AKASHA BREWING COMPANY CANADA BAY ALE

Nothing says love like a mixtape! Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Perhaps the next best way to show you care is sharing one or two of these ‘liquid I love you’s’ with a mate instead?

Origin – Five Dock. New South Wales
ABV- 4.2%
Size- 375mL can
Style- Pale Ale

Although Akasha may sound similar to Asahi, the good news is their beer couldn't be any more dissimilar to the half-water half-beer profiles from those Japanese billionaires. And that's precisely what the founder Dave Padden has built a reputation on - big, bold, hop-centric ales that stand alone from the crowd. And it's a reputation that has served him well, given the rise and rise of Akasha Brewing since they cooked up their first brew not so long ago.

It was April 2015 when the former co-founder of Parramatta's Riverside brewing, teamed up with brother-in-law Wes White and established Akasha via gypsy brewing. By October they had pulled open the warehouse doors of their Five Dock brewery. And by November, a line-up of locals was already queuing along the footpath, and have been doing so ever since! While the locals continue to vote with their feet, it seems the rest of us carry on casting a ballot too. Again this year Akasha scooped up several People’s Choice awards while also featuring heavily in the Hottest 100. Although humbled, the fact that they are a people's favourite comes as no surprise to the leading trio of Dave, head brewer Gab Porto and sales guru Matt Denholm. After all, listening to what people want in a cold one has been the way they've been crafting their beers since day dot.

A fine example of that philosophy is this pale ale. Named after the neighbouring suburb of Canada Bay, it was first brewed after asking the locals what type ale they would turn up to drink week after week. Dave and Gab then took that feedback and added a twist to the classic Australian pale ale, to brew this one for their own taproom and local venues exclusively. Full of Galaxy and Cascade hops it's certainly brewed as a quaffer. There is however a superb hit of tropical fruit that's evident on both the nose and palate that you may not expect from a such as sessional. It's enough to make it interesting without taking anything away from this cracker of a light-bodied, low bitterness, easy-drinking pale.

In Nepali and Bengali, Akasha means 'sky', and I'd go as far as suggesting that if they keep brewing drops this good, it's the limit!

 AKASHA BREWING COMPANY