Hello and welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimists,
It always excites me when I come across a new brewery and when Sam met the guys from Bayonet Brewing at Crafty Dog festival recently, he fed back what a great bunch they were and as for the beers he gave a glowing review.
So, when we were sent a box of their beers for review, I was very much looking forward to the prospect. As we chose our respective beers the first that I selected was their triple IPA called Final Ex weighing in at a hefty 10.5% abv (well, why not!)
Bring it on!!!
1. Name : Final Ex
2. Brewery: Bayonet Brewing, Northallerton
3. Hops : Citra, Mosaic & Bru-1
4. Grain : Barley, Oats, Wheat & Yeast
5. Aroma : Aromas of sweet tropical fruits, light citrus with a grassy backbone.
6. Appearance : Pours a hazy, thick looking, light amber. Good levels of carbonation create a one finger fluffy white head that quickly dissipates.
7. Body : Incredibly full bodied this gives off a soupy mouthfeel meaning that it is certainly a beer to savour.
8. Taste : Hop combination works incredibly well, each goes hand in hand with each other very well giving off a well balanced flavour profile of sweet, juicy tropical fruits, with a nice zesty ripe fruit flavour, a hint of grassiness backed by a punchy alcohol hit.
Crikey, this is a beer not to be taken lightly and I don’t mean just the strength. Bayonet Brewing have produced something rather special here with so much going on that it sends both the nose and palate into overdrive! This is a good thing as with each savoured mouthful you got something different.
Thick, like soup with a fabulous hop combination (thanks in no small part to the dry hopping) it all just works so well. The citra gives off the obvious tropical hop hit, followed by the great use of the Yakima hop (Bru-1) that adds a nice sweetness with a punchy and zesty flavour. This is incredibly well balanced thanks to the addition of the mosaic hop that just does what mosaic does, in this case going hand in hand very well with its hop partners.
On many occasions I have tried TIPA’’s that are so dominated by the strong alcohol that they seem off balance as all you can get is an alcohol burn rather than an enjoyable flavour profile. Not here, whilst the strong alcohol is present in Final Ex it never dominates, and you are left appreciating each mouthful rather than wishing the can away.
I started by saying that I was excited to try a new brewery and if this is anything to go by then Bayonet Brewing are going places…..and fast! I will certainly keep my eyes open for their beers in the future and unquestionably recommend them to friends.
Our overall rating: 4.6/ 5.0
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