Everything is finite. The delicious beer I have in my glass right now isn’t going to last forever. I wish it would though – I could stand to have my senses over-saturated by its waves of mango and papaya deliciousness until the heat death of the universe.
This is not a beer to be trifled with at 8.5% – especially considering it’s exceptionally easy-drinking nature – but with time and respect, you’ll likely want to spend an eternity with this luscious, New England-style Double IPA too.
But who the hell is Makemake (pronounced mah-kay mah-kay) anyway? The brewery doesn’t have much of a website and, surprisingly, has a relatively small following on social media, but it has a look, feel and taste of a brewery that gives me the feeling it’s on the cusp of a much larger following.
What I have discerned is that Makemake is based in Portsmouth and has been making beer since 2019. And from the evidence of this beer in front of me, the brewery is creating modern, hazy, hoppy beers that veer towards the exceptional.
I don’t say this lightly, mostly because when it comes down to it, the hazy DIPA is not my weapon of choice when I reach for a beer. But I find it hard not to be enthralled by a beer that conveys such a precise, juicy fruit character from both North American hops and yeast esters, but also layered atop a cuttingly dry, thirst-inducing finish. It's the magic that makes this style so popular, perfectly executed in this beer.
The most positive thing about this experience is not the beer, however, but the feeling of discovering a brand-new brewery, making beer this good, at a time when the general feeling is one of doom and malaise. It feels like barely a day goes by at the moment when a brewery or pub once cherished has had to close up shop for good, so to know that there are still breweries of this calibre crawling out of the woodwork… well, it makes me feel all tingly inside.
I hope you enjoy this beer as much as I did. Much can be said about the challenges that face the brewing industry at the moment, but it’s worth remembering that there’s still plenty to celebrate.
I’m thankful to Makemake, and this beer, for the reminder that there’s still so much exciting new beer out there to be discovered.
Matthew Curtis is a writer, photographer and editor of Pellicle Magazine. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @totalcurtis and @pelliclemag. Sign up to our All Killer No Filler subscription box and you'll find incredible beers like this one every month, plus more great writing from Matthew and our food writer Claire Bullen.