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We’ve barely recovered from IPA Day but it’s time turn things up a notch with International Beer Day 2018. Here are a couple of outstanding brews to kick off the festivities.
Brewdog – Jet Black Heart Vanilla Milk Stout
I love dark beers and Jet Black Heart has been one of my go-to brews since it first appeared as part of Brewdog’s Prototype Series. It’s everything a great milk stout should be with a touch of vanilla to bump up the sweetness. The body and smooth carbonation are liquid velvet on the tongue and it’s absolutely packed with dark chocolate, coffee and berry flavours. If you see it, get it and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Mikkeller – Green Gold IPA
Mikkeller is one of the best breweries in the world and the cool thing is they don’t even have their own brewery. They gypsy brew from brewery to brewery around the world and still manage to produce outstanding beers. Green Gold is Mikkeller’s tribute to the hop and it’s full of them. Expect massive grapefruit, pine and tropical fruit flavours with a big, long bitter finish.
Duvel Moortgat Brewery – Duvel
It’s one of Belgium’s most famous beers and it delivers every single time. In true Belgian style, Duvel is fermented and then refermented in the bottle to create its signature flavour. It pours with a massive, pillowy head that lingers for days and it’s packed with fruit and spice aromas and flavours. Duvel has been brewed by the Moortgat family with great care for four generations and the brewery is on my bucket list of places to visit one day.
Fierce Beer – Tangerine Tart
And now for something completely different. As you’d expect from the name, Tangerine Tart is like nothing you have ever tasted before. It’s a sour ale that hits you with orange and tangerine flavours but as soon as you swallow, it puckers your palate with a sour candy and sherbet finish. It sounds strange but it’s refreshing and surprisingly sessionable.
Boulevard Brewing Company – Tank 7 Saison
I am a sucker for Belgian saisons and Tank 7 is one of the best around. It’s the perfect mix of dry, peppery saison character but dosed with a generous amount of American-style hopping. It’s bursting with citrus hop flavours and unmistakable Belgian yeast characteristics. Not bad for an American made Belgian saison. In fact, the Belgians thought the same so they bought the brewery.
Fuller’s Brewery – London Porter
Fuller’s Porter is one of the reasons I look forward to winter so much every year. Sure I drink it in summer too but it just seems to come alive when its cold. It’s rich, roasty and complex yet it’s lighter in body than a stout. It’s full of biscuit, toffee, caramel, raisin, chocolate and coffee flavours with a bittersweet finish.
ALSO READ: 5 Reasons you should be drinking local SA craft beer
Karl Tessendorf is one part of the duo that hosts ‘Beer Country’, South Africa’s first TV show dedicated to beer, braai and the open road.