Gweilo

For Fig Sake (8% ABV, can)
Black with a tan head that dissipates quite quickly. On the nose, there’s chocolately malt. Really rich and inviting. A beautifully fruity stout that lists fig puree among its ingredients. A really nice flavour of fig and chocolate, with nuttiness provided by the almonds in the recipe. Fig and almond aren’t ingredients you come across often in beer, let alone together, but the combination really works. My only quibble: the body could do with more smoothness.
Buy it: I was sent mine by Gweilo. It’s available on the brewery website.
(10th January, 2021)

Hong Kong NEIPA (4.9% ABV, can)
I didn’t read the can as I try not to before a tasting — so I’m not swayed by the tasting notes — and I noticed after I poured that it said “gently roll the can before opening”, so I may not have done it justice photographically. Hazy gold with a white head, there are big hop notes on the nose — resinous, piney, with lychees. On the palate, there’s a pleasing NEIPA dankness, and plenty of juice, with grapefruit and tropical notes, as well as a lovely smoothness. There’s some biscuit malt balance. Herbal notes grow towards the finish, and some pineapple flavour kicks in. Decent.
Buy it: I was sent mine by Gweilo. It’s available on the brewery website.
(5th January, 2021)

Seeker DIPA (8.5% ABV, can)
Hazy, sandy gold with a white head, this has big hops on the nose: an inviting resinous, herbal, goosberry aroma. On the palate, stone fruit comes through: peach, mango, with that resinous dankness, and gooseberry and lychee on the finish, combined with a good smooth mouthfeel. You do get a sense of the 8.5% ABV strength, but take it steady. It’s worth savouring.
Buy it: I was sent mine by Gweilo. It’s available on the brewery website.
(7th January, 2021)

Suduko (6% ABV, can)
A golden stout — now here’s a curiosity! It’s hazy golden, although it was clearer before I poured a bit of yeast sdeiment in by accident. The off-white head lingers nicely. It definitely smells, counterintuitively, of roast malt, with some coffee, too. Like a photo negative black IPA. Gosh, it really drinks like a stout, a milk stout, in fact, the vanilla in the recipe offering a lactose sort of effect. There’s a lovely smooth body, and what there is in the way of hops manifets itself in quite a herbal way, but it’s barely noticeable against the creamy sweetness. Yes, a golden stout is a bit of a gimmick, but, regardless of its colour, it’s a decent, easy-drinking, satisfying stout.
Buy it: I was sent mine by Gweilo. It’s available on the brewery website.
(6th January, 2021)