HB&B Blog — DIPA

Fundamentals #116 — Sureshot Bring Me The Head of John the Accountant Double IPA

DIPA Double IPA Fundamentals IPA Manchester Matthew Curtis Sureshot

Fundamentals #116 — Sureshot Bring Me The Head of  John the Accountant Double IPA

The term “nature is healing” has perhaps been a tad overused during the past couple of years – although the other week, a new brewery opened in Manchester, which after months of pub closures and pandemic anxiety genuinely felt like a return to something resembling normality. One I took great comfort in. Nestling into the railway arch on Sheffield Street, right behind Piccadilly Station and formerly occupied by Track Brew Co (which has moved just down the road to its spacious new home on Piccadilly trading estate) Sureshot Brewery already feels cemented in place; a key fixture in the thriving...

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Fundamentals #79 – Almasty Kush DIPA

Almasty DIPA Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Newcastle

Fundamentals #79 – Almasty Kush DIPA

I thought I was bored of New England IPAs. There was a time, like many of you reading this I’m sure, when I found myself in constant pursuit of The Juice. I was lucky in 2016 when I decided to head to Philadelphia to the Craft Brewers Conference, the brewing industry’s largest convergence within a typical calendar year. Once the conference was over, I found myself with a spare day, so – after picking up a box of doughnuts from Reading Terminal Market – I figured out which train would take me to the suburb of Ardmore, and to Tired...

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Fundamentals #71 — Howling Hops Shout Mode Kveik DIPA

DIPA Fundamentals Hackney Howling Hops Matthew Curtis

Fundamentals #71 — Howling Hops Shout Mode Kveik DIPA

It’s been a while since I fell head over heels for a hazy DIPA. Thankfully, this juicy number from East London outfit Howling Hops had little rosy hearts fluttering past the centre of my gaze from the very first sip until the last. A couple of things work well really in this beer. The hop combination for starters – while featuring the omnipresent marriage of Citra and Mosaic, it also features Simcoe, a hop that’s long been a favourite of mine, which I feel has fallen a little out of favour in recent times. These hop varieties provide a lot...

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Fundamentals #46 – Cloudwater x The Veil Barry From Finance DIPA

Cloudwater DIPA Matthew Curtis The Veil

Fundamentals #46 – Cloudwater x The Veil Barry From Finance DIPA

Prepare yourself: the transatlantic collaborations are coming. And we’ve got Cloudwater to thank for this. Its recent Friends & Family & Beer festival brought a heap of excellent brewers together, many of them from the USA, some of whom were visiting the UK for the first time. And when brewers are in town, they collaborate. The beneficiary of this beer-y bomb cyclone? That’s you! The resulting volume of collabs flowing in the wake of the festival can be a little overwhelming, however. Dare you try and catch them all? Don’t worry, no one’s judging you if you just want to...

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Fundamentals #25 — Cloudwater DIPA V3 2018 & V3.1

Cloudwater DIPA Fundamentals Matthew Curtis

Fundamentals #25 — Cloudwater DIPA V3 2018 & V3.1

Time can be good for IPAs. I’m not talking about cellaring your freshest beers and letting them fade away like a forgotten 90’s pop star - this is not how you make good barleywine. I’m talking about what a brewery can learn once it has had time to experiment and glean a little maturity. With experience and a combination of technological and creative know-how comes great beer. With the re-release of its V3 Double IPA and coincidental launch of an up-to-date V3.1, Manchester’s Cloudwater has done just that. I remember when I went to the London launch of Cloudwater beers...

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