It's a box social!

The White Hag tried really hard to get their birthday festival running again as normal for 2021 but couldn't quite manage it through no fault of their own, so instead of Hagstravaganza 4 we got Boxtravaganza 2, marking seven years in business for the Sligo brewery. That entailed a box of 24 beers from themselves and their mates, and a rare opportunity to drink cross-sectionally and internationally, just like at their festival. Here's the first tranche of what was in the box and new to me.

We begin light, with a Summer Ale from Canediguerra in Piedmont. It eases us in with 4% ABV and a sunny, hazy blonde colour. The aroma is certainly summery, all bright and juicy mandarin, while the flavour is gentle and subtle: orangey fruit, yes, but not overly sweet and kept refreshing by the light texture. There is just a tiny hint of earthy, dreggy bittering in the finish but nothing too dramatic or upsetting. This is bright and and happy fare; undemanding but far from boring. Bang on for summer.

Logistical annoyances meant there was but one American beer in the set, thanks I'm sure to the heroes at Grand Cru. It probably helped that it was a wild ale rather than a freshly fragile IPA. Sierra Nevada Estate Farmhouse Ale is one of a number of beers created from ingredients the brewery grows itself (funny how the label bigs up how special this is when there are several breweries on this island who do it as a matter of course). It crackled as it poured so I had to snap quickly to include the fast-disappearing head in my photo. Beneath it is a clear honey-coloured ale of 6.3% ABV, spontaneously fermented and wine-barrel aged, so I guess we're in Belgian territory. It smells rather sticky, like sweet white wine or bad strong lager. The flavour continues that to an extent; definitely sweet and not sour, with merely a brisk tartness running behind the sugar. More than anything it reminds me of faro, the sugar-sweetened lambic blend, and I can't help wanting to clear the extraneous syrup away to get at the pure sour beer underneath. The wine side contributes oak, mostly, with a touch of Chardonnay butter in the aftertaste. It's certainly interesting, and I've never tasted anything quite like it, but I think it's trying to do too much. Calm that sweetness down, ferment it out, and it could be a much better beer.

The second in White Hag's Duo Series is El Dorado & Cascade. Pale golden, clear and 5.5% ABV. The fun and tropical side of El Dorado has control of the aroma, and is most pronounced in the flavour too. The Starburst fruit candy effect is very much the distinguishing feature, to the point where I'm wondering what the Cascade was supposed to contribute. It's not bitter, or earthy or grapefruity. It's a perfectly decent beer, though, and if the brewers learned something useful from the experiment then that's to the good.

For the third year running there's a hazy IPA especially brewed for the festival, and this iteration of Hopstravaganza sees the ABV boosted to 7.7% to mark the brewery's seventh birthday. The aroma is sweetly juicy, with mandarin in particular, and this turns to peach and lychee on tasting. That alcohol is deftly concealed and the beer is dangerously easy to drink as a result, almost resembling a fruity soft drink with its light body and busy sparkle. Here's another happy, sunny beer, perfect for a celebration.

Speaking of which, Milan's Lambrate marks 25 years in the business via Atomic, an IPA of 6.2% ABV with Mosaic, Chinook, Citra and Simcoe: all those classic Americans. It's a medium gold colour with a touch of haze but not hazy as such. It smells of fruit candy, sweetly citric with a kind of artificial tropicality. I was afraid that it wouldn't turn out as west-coast as I'd hoped, but on tasting there's a very pleasant balance of the sweet malt and hoppy high notes with a bitterer resin and citrus. The end result is easy drinking and just complex enough to stay interesting. Anniversary beers are often loud attention-seekers; this one is gentle, relaxing and fun. Maybe the alcohol level is a little overdone, and the flavour complexity could have been rendered at a few points below. I won't quibble, however. The hops are shown off beautifully and cleanly, that's quite enough for me thank you. Happy birthday Lambrate!

It's back to the oul sod next and Boundary's Imbongirific, an 8% ABV double IPA take on their hazy IPA Imbongo. This is the opaque yellow of pineapple juice, in keeping with its claim to be "tropical". I found the aroma a little harsh, with an unpleasant twang of solvent in with a concentrated fruit syrup. In the flavour that translates to a smoky, iodine seaweed savouriness, very much not tropical and decidedly north-Atlantic to my palate. I looked behind that for fruit but found little, with an oily coconut the most tropical part, and an artificial mango/passionfruit syrup or cordial. I don't think it was infected, just that combination of hops, malt weight and New England yeast by-products didn't suit me. Despite the name it's quite a serious beer though one I didn't relish taking time over.

Let's see how the Danes fare in the same space. Alefarm's Inferno In Paradise is also 8% ABV and yellow and hazy, but just a little darker. It certainly smells cleaner, though with a spicy effervescent sherbet kick rather than sweet and juicy. "Embrace the unknown" says the label, but also tells us that Citra and Amarillo are the hops, which is nice of it. The booze kicks in from the first sip and it immediately feels a little soupy. There's no spark of hops, no zing, just smooth marmalade and sticky cocktail syrup. Where did the sherbet go? It's pretty average, all in all -- an uninspired sort of strong New England IPA. It would be easy to believe that everything of this nature tastes like this but there are so many of them about that I know that's not the case. This box alone gave me a very broad outlook on the sub-style, which is one of the most gratifying parts of letting someone else pick one's beers.

I don't get access to decent French beer anywhere near as much as I'd like so it was good to see Piggy representing. Galaxy Cartel is the beer, a double New England IPA of 8.2% ABV. It's a very bright yellow in the glass; a minimal yolk to its egginess. The aroma is very typical for this sort of thing: vanilla and garlic for the most part. Would the titular hop get a look-in? A little. There's a tang of marmalade in the foretaste which says Galaxy to me, and includes both the sugary jelly and a more acidic shred side. But that's it as regards individual characteristics. Beyond it we're back to ordinary alium and custard, with a dry chalkiness from the haze. All of these effects are buoyed up and intensified by that hefty ABV. The end result is something that haze enthusiasts will doubtless be all over; for my part I'd prefer a cleaner beer, and I know that's possible, even within the strong and hazy genre.

And finally, the Hungarian Mad Scientists are back with another daft dessert beer, this time an apricot-flavoured 10% ABV job called Rákóczi Túrós, named for a sort of cream cheese and sponge cake which you can Google pictures of if you wish. In the glass it's an innocent hazy sunset colour but the aroma is very dessert: all that jammy processed apricot and sugar thing with elements of vanilla and eggy cake mix. It's super thick and there's a reminder here that its a beer. As it slowly crawls its way across your palate it delivers a dry cracker grain flavour plus a slightly funky resinous bitterness, though finishing on sweet, possibly botrytised, white wine. Despite the name, this isn't one of those beers trying to pretend it's not a beer. That isn't to say it's any good, however. The beer side is sharp and difficult, and is followed by an intensely cloying sugar syrup thing, like drinking a lurid confectionery ingredient that isn't meant to be consumed raw and was probably made illegal in 1987. At no point was I able to relax into this or get used to its idiosyncrasies: it's an absolute assault on the palate and isn't very enjoyable as a result. the Mad Scientists should have left it in the lab.

Looking back, it's not a great starting set, and I'm not sure it's at all representative of the state of beer these days. Let's see if the next post can balance the scorecard any.