HOP NATION BREWING FALLEN LEAVES
In a real-life Ron Burgundy moment an American news anchor, told his weatherman to 'keep f**king that chicken' live on air! Four-letter words may not be my preference, but when it comes to being an anchor for a mate, sharing with them that they look great when you are worried about how they're going mentally is as helpful as uttering to them to keep f**king chickens!
Origin – Footscray, Victoria
ABV – 6.0%
Size – 440mL can
Style – Red IPA
In the Australian suburbs, autumn was always the season of smoke. This was the Australia before Stan and the Xbox. It was the Australia in which the main home entertainment device was called "a backyard incinerator". There was a rectangular version made Besser brick or a circular version, a rusty 44-gallon drum. There was nary a household without one or the other, plus a few fires set in the gutter out the front, burning up and down the road, like the lights on an airport runway. While all mater of things were burnt it was mostly piles and piles of fallen leaves. Smoke would pump into the sky filling the air like some form of Biblical pestilence. There were, after all, a lot of leaves to burn -Australia is a deciduous nation.
Looking at this latest hop-forward release from Hop Nation, Sam Hambour and Duncan Gibson, the founders of Hop Nation, must have deep-seated memories of standing around, faces lit by the flames as Mum and Dad fed the blaze. The crimson design, matched by a red rye that pours a dark copper with flickers of red that almost exhales smoke, holds all the characteristics of flames blazing in a magnificent fashion high above dry autumn leaves. Following in the footsteps of the offerings gone before and in sync with the ‘In Hops We Trust’ motto, Fallen Leaves starts with generous dosing of Eclipse and Sabro delivering orange citrus and some floral notes. While the malt adds gentle hints of burnt fig and dried dark fruits to the aroma, it’s in the mouth where it really burns bright. It carries the rich toffee, caramel and some biscuit, lifting the rockmelon and slight resin, with the rye adding a touch of spice. The sweetness rides on through to the end, accompanied by a measured bitterness in a beer that showcases even measures of malt and hops.
It's significant that the PlayStation, the internet and the streaming services were all invented in the years that followed the death of smoke-based entertainment. I guess you’ll just have to enjoy you’re Fallen Leaves as you gather around your Netflix fireplace!
