BEER REVIEW: 302

BREWER: Timothy Taylor’s, West Yorkshire, England

STYLE: Pale Ale

ABV: 4%

VESSEL: 440ml tin

DATE OF POST: 21st July 2023

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

Hopical Storm is a beer I was rooting for before even drinking. I like the fact it’s from an independent, traditional brewer. It’s Timothy Taylor’s foray into the craft world. I love the packing – clearly a lot of thought has gone into it. 

So, my hopes were high before drinking. 

And then, I drank it. 

I need to be transparent – Hopical Storm is not bad. It’s very drinkable. It’s perfectly pleasant. Unfortunately, it will slip off my beer radar. There’s nothing about it to make it stand out.  The flavours, which are as you’d expect for such a beer, are not punchy enough. The drinking experience is all too meh. 

I can see what Timothy Taylor’s are trying to achieve. I get the angle. For me, the execution is not good enough. It’s a classic example of pandering to the masses and falling short for those who really would cherish such a beer. 

I’ve no doubt Tropical Storm will have a good sales rate, certainly to begin with; it’s been heavily marketed. But I question whether it’ll stand the test of time. That’s not what’s important, though. It’s about the beer. 

It’s pretty average. 

Light hoppy nose

Thin on taste, thin in the mouth. 

Sammy’s Rating: 63%

 

JYMI SAY’S…

A name for a beer so good, they trade marked it! Haha!

It is a blinder of a name to be fair and a step away from the more traditional tones that we’re used to from Timothy Taylor’s. The brewer of the incredible English Pale, Landlord (the first brew we reviewed back in 2017).

The name isn’t the only step away from trad for TT. The packaging and style too are also veering heavily towards the more modern world of craft beer. This is a step that I didn’t see TT wanting nor needing to take, though I’m not against it in any way.

I want to take time at this point to mention the plethora of info that our brewer gives us about some of the brewing process, mainly the hops used and at what stage they were added.

A cyclone of flavour and aromatics tamed by expert brewers in three stages of hopping at our independent brewery in Yorkshire.

Cascade and Whitbread Goldings in the copper, Cascade and Chinook at the hop back stage, then dry hopping with Jester and Ernest.

 Sounds flippin’ amazing to be fair!

Anyway, intrigued and a little apprehensive I cracked the can.

The nose coming off of Hopical Storm was a huge disappointment – kinda dusty n musty, really odd!

Anyway, like a brave little soldier in a cyclone, I pressed on into the brew.

First impressions were, though it was a little thin in mouthfeel there was a nice hoppy bite kicking around which certainly got the seal of approval. Moving further into the beer there was definitely the presence on mandarin in the flavour as was promised on our tin. Though I was not picking any mango or passion fruit, that was also promised, which was a little disappointing.

All in all this is a decent enough beer without being great.

On a side note I just want to mention the TT wheatsheaf logo going over in the cyclonic wind…

Normally, for their traditional brews it’s standing up straight, but in a Hopical Storm? No sir!

Absolute masterstroke from the creatives at Timothy Taylor’s.

Jymi’s Rating: 67%

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 65%

MOB review next weekend: FOREST by AMAZON BEER

Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze weekly since 2017

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M O B 2023