Stretching it

Although very much a modern, playful, creative brewery, Heaney Farmhouse built its reputation, for me at least, as a producer of solidly formulated traditional styles in plain-packaged half-litre bottles with names which tell you exactly what they are. Those still exist but I'm sensing a little bit of a shift with some recent output. The minimalist style-as-name thing is still here, as is the minimalist packaging, but the styles are a smidge more adventurous. Maybe this is the midway stepping stone between the nonthreatening bottles and the cans of ginger-infused imperial pastry stout.

Exhibit A: Irish White Ale. Exotic for the mainstream drinker in Bellaghy, perhaps, but not exactly krazy kraft either. The ABV is a little on the low side at 4.8%, and it poured clear in the glass, presumably a result of being allowed settle in my fridge for a few months. The aroma is herbal and spicy, the orange peel, coriander and Belgian yeast combining to generate a loud and complex mix. Those two added ingredients divide the flavour between them: it's half a leafy savoury Thai rice dish and half a bitter citrus tang. Unsubtle, but I like the boldness. It falls down a little on texture, missing as it does the soft mouthfeel that wheat ought to provide. Overall, though, it's enjoyable. If you like witbier flavours and don't mind having them pushed at you hard, you'll appreciate how they've done this one.

The next one isn't really a proper beer style at all. Double Pale Ale? What? The can says it's 5% ABV and hazy, OK, but in the glass it's weird brownish pink colour. It doesn't look healthy. There's nothing wrong with the aroma, however, smelling bright and zingy like sherbet lemon candy. The texture is very thin, and maybe that's why they shied away from calling it an IPA; there's certainly none of the fluffy weight that normally comes with haze. There's something a bit off about the flavour too. It's mostly fine, bordering on tasty, with vitamin-C-tablet zest meeting a summery apricot and strawberry vibe. But lurking in the finish there's what starts as a chalky dry quality that turns quickly to cardboard. I think this might be oxidised. It's not what I was expecting -- I suppose the name hints at C-hop classics like Sierra Nevada Torpedo -- but I can appreciate what they've tried to do here, making something hop-forward yet accessible and low on bitterness. The execution isn't quite on the money, however.

Finally and inevitably: New England IPA. Heaney's is 5.7% ABV and the orange colour produced by breweries whose hearts aren't really in the hazy stuff but feel they have to. There's a pithy sharpness to the aroma, grapefruit and plaster dust -- not very New Englandy. The texture is somewhat soft without going full pillow, while the sweetness is more orangeade than orange juice, retaining its pointy side and bolting the fruit sweetness on, rather than integrating it. I found myself judging it on trueness to style before realising that's a daft thing to do and switching to the correct track of whether it's any good or not. And it is. There's a fun interplay between sweet, bitter, dry and savoury characteristics, with no unpleasantness. The strength and texture make it satisfyingly weighty without pushing it, or oneself, overboard. Style shmyle: this is just good beer.

And isn't that Heaney's strength, by and large? Simply good beer and no messing, even when they're messing.