Tiny Rebel: Hadouken (Wales: IPA: 7.4% ABV)
Visual: Darkened gold. Massive bubble mound of froth.
Nose: Resin. Hop oils. Grapefruit. Fluffy hops. Pineapple. Custard cream biscuits. Wheat fields. Toffee. Lime cheesecake. Nettles.
Body: Rock solid bitterness. Vanilla. Hops. Passion fruit. Thick yeast character. Key lime. Bitter milk and digestives. Solid malt. Brown bread undertones. Egg plants.
Finish: Rough hops and bitterness. Resin. Vanilla yogurt.
Conclusion: HADOUKEN! SHOURYUUKEN! Yes, I’m a geek. Leave me alone.
This is a beer I am unfeasibly pleased with. Probably because it is called Hadouken. And I am a geek. I may have mentioned that. It is an interesting one though, solid as hell base, big and hoppy and a real stripped down character. No nonsense and joyously hoppy.
As you hold it though it expands, gaining and unusually yeasty feel and bringing with it soft touches of fruit in passion fruit and key lime. For such a fruity beer though it still feels grounded, almost brown bread or earthy to the base. The contrast works great and the lime character over hops reminds me of the excellent Union Jack IPA. Though this beer has more emphasis on the rough base and hop brutality. It feels more like a do it yourself punk joy than an ultra refined smooth experience, but loses none of the quality for that.
I am biased on this due to the name, but I love its feel, it calls to the harsher edges of Punk IPA but takes it further and makes it the core of the beer. Less showy and crisp than the USA take on IPAs, and closed to the more melded hop character of the UK style but with the USA’s full on fruit flavor.
So, yeah, I am biased, but I love this IPA.
Background: Ahem, Tiny Rebel I respect you. A lot. However to quote the bottle “A dedication to the classic finishing move from one of our favorite video games”. THE HADOUKEN WAS NOT A FINISHING MOVE! If it was I wouldn’t have had to put up with people spamming it until their wrist went sore and they had ruined their sex life. Anyway, that aside. ROCK ON. I tried this on tap a while back, just because it was called hadouken, and I have been searching for it in bottle ever since. I finally found it at the ever excellent Independent Spirit. If anyone out there is wondering what a hadouken is I feel sorry for you and your arcade game deprived life. Either that or I’m just getting old. Down, down forwards, forwards, punch. Repeat until wrist cramp, or your opponent punches you in real life for being a spamming tit. In other news I may have broken my camera’s ability to focus properly. Will have a tweak and see if I can fix it. Drunk while listening to Dan Le Sac Vs Sroobius Pip’s “Terminal”. That song is just hauntingly wonderful.