Thus Let Us Drink Beer – T Bone Brewing
It is funny how things work.
Sometimes you accidentally come across something you start to hold in high esteem, you get into it and it sends you down the rabbit hole, opening the doors to more discoveries.
We have covered Belgrove Distillery and praised their excellent emissions extensively. It was when we were convening with owner, head distiller and renaissance man Peter Bignell that when I enquired about the nature of his new delicious Hopped Malt Whisky expression, he explained that it was based on an actual IPA that was further instilled.
Not being a namedropper or one to bignote himself, it took some elaborate eliciting skills to find out that the beer that he used as a base product was sourced from his son’s, i.e. Tom Bignell, craft beer distillery T-Bone Brewing Co.
Needless to say that I was instantaneously intrigued and set out to find out more.
Knowing what Peter Bignell has accomplished within and outside the confines of distilling quality spirits, it was not further wondrous to discover that T-Bone crafts every drops of their brews in-house with key ingredients carefully selected both interstate and locally wherever possible.
Not usually the biggest aficionado of Pale Ales, T-Bone’s variant was a delight with its a clean, crisp, dry hoppy palate experience.
So far, so good.
Things are taken up a few notches with the Fruit Bowl IPA. Now, do not let the name distract you as this is neither a novelty expression nor a feeble attempt at creating a brew with an exotic flavour.
A melange of well selected hops is mixed and accentuated by a generous serve of double dry hops, which create a hell of a smoooth and juicy IPA that goes down as easy as a lager.
For anyone who has followed the “thus let us drink beer” series it should not come as a surprise that I got a weak spot for IPAs and the fact that T-Bone got a Rye IIPA made me light a candle to set the scene for a dram of Lagavulin 8 Year Old to have it with.
High in rye malt content and clocking in at an impressive 8.5% ABV, this rich, bold rust coloured double IPA is reminiscent of a spice tinged, toffee flavoured rye Ale that covers the claviature of dry hop nuances drawing on Centennial, Citra and Simcoe hops.
I am always curious when it comes to new craft beer expressions and despite finding really excellent brews along the way, a brewery that consistently hits the mark is rare to be found.
The quality of T-Bone Brewing’s is testament to the brewers well-calibrated approach that unifies flavours to complex and extremely palatable and enjoyable flavour profiles.
