The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 2: Western Herd

Western Herd of County Clare provides today's beers. Both are IPAs, a style this hop-crazy brewery still seems very much in love with.

Islander has been part of their line-up since 2016 but has never come my way before. It's a session IPA of 4.2% ABV and looks to be taking a specifically New England approach. Under a tall stack of loose froth it's a fuzzy yellow colour. The aroma is quite citric, with lime intensifying to fried onions. The brewery is showing its usual generosity with the hops, then -- Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo in this case. The flavour is an interesting mish-mash. The bitterness is dialled back in a very New England way, and tropical pineapple is first in the queue. That gets interrupted by the yeast fluff, introducing an unwelcome savoury side. There's a pinch of lemon rind and a dark green kale or spinach acidity. All this is happening on a light but not thin mouthfeel, and the flavours don't linger. It's nearly very good, except for that savoury murk side which I think gets in the way of the fruity fun. Only a qualified success, then.

On to Magic Road, an IPA, though a modest one at 5.8% ABV. None of your headliner hops here: experimental English varieties CF160, CF184 and CF185 says the can. It pours a medium orange colour with some haze but definitely not full-on murk like the above. The aroma is quite reticent but gives me hints of resinous cedarwood spicing, cardamom and rosewater. I was immediately thinking "baklava", and that follows through to the flavour, bringing added honey and crisp pastry. This is fun, and very unusual. It's clean too, which makes it easier to explore everything going on. Beyond the exotic perfumed delicacies there's a sterner hard bitterness, a little metallic but entirely in keeping with English IPA. The texture is thick enough to carry the resins and provide a long finish, without turning difficult by the end. Part of the enjoyment was the novelty -- this is a very pleasant change from the norm -- but it's also a rock-solid, well-made, highly-flavoured and complex IPA.

Both of these were a surprise in different ways. However, I love when experimental hops bring something genuinely innovative to a beer. Hats off to Western Herd for taking the risk with Magic Road.