BLACK HOPS BREWERY HORNET
Don’t let COVID19 kill the conversation, rather lubricate one (virtually if req!) with this wonderful drop.
Origin – Burleigh Head, Queensland
ABV- 6.0%
Size- 375mL can
Style- Indian Pale Ale
It was zero one hundred when SEAL Team Six enacted Operation Nepture Spear, ending the ten-year search for the worlds most wanted terrorist. Nine minutes later, Osama bin Laden was dead. It was the Black op to end all Black ops and one that every secret service agency from the FBI to MI6 claimed to have had a hand in. The Black op itself was the culmination of years of calculated planning and training. While the growth of Black Hops, by their own admission is the least covert in history, their recent success has been the result of years of effort.
It was 2014 when the three mates Eddie Oldfield, Michael McGovern and Dan Norris had a simple idea over a beer. The concept was an eggnog stout that McGovern knocked up on his three-vessel homebrew system. It tasted far better than any of them could have hoped. Yet rather than pushing it on family and friends in recycled long necks, they bottled it in nicely labelled bottles, created a cool brand name, built a website, and then shared it with beer industry connections for feedback. Seemingly it was that extra effort that helped them stand out. Before they knew it, craft beer insiders were talking, and locals beer lovers in Burleigh Heads were asking when a commercial release would be ready. So, they kept the momentum going and brewed an 800L batch.
Six years and a heck of a lot extra effort later, the lads now have a team of twenty five, two breweries on the Gold Coast, beer distributed right across the country and an AIBA Champion Small Brewery title to their name. From the outset, their eggnog hinted that they weren't going to be a brewing company hindered by a lack of imagination. It's this boldness that is seen in the rotation of small-batch releases and right across the core range, including this IPA. As stated on the can, ‘Dry, angry and bitter, Hornet has some serious sting with a balancing aroma of stone and citrus fruits. It is a reasonably accurate summary of this modern IPA with its subtle sweetness and robust hop bitterness. Unquestionably an assertive six percenter, the lively grapefruit acidity on the front mellows to sweeter stone fruits flavour in the middle. The hop resin shows up late before a return to that big citric hit in the tail.
It's the sort of beer you could enjoy post your clandestine operation with 'no one in particular'.
