Denied boarding

Latvia was top of my travel list for 2020 and, well, I guess it can stay there a bit longer. I don't think I have so much as drank a single beer from Latvia so when a range from Ārpus Brewing arrived in Craft Central I leapt on them. The brewery was founded in 2017 and is to the north east of Riga.

They seem like an on-trend bunch because all seven were either some sort of a pale ale or a fruited "imperial sour ale". I started on the latter set, each of which is 8% ABV. The first was Apricot x Guava x Passionfruit, unsurprisingly a bright orange in the glass though surprisingly sour in the aroma, with a sharp and flinty mineral dryness promised. It's very thick, which contributes a lot to the feel of freshly-pulped fruit, shading towards a smoothie. It does this without giving off any alcohol heat, which is impressive. The guava is the loudest of the elements, and it's not often passionfruit gets shouted down in beers like this. It's still very definitely tropical from the outset. That sourness from the aroma arrives late, but it's as complex as it first seemed, with a sulphurous spice followed by a cleansing acidity that does a fantastic job of offsetting the heavy fruit gunk. They have cleverly resisted the urge to load it up with lactose and that really helps the balance. I did not expect this one, or this series, to suit me, but we were off to a very promising start.

Lychee x Passionfruit x Mango followed immediately after as I was keen to find out if they could keep the momentum up. This looks pretty much the same, and while the sour tang is there in the aroma, the passionfruit character is far more what I'd expect: very much in my face from the get-go. The texture is lighter in this, and that helps the sourness take more of a leading role. The flavour is plainer, less busy. While the passionfruit is unmistakable, I would have to be told about the lychee and especially the mango, but once I know they're there I don't disagree. This is an altogether gentler affair, more like a beer than a smoothie, and I think I enjoyed it a little more for that. Whatever sour culture they're using -- and I've never tasted anything quite like it -- is more pronounced here. A fruit explosion at 8% ABV that stays cleanly tart is quite the achievement.

They couldn't possibly continue that into Blueberry x Raspberry x Coconut x Vanilla, could they? A dartboard recipe if ever I saw one. It's the purple colour of a blueberry compote and the aroma again shows a clean tartness, mainly berry but part sour beer too. It's nowhere near as busy as the name suggests. Turns out that when you mix blueberry, raspberry and coconut you get something that tastes very like blackcurrant: that oily, almost savoury, effect, with touches of sultana and tannin. A thick smoothie sweetness helps balance that without going overboard, while the sour beer side arrives at the very end to scrub away any traces of jamminess. Of the vanilla there is almost no sign, but perhaps it's working in the background. Of the three, this one resembles what I would have thought is implied by the concept of imperial fruit sour beer, but it's not a bad one. As before there's an understated side to the sweetness and just enough tart tang to stop it from being one of those craft beer jokes. All three are exemplary for any brewer getting into this line of production.

Time to cleanse the palate with some hops, then. They've presented a handy sliding scale of pale ales, though starting reasonably high at 5.5% ABV with DDH Strata Pale Ale. It's very murky, with clouds of milky guff following the beer into the glass. From a distance it smells juicy but up close that turns to a less pleasant mix of super-sweet candy and savoury caraway. Both are still present in the taste but aren't problematic as there are other complexities. It's surprisingly hot and boozy for one thing, an effect enhanced by the thick New England texture. A buzz of garlic goes with that, and a good measure of resinous bitter dankness. It's a blousey, highly typical hazy job, but I quite liked it for all that. There's a lot to be said for bold flavours simply doing their thing, as long as nothing has gone wrong. I felt the tone had been set for what was to follow.

A blip in the self-explanatory names is DDH Hops x Art #09 IPA. You wouldn't know what you're getting, though you would be right to expect it to be solidly yellow. There's a strong buzz of sweet tropical fruit in the aroma -- cantaloupe and passionfruit in particular. The flavour is surprisingly savoury, though not in a bad way. It's a subtle hint of both red and spring onions up front, fading after a moment allowing sweeter mandarin and nectarine to follow. This is 6.5% ABV and tastes every bit of that, thick and warming, but stopping short of turning hot. Overall it's quite a decent hazy IPA. A little unexciting, perhaps, and doing nothing unusual within the style parameters, but solidly made and enjoyable to drink.

8% ABV is the next point on the scale, where we find the double IPA called DDH Simcoe Cryo. Amazingly the aroma is still sweet and fruity -- not what I would have considered an attribute of the titular hop. The flavour is a lot more serious: crisp rye cracker, dry grass and boiled spinach. Fruit returns on the finish, a concentrated orange cordial effect, lingering late with the yeasty fuzz. The alcohol is extremely well concealed and it ends up tasting lighter than even the previous one. Still, severe Simcoe isn't a great choice of hop for this kind of fuzzy thing, especially on its own.The formula might work better with something cheerier.

The sun sets on this lot with DDH Galaxy x Vic Secret TIPA. Lord help you if you don't already know your beer acronyms and hop names. "This is not for beginners" is the loud and clear message. It's an even 10% ABV and the colour of tropical fruit juice. Galaxy's jaffa spritz controls the aroma but there's a sickly sweetness that comes with that. Thankfully the flavour is cleaner, though surprisingly plain: no big hop punch, no belly burn from the booze. There's an almost barley wine quality to the malt weight and richness, sweet without being excessive. An adjustment of expectations was necessary, but once done I found myself getting into it. It's a relaxing sipper, smooth and balanced. I have a sneaking fondness for the blue-flame burn of most triple IPAs and this doesn't have that, but it's no soupy mess either. Something more from the Vic Secret would be an improvement, but it's fine as is. An extreme beer of the easy-going kind.

I get an overall sense from these that the brewery isn't merely chasing trends and brewing the styles that pull in top dollar. The products feel like they come from a place of genuine joy in sour fruit beer and hazy IPA. and the brewery has honed both to be as good as possible. Fair play to them.