Last of the sunlight

The long balmy evenings are gone so I felt I was coming late to Lineman's Sundrops, a table beer of 3.3% ABV with doubtless a different context intended for drinking. It still worked on a dark autumnal evening. Though amber coloured and slightly hazy, it's delightfully clean and full-flavoured. Fruit candy hops sit on a crisply dry base, finishing with a pithy bitterness. I had to look at the label to learn that Nelson Sauvin was involved; it doesn't taste like a typical Nelson job, but perhaps has a little of its juicy grape qualities. I'm a bit suspicious of table beer as a style; too many sharp and watery saisons get given the label. This is much more of a happy pale ale sort of thing, and I honestly wouldn't have guessed the strength to be as low as it is. Sundrops is very pintable, very pubable, and well worth considering bringing back for the season next year.

Released at the same time was a double IPA called Transmission. I tend to trust Lineman to produce beers with a resolutely old-fashioned quality, and while this is no yellow New Englander, it is hazy, so we're not fully committed to the west coast. At 9.4% ABV it's not messing about, and there's a slick and heavy density to it, though no clumsy heat. The hops are a little muted, Simcoe, Azacca and Ekunot for a marmalade melange, a generalised bittersweet quality but without any distinguishing features. A little pith and a little mint? Perhaps, but you have to look for it. Really this is a warming sipper rather than a hop exhibition, meaning it probably is quite accurate as a retro double IPA. I think I expected more from it, but what's there is fine. If you want a local take on what the Americans used to send us, here it is.

Bringing up the rear, the latest Lineman offering to come my way is Fluid Dynamic, labelled as an "extra" pale ale. I'm not sure why. It's 4.8% ABV and, I guess, is extra pale -- a very bright shade of yellow, and almost completely clear with it. It actually looks unattractively watery. But while the texture is light it's certainly not watery and has plenty of character. There's a cleanly bitter lemon effect as the centrepiece backed by a balancing dry crunch of granola malt. It fades out on a double act of dark dank resins and bright candy flowers. I get overtones of those American-influenced British classics like Jarl and Jaipur. This is another super summery banger, even if they did leave the release date a little late for that. Let it bring a little sunshine into your winter.

Sterling work as ever from Lineman here. The commitment to tried and tested styles and methods really stands to them in the finished product.