Hey guys it's been a sickly hot week here in Ottawa. Which has had a twofold effect on me-
1). Too hot to blog. I know it is a lame excuse but that's all I've got!
2). Drinking lots of beer. Nothing cools you down like a beer.
So fix my lack of posts, I'm up early (pre 7am) to write a set of blog posts before it gets too hot.
With that in mind welcome one and all to Omnipollo week! Omnipollo is a gypsy style brewery founded by Henok Fentie and Karl Grandin in 2011. Their homebase is Sweden where they conceive their recipes, before travelling to other breweries across the globe to bring their beer to life.
I've been lucky enough to meet Henok Fentie and can safely say he is one of the most friendly people you can meet. His beer passion just over flowed as he picking which beer to sample next at my then workplace. So with found memories in hand I bring you Omnipollo week, starting with the first IIPA I ever had: Nebuchadnezzar.
Details
Name: Nebuchadnezzar (a name of a Babylonian King)
Style: IIPA ( Imperial India Pale Ale)
Brewery: Omnipollo (Website)
Country: Designed in Sweden but brewed at De Proefbrouwerij in Belgium.
Price: Around the £5-6 mark in England.
ABV: 8.5%
Commercial Fluff:"Neb" is a home brewed recipe that has been scaled up with no consideration to economies of scale. Some say idiotic, and as an economist I would have to agree. Great fresh or die trying.
Awards —
Own Opinion
Sight: Pours a hazy golden orange, with a tight white head, little carbonation bubbles floating up.
Aroma: Punchy grapefruit zest greets you with this beer, backed up by pine needles, spices and hops. The smell alone tells me my palette is in for a treat.
Taste: Juicy, fruitiness like biting into a grapefruit. Rounded out and made a little sweet by the malts. The carbonation helps to keep this heavy beer light and at the end leaves a pleasantly strong bitterness at the back of the throat.
Would I buy it again? Yes. Where is the next one? As I mentioned above this brewery holds a lot of fond memories for me in London. Not only is the brewer a super nice guy, but this beer in particular was not only my first IIPA, but also one of the first beers I got to try as a Craft Beer Co. Clerkenwell employee back in 2013. Since then I know I've bought plenty more of this beer and can safely say it's in my top 10 beers. On the downside since moving to Canada ( a dry wasteland for imports), I just can't find it. But with a coming trip to New York I hope to grab a few.
As always thanks for reading and hit me up either on here. Google+, Instagram (@johnpepsday) or Twitter (@JohnPepsDay). Cheers,