I don’t care what you might think about me reviewing a beer that I designed the label for.
You can say what you like, call me biased, call me anything.
I’ll have been called worse.
You see, this beer is brilliant and this beer is home brewed.
It’s enormous, mad eyed, mental, and dangerously fun.
It’s that whacked-out kid from school who you knew was a bad influence but couldn’t help wanting to hang out with.
The colour is dark amber and the head is quite feisty, goading you to take a swig if you think you’re hard enough.
And the smell?
Chewy jelly sweets, sherbet, mango, peach, cola bottles and madness.
Then you take a drink and the beer goes ballistic.
The malts are a big bad toffee that sticks to your teeth and pulls at your fillings, spitting honey and vanilla onto your tongue.
Meanwhile the hops need an ASBO.
Exceedingly bitter, they stab you in the face and chest with seriously sharp citrus, brain numbing pine resin, copious amounts of mandarin peel.
There’s a deliciously chewy feel to Hop Rocket too.
Thick and viscous and heavy with wood pulp and sinewy maple rich leaf mulch.
As for the finish, it’s so long and so bitter and so dry you just want that dangerous kid to be your Best Friend Forever.