Three, two, one

The new releases from the Third Barrel family have been steady and regular lately. This post took a while to build, with me thinking several times it's finished until I had yet another beer to add.

I'm starting today at Third Circle, and a session IPA called No Drama, with El Dorado as the headlining hop. This is 4.8% ABV, a pale gold colour and slightly hazy. The aroma is subtly fruity, showing traces of mango and lychee, but not a frontal assault of them, more's the pity. Similarly in the flavour, the tropicals are an aftertaste and an afterthought. Up front there's quite a savoury, caraway-seed bite. This becomes less pronounced as the beer warms in the sun, though the fruit becomes more cordial than juice when that happens. Overall it's OK -- "sessionable" doesn't mean "thin" here, but it does mean somewhat muted flavours. After Third Circle's recent cherimoya sensation, I was hoping for something more intense.

After that came a dry-hopped saison called Unsocial Creatures. The can declines to tell us what it's dry hopped with, but does say it's just 4.4% ABV. It's a little on the pale side, a hazy light shade of orange. The aroma is a mix of citrus fruit and sour candy. It's light, as expected, with a palate-scrubbing fizz. The native fruity side of saison is foremost; a mix of Golden Delicious apples and ripe apricot with a kick of white pepper. The hops offer a counter-melody to this: sharper lime rind and bathroom-cabinet bergamot. It's extremely refreshing without being bland; complex but not busy. Saison tends not to be a style I'm willing to drink several of in succession but I could enjoy a few of these. You should too.

I then discovered, to my surprise, that I'd never tried Third Circle's current flagship, Third Circle Pale Ale. Remedy was swift, and I found a clear golden beer with lots of froth on top. It's lightly tangy, mixing grapefruit zest with a floral perfume. This is balanced against a very old-fashioned crystal malt caramel effect. There's a touch of English bitter in the drily tannic finish. This is very straightforward fare, and at 4.8% ABV quite easy going. I think, however, it would be better suited to pints, possibly even cask, than small cans. It's a beer for thirst-quenching and refreshment more than considered analysis.

To Stone Barrel next, and a 440ml can of Curve Ball, a "tart Simcoe pale" coming in at 5.2% ABV. Pale and hazy again, this time the fog is denser than any of the above, without going for full opacity. Hoppiness wins over tartness here; a powerful lime bite being the centrepiece of the flavour, almost at Margarita-level. The sour element is so complementary to this it almost gets lost, blending in seamlessly with the citric acidity. There is just an extra waxy twang on the end that stands out as its own thing, adding a certain lambic-like quality to the whole picture. I liked this. Part of me craved a more assertive sourness, and I think the hops could have withstood that, but I also enjoyed what's there: a classic American hop profile on a clean base with no distractions. This a a straight-talking sort of pale ale.

The other recent Stone Barrel release for today is Short Change, which re-purposes the artwork and ABV (2.8%) of last year's Slammer. It looks similar too: a milky, murky orange. The hops are different, though, swapping Enigma and Hallertau Blanc for Citra and Idaho 7. I enjoyed Slammer; this not so much. It's very dreggy with bags of dry, chalky, savoury flavour, catching the throat particularly in the finish. In front of that there's a sugary, jammy, fruit tart sort of flavour, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side. As an easy session beer it doesn't really work; the lightness from the low strength is undone by the rough rasp of proteins and yeast that should have been taken out. Short Change? Yes, actually.

Finally, Third Barrel joins the party with just one new beer, a big double IPA called These Four Walls, brewed with Citra and Mosaic hash. It's a medium hazy yellow shade and smells beautifully tropical: mango and honeydew melon with a cheeky twist of black pepper. The flavour is pleasingly clean and that spice is unexpectedly to the fore: a little bit rye grass, a little bit nutmeg. Citra's lime-rind bitterness is the next thing I noticed, then a softer Mosaic peach and apricot thing. The finish is dry and just a little hot. Despite the murk there's a lot of the west coast about this. I think it's the dryness that does it, though there's a definite resinous dank as well. It's a class act all round. Balance often isn't part of the IPA spec but I do appreciate it when I find it.

Despite all six being pale and hop-forward, there's a decent level of variety amongst this lot. The tart pale ale is the one I'd like to see more riffs on; it's an underused combination of flavours and one which is particularly welcome this time of year.