Food & Drink

Craft beer: Opposites attract

Bolted
Bolted Bolted

LAST week it was the Fresh Prince, aka Will Smith, this week I'm dipping into the pop music nostalgia bag again.

Paula Abdul who, accompanied by a cartoon cat in the days before CGI became de rigueur, declared that 'Opposites Attract' in her 1989 hit, sprung to mind recently when I stumbled upon another beer from way down south.

What prompted this repeated delve into nostalgia? Well, coming across O Brother's Speak No Evil, which is billed as a kviek pilsner.

Now, the thing with a pilsner is that it is smooth and easy drinking. Nothing too complicated to get the palate around (which is at odds with the complex process required to pull off a good one).

Kviek, on the other hand, is a yeast which jumps into a beer with two feet. It's funky and tangy and sharp and lets you know it's there.

Quite what it would do to a pilsner was anyone's guess – well mine in particular. Unsurprisingly, this pours with an ample fluffy white head, thanks to the lively Norwegian yeast, and sports a murky, dark amber colour in the glass.

There are a few sweet malt sniffs to be had, but there's no escaping that tangy, fruity aroma either. Kviek IPAs tend to work well because the fruity yeast tends to work well with the fruity hops.

Hops in pilsner are a little more understated, so that balance can be a bit more harder to crack. However, this 4.8 per cent beer pulls it off well. There is a nice, refreshing citrus vibe to it all, but still the smooth characteristics of a conventional pilsner.

There's no getting away from the tangy and fruity profile of the kviek, but the subtler hop profile makes it an easy drinker.

Bolted is a much more than a straight-down-the-line American IPA style from O Brother too.

It's a hefty enough 6.3 per cent beer which veers from east coast to west coast. There is heady mix of West coast hops like Simcoe, Comet and Columbus in there, giving it a piney, resiny feel with a sharp bitter finish.

There is some sweet malt and sticky fruitiness along with a dank profile which leans it slightly more towards the east coast side of things.

Either way, it is highly drinkable and despite being north of 6 per cent, has a somewhat sessionable feel about it.