ONE DROP BREWING DDH OAT CREAM DIPA
Nothing pairs better with freshly cut grass than beer. So next time you shut off your Victor grab a neighbour and enjoy this cracking cold craft together over a convo.
Origin – Botany, New South Wales
ABV – 7.8%
Size – 440mL can
Style – Double IPA
In Bob Marley’s biography it is revealed that the reggae legend used shoe polish to darken his hair to appear more African. Apparently, it resulted from the star struggling with insecurities over his mixed heritage as the son of a Caucasian father and Jamaican mother. Another not-so-well-known fact about the singer-songwriter, who took the Rastafarian ideals of community, humanity, and love worldwide, is his creation of the reggae defining One Drop beat. It’s a style that Meg Barbic and Clay Grant were well attuned to, having grown up with the rastafarian pulse beating within one of Sydney's authentic cultural melting pots. So, when the husband-and-wife team sold their family home in Botany to finance the foundation of their new brewery, the name was evident at the outset.
Established in a former 1950's paper warehouse, One Drop is a light-filled environment where the roller doors wind up to let outside in and the rhythm within out. It’s a space inspired by the same foundational ideals as the chilled reggae and soulful dub being regularly mixed by the in-house DJ. Between the sunlight, artistic ocean view, indoor greenery and, beer garden out back, the whole place has an island atmosphere. Despite starting off as a local community secret, their beers quickly gained a reputation further afield with early awards and AIBA success. Yet their target audience isn't beer judges - One Drop brews beers to please themselves and their community. Meg loves sour, Clay loves hoppy, and head brewer Nick Calder-Scholes loves… perfection!
It's something that is on display in spades when it comes to this finale of his Oat Cream limited series. The culmination of over 500 hours of research, trial, error and customer feedback from the four releases prior this 7.8% ABV temporal timestamp is beer precision packaged in a 440mL format. Jammed with oats and a hint of lactose, then loaded with a mix of fresh hops, this is a DIPA full of pineapple, peach, and candied citrus, atop of layer upon layer of creamy and smooth stone fruit base.
Flowing from a bold and attractive can, it even looks as good as it tastes – no need for shoe polish on this one!
