... and friends

They're a collaborative bunch at Hopfully. Today's three were co-created with a diverse set of co-conspirators.

For the first one, they're the guests. Jonah was brewed at Bullhouse, and when these two breweries got together, they chose to defy our expectations of both with... a hazy IPA. Ah lads. It's an opaque eggy yellow colour with a milkshake froth on top. The New Zealand hops bring a lovely tropical fruit character to the aroma: ripe, sweet and fleshy. The foretaste opens on vanilla, but that's brief. Afterwards it's incredibly juicy, pushing cool mandarin segments, moist coconut and a rub of tropical lime. If the fruit side of New Zealand hops is more appealing than the harder mineral bitterness then this is the hazy IPA for you. Impressively, too, it's only 5% ABV and there's no excess heat, as well as no savoury garlic or caraway. This just works. I was sceptical up top, but it really is the coming together of two breweries who have proven track records of great hazy IPA, sharing their expertise for the drinkers' benefit.

And now for something completely different... from anything else. Hopfully teamed up with Waterford distillery Blackwater to create Farmland, badged as a "farmhouse ale blend" but really defying classification. They don't tell us much about the base beer(s), only that pear and elderflower were added to it and it was aged separately in cherry brandy and rye whiskey barrels before blending. The finished piece is 10.1% ABV, a pale shade of amber and fizzes noisily in the glass when poured. From all the ingredients and process aids, it's the pear that shines brightest in the flavour. Behind it, there's a rough and headachey solvent twang, all nail varnish remover and whiteboard markers. Although the texture is light, there's no doubt as to the alcohol, with a palate-scorching heat in effect. There should be all manner of complexity here, given the production method, but even the aroma has nothing to offer above booze and pears. I had no choice but to drink the 440ml can slowly, and I can safely say that at no point did I detect anything resembling cherry brandy, elderflower, or even the basics of saison, assuming that's what the recipe started out as. I'm all for daring experimentation and taking beer to places it hasn't been before, but here it just didn't work. Maybe some Brettanomyces in the mix would have added what it needs.

I like a sour IPA, though I don't think I've had a double one before. This is Horseman, created in collaboration with To Øl. It's 8.3% ABV and hopped with Citra, Riwaka and Motueka, and smells much as you'd expect: intensely herbal with lots of bitter citric zest. The addition of actual lemon probably helps with that. I get a strong sense of the souring culture as well, adding a sharp flinty mineral edge to the aroma. It's a mostly opaque orange colour, with a fine foam initially, but which faded away indecently quickly. Also in the ingredients is vanilla, and while I couldn't smell it, it's very prominent in the foretaste, making it sweet and dessertish to begin; quite the opposite of sour. The flinty tang I got in the aroma is there too, but the edge has been knocked off it, while the fruit, and fruity hops, are sweet and cordial-like. What were they thinking with that vanilla? This could have been delightfully tart and zesty, and the alcohol is well hidden, but instead it's a chewy confection -- colourful, but a bit silly. At least the label is appropriate, then.

Collaboration beers should quite rightly be about doing daring and different things, and that's certainly the case for the latter two beers here. That neither of them were quite to my taste is immaterial. Keep experimenting and maybe I'll like the next one more. Or the one after that.