Beers of London Series
26. Weird Beird Brew Co. -  Mariana Trench 5.3%

Here's another beer from a brewery that I've previously covered, back in number 14 of this series. Miss The Lights is the second highest viewed of my beers so far, so I'll play to the crowd and choose another from this highly sought-after new brewery. Some of you may know that I work very close to Ales By Mail and it was interesting to witness the feeding frenzy that erupted online when the Weird Beard beers came in a few weeks ago. They're back on sale as I write so if you're quick I'm sure you'll be able to get some.
Mariana Trench is a transpacific pale ale brewed with Pacific Gem and Citra, named after the deepest part of the world's oceans. It was originally supposed to be brewed with Pacific Gem and Nelson Sauvin, however as it became impossible to get sufficient quantities of the Nelson Sauvin it had to be replaced. Time to crack open this bottle-conditioned beauty.
It pours a honeyed amber colour with some lovely rising carbonation and a fluffy off-white cloud of a head. The aroma is a force in it's own right with high notes of mango juice, grapefruit peel and passion fruit, a good mid-range of pine sap and right at the bottom there's the big suet-like aroma of a fruity summer pudding. I have to confess to pouring the yeast sediment into a shot glass in order to concentrate the smell of this beer and the yeastiness therein is probably the major contributor to the pudding-like nose, but seeing as I love a good stodgy dessert then it's right up my street. Soft, sharp, fresh and juicy over the tongue with a light carbonation caressing the tastebuds, there's a huge surge of mango and grapefruit with lots of lovely bitterness as you might expect after the big aroma but this is balanced nicely with some plain biscuit maltiness however this is a biscuit that's been dunked in satsuma juice. Oh yes, this is a fruity zesty beer indeed. The finish is deliciously oily with all of those wonderful sharp fruity flavours evident before dribbled and drizzled in super-concentrated form and lingering for a long while.
The amount of hops piled into this beer (remember, they are 'never knowingly underhopped') is reflected in the big flavour and aroma it exhibits even with an alcohol by volume of only 5.3%, putting even some big boozy US double IPAs to shame. You've really got to try these beers if you get the chance particularly if you're a fan of big hop character. Let the feeding frenzy commence.