Tasting Notes: Devilfish: Apachi

Devilfish: Apachi (England: American Pale Ale: 5% ABV)

Visual:  Light hazy gold. Firm white bubbles.

Nose: Grapefruit and quite tart. Gooseberry. Lots of hops. Slight funky yeast.

Body: Solid bitterness. Grapefruit. Dried apricot covered in cream. Custard cream biscuits. Gooseberry. Honey. Smooth mouth feel, slightly milky but doesn’t interfere with the hops.

Finish: Cream, bitterness, nettles and gooseberries. Toffee as well. Strawberry touch at odd times but irregular. Apricot and honey.

Conclusion: Finally, after drinking pint after pint from this brewery I pick up my hat and pen and review one.

Apachi seems like a loving real ale mash up of NZ and American styles with a craft beer inspired hop kick.  Descriptions seem to indicate that only American hops were used in this, which was a surprise as the tartness made me sure there was at least some from NZ in as well.

This beer ticks all the boxes for a good hoppy beer, tart grapefruit freshness backed with real dried apricot sweetness in a way that calls to the USA IPA style. Putting it together with that touch of extra thickens that real ale brings can be a double edged sword. The thickness can make the heavy use of hops clingy and thus annoying with some beers

Thankfully the really fresh feel with the hops used here means that while the hops do stick they don’t get leaden and dull. Even the granite hop level kick of the finish never gets over present in time.

A beer that is a hop punch in a glass, and I keep returning to it. I’m not quite sure if the beer would take to bottling well, if they ever choose to do so, but on tap it is great.  So a great beer that you can enjoy a few pints of and really wake up the tastebuds. A good sign of things to come from the Devilfish brewery and one of a great range of beers from them.

Background: This review has been a while coming. I’ve been sampling a lot of Devilfish beers over the past six month, but they have always turned up when I have decided not to do a tasting note.  While I have yet to have a beer from them I would list in the “My favourites” section all of them have come pretty close. Pretty much the same as Brodies Brewery in that all their beers are high quality, and thus they are under favourite breweries and I’m sure for both, soon there will soon be absolute favourite beers found in their ranks. Keep an eye on them.