Thursday April 9th 2020
On Thursday, we found ourselves in what can only be described as a BeerEmergency, which is pretty much the last thing you want the day before a bank holiday weekend under any circumstances, but in the current situation obviously necessitated a full-restock. While going to the store has become a new source of stress and anxiety (a topic for another time), buying beer is still a source of fun and joy, even though I can’t really afford it. Knowing that I’m putting what little cash I have left towards supporting some of my favourite breweries and bottle shops makes me happy, and the process of choosing beers to suit changes in my mood and the weather, anticipating what each beer will taste like, and planning my beer and food pairings helps me to feel more purposeful and grounded, as well as giving me a little something to look forward to. Buying beer was a part of real life, and even though the experience isn’t quite the same, the excitement and anticipation of choosing my beers is something that I’m so glad hasn’t been taken away from me. Obviously the drinking part feels good too, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.
Oddside Ales Simcoe Dank Juice IPA
Despite running the gauntlet of a big ol Central Texas thunderstorm on our beermission, we made it home in time to join our South-West London bottleshare group for the tail end of their virtual get-together. These awesome folks managed to recreate our usual sharing experience with a curated beer-package from Twickenham’s most-fabulous beer emporium Brewery Market which they tasted together over video chat – pretty damn cool, huh?! It was brilliant to catch up with this fantastic beer-team and get the skinny on the best new brews on the other side of the pond. Sadly, beer-shipping to Texas was prohibitive, so I joined in with some choice cuts from my newly purchased selection, the first and best being this lil hoptastic cracker from the inimitable Oddside Ales. Their Dank Juice series has been uniformly impressive, and this 100% Simcoe brew hit the spot perfectly for our first beer of the night, smooth, juicy and gluggable with all the complexity of the piney-passionfruit Simcoe on full display. This is a beautiful, bright, crushable IPA that’s ideal for warm weather, that I could easily sink a six-pack of. As someone who usually goes for more dank n malty IPAs, this is indeed high praise.
Craft Beer Amethyst 