The method by which I pick a beer to feature here every week is extremely loose, but usually there’s an equation that balances between ‘interesting’ ‘relevant’ and ‘good’. Sometimes, one of those spokes dominates to such an extent that the others cease to matter, and if I’m lucky, it’s the good. This is one of those beers.
Part of a collaboration between Wellington’s Double Vision and Thai brewery Baan Bangkok, Thunder Struck joins the ever expanding halls of craft beer that evokes weed in one way or another (a reference to the ‘Alaskan Thunder F*ck’ strain, which I was not remotely hip enough to be aware of).
A grab-bag of classic Nelson hop varietals drives an acutely kiwi aroma of lime and tangelo citrus, with pine, white grape and pungently skanky gooseberry. While the aroma is great, where this beer performs a backflip is in the drinking. It’s a true double IPA at 8%abv, yet it somehow goes down like smooth pilsner. There’s no hint of cloying sweetness, no gluggy viscosity, the smooth slippery palate never halts once as it slides along towards its compact, gently bitter finish.
What manner of brewing wizardry Double Vision engaged in order to pull this one off I could only begin to guess at, but however they did it, they’ve produced one of the most lethally drinkable strong IPAs in recent history. Contrary to my usual opinion, this one probably should not be put on tap. Or if it is, I should not be allowed near it unsupervised…