. 3/5.
★★★
Jindabyne Brewing – Ol Black Diamond, Schwarzbier, 5.2% 440ml can. Another nice thick head on this pour. This is dark, opaque, with a nice tan head. Smell is dark roasted malts and lager yeast. Taste is dark and roasty malts, not overpowering, but very clean, as per the style which is basically a Pilsner. Pilsner hop character, obviously, and well balanced against the dark malt. A good Lager with nice dark roast malts that are not over powering, well balanced with a traditional hop character, and a clean finish. Very nice. 3/5
★★★
Sierra Nevada – Celebration, Fresh Hop IPA, 6.8% 355ml can. This was canned in October ’21 and it was still very damn good. An old style IPA with big malt character, the hops had dropped off so far as brightness and big notes, but still good bitterness, clean with only mild oxidization. I dont think I have had one of these for maybe 10 years? Nice. 2.5/5 only because the age doesn’t offer the full fresh hops it should, but the big malts allow for age and it was still very tasty.
4 tracks, and its mainly from the last week or so. Return to Forever – Sorceress Autechre – Basscadet Sphinx – Ruthless Power Crystal Age – Son of Time
Rocky Ridge – Mexican Hot Chocolate Milk Stout, 5.5% 375ml can. This is really good. Only issue is there wasn’t really any heat from the chillis. Everything else was great.
Edit 19/7/22: Tried one of these again and there was a fair amount of chilli heat or warmth in this can, it was served in a nice beer glass instead of a jar, maybe that makes a difference? Again, it was really good.
