Pheebok: Away Gee IPA (Thailand; IPA: 7.5% ABV)
Visual: Just lightly hazy apricot skin coloured body with a medium white head.
Nose: Apricot and peach. Green grapes. Resinous hop bitterness.
Body: Resinous and bitter. Hop oils. Apricot. Mango. Light toffee. Peach fruit syrup.
Finish: Good bitterness. Hop greenery feel and hop oils. Light charring. Apricot. Egg plant. Vanilla. Light custard. Green grapes.
Conclusion: After a quick discussion with the bar owner about my general dislike of hazy IPAs he recommended I try this, and you know what. Good call, thanks!
This is a simple idea of an IPA delivered absolutely excellently. Apricot hops for sweetness over a juicy touched, but out of the way malt body. Then bitter and resinous hops and lots of them.
It feels dry, but not west coast level, it has a touch of malt sweetness but not an east coast either. It has its own balance, one that gains more juicy and fruit syrup notes as it warms, and all the way through it of course has lots and lots of hops.
It has not got the super classy character of some top end IPAs, but you know what, I appreciate its straightforward nature. Sometimes what is best is simplicity done well. I could return to this beer again and again, it is just what I look for in an IPA, and that is worth a million interesting quirks.
So, what else? Light rounding toffee, grapes, but frankly it is as a resinous hop delivery system that I love this beer.
Background: This was drunk in YOLO Bar in Bangkok, lovely little place, a few taps and a nice selection of bottles and cans, mixing local and world beer. I was very surprised to see Verdant’s Whale Sharks for only a couple of quid more than it goes for in the UK. Thailand has very expensive beer tax, but it seems that it can get a beer all the way from the UK for barely more than it costs here. It was quite quiet the night I was there so spent a long time talking with the owner, and just discussing beer, a great time. As referenced in the main notes it was the owner who recommended this beer when I mentioned I was not a fan of hazy non bitter IPAs. Great choice. I noticed this is listed as brewed by Thai Spirit Industries. Looks like they are the contract brewer for a lot of Thai craft breweries. On research I saw that until recently there was a high minimum amount of beer than needed to be brewed annually for a brewery to be legal, so I wonder if that is why so many use a contract brewer, or if it is just convenient in the growing craft scene.