VENOM BREWING BLACK IPA
Despite the road being long, with many a winding turn …it often seems to disappear so quickly. So, let’s not wait for the wake, grab this cold craft – it’s all the lubrication you need to be brave and tell a mate, your brother, the tribe, what they mean to you. It's a beautiful way to not only encourage another, but it opens the door to a conversation about life's sometimes bumpy road. Remember, eulogies are also for the living!
Origin – Yea, Victoria
ABV- 6%
Size- 375mL can
Style- Black IPA
Australia has what you might call a bad reputation for its deadly animals. Some of the flack may be a fair call — after all, the country lost a beloved icon in the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, to a stingray. It seems everything in Australia wants to kill you; sharks, spiders, even a bite from a Blue-ringed octopus can paralyse the body and airways, with victims usually dying within a matter of minutes due to asphyxiation. And of course, snakes. Our little island is home to 21 of the world's 25 most deadly, including the globes most venomous species of land snake, the Inland Taipan.
You'd think with such knowledge top of mind to most Aussies, after being bitten you'd either be dialling triple-0 or making a b-line for the closest emergency department. But not John Drysdale. As the story goes, the first thing the father of Joel Drysdale did after being bitten by a snake in his Mansfield garden one afternoon was crack a cold beer from the fridge while waiting for his wife to arrive back home!
Having already been around the edges of the craft brewing scene for a while, it was all the impetus Joel needed to kick start something of his own, declaring at the time 'If my old man is going to die of snakebite, there's no way I'm letting him go down drinking a macro brewed lager!' Along with wife Janna, and dad John, Joel founded the aptly named Venom Brewing in 2015. While the eye-catching tattoo artist logo and spitting snake artwork managed to become one of the most talked-about from their country Victorian home of Yea all the way to the Yarra, it was John's first beer, their now flagship Golden Ale that put them on the map. Yet it’s not the only beer in the range that is, as Joel puts it ‘deadly good’. Crafted with the help of respected former Temple brewer Ron Feruglio, who created one of the first – and arguably the best – local black IPA's (Midnight), this bold, dark, yet delightfully smooth black IPA is increasingly becoming a year-round favourite. Lurking within this near-black beer, the seven-hop mix unloads a myriad of hop aromas and flavours. The nose itself is sweet and jammy with hints of liquorice and burnt toffee, with the taste more so spicy, peppery and earthy.
Though it might not have the bite of the recently released Snake Venom by Brewmeister, clocking in at a world record 67.5 per cent ABV, it's still one to savour with a mate rather than take on a session.