Double Red IPA
Mountain Culture
There was movement on the table as the can was passed around
As a beer from Mountain Culture was procured
And was transferred to some glasses, two for you and me to pound,
So the can was cracked and jarrah red it poured.
The head, too, was ochre red, though brownness there shone through
Light coruscating, dancing on the glass;
It was a big and heady brew not just flavour but booze too,
At 8% it could put me on my arse.
The beer gave off a nice herbaceous, grassy kind of smell
In this can of browns like 70’s décor
The flavour of the liquorice gelled with burnt caramel,
While the bitterness lingered and grew more.
And a little bit of overflow trickled down on my hand
As the bitterness engulfed the aniseed,
I didn’t want to waste a single drop from this good brand
And carried on at an unhurried speed.
And the richness of the mouthfeel brought on by the candied malt
Carries off the well-hopped intensity
And so a balance there was struck without a single fault
Save the loss of tropical ubiquity.
For the tropical note was there, though it was but very light
Far more so than in all other beers these days
So it gave me not a small degree of unalloyed delight
To see beer still getting made in other ways.
If you’ve ever had that Swedish liquorice that’s quite intense
You will recognise an echo of it here
As the sweetness and the bitterness and aniseed commence
To alchemise and mingle in this beer.
The steinbeer candy flavours and the hoppy fruitiness
Combine to create something else again
Squeezing all the good things from out of the standard, more or less
Combination of water, yeast, hops and grain.
Exit Pursued by a Beer 