BRICK LANE BREWING ALL TOGETHER
Fair-weather friends are easy to come by, but where are they when the chips are down? Yet it’s in the difficult times when we need them by our side, even if they can't do it literally. Here’s the perfect lubricant for sitting beside a mate and reminding him that you're here for the long haul.
Origin – Dandenong, Victoria
ABV – 7.4%
Size – 375mL
Style – Indian Pale Ale
Whether it's helping provide water to victims of natural disasters or raising money to aid the hungry, craft breweries all over the world have always given big in times of need. It should come as no surprise then that the global industry has come together in times such as these to support those impacted by the most considerable hardship most of us will ever see in our lifetimes.
What started as a concept by New York cities Other Half Brewing to release a unique IPA recipe to be brewed around the world, aptly called All Together Beer, was quickly adopted by breweries in every corner of the planet. Since May, over seven hundred have brewed the beer as a force for good, helping raise awareness and provide relief to hospitality workers who have been some of the hardest hit from the COVID related lockdowns. And one of the first Australian craft breweries to join that fray was Brick Lane. 'With a stated obligation in our mantra to do good in our community, when the opportunity arose to use beer sales to achieve a greater purpose, we quickly made it a reality' founder and MD Paul Bower shared with me.
In fact, since launching in 2017 with a cracking pale ale and lager, Brick Lane has been embedding themselves in communities right across Melbourne. And while they can't help the local community face to face – for now at least – they have still been able to help those in the community help each other, with proceeds from every sale being donated to the Covid-19 Employee Assistance Directive. Between their first All Together Hazy IPA and now this West Coast version, Brick Lane has been able to help fund the cooking, packing, and delivering over 2,000 meals each week to unemployed hospitality workers in Melbourne.
Yet not only are Paul, head brewer Jon Seltin and the team at Brick Lane a powerful combination for doing good, but they also do a fantastic job of combining together ingredients to produce powerful flavours, as is the case in this dank and resinous 7.4% Hollywood glamour. Perfectly aligned with the style, the Chinook, Strata, Motueka and Ella deliver an up-front aroma and palate of melon, grapefruit and lychee. It's a tropical mix that is balanced by a slight earthiness, before finishing dry and hoppy.
Despite it being a craft that is all about the classic super bitterness that you'd expect from a West Coast IPA, there's nothing bitter about what this All Together beer stands for!
