The haze craze continues at Thin Man Brewery with the release of Trial by Wombat New England IPA, the brewery’s latest hazy IPA. And while wombats are normally only found in the forested, mountainous region of Southeastern Australia, you can get up close and personal with one this Saturday, March 10 at 11am.
Trial by Wombat is brewed with Galaxy, Simcoe and Citra hops and 30% malted oats.
“Trial by Wombat is a New England IPA featuring Galaxy hops from Australia,” Thin Man Head Brewer Rudy Watkins says of the new beer. “There also some Simcoe and Citra hops with 30% malted oats, a ton of pilsner malts and some other fun stuff. It’s insanely dry hopped as well for big peachy, pineapple-y and orange-y juicy goodness.”
This writer was privy to an advance tasting of the beer (thanks Rudy) and I can honestly say, you’re going to want to get to Thin Man sooner rather than later to grab some. It’s the definition of soft with a very well-rounded finish, with flavors of juicy white peach, pineapple, papaya and tangerine and big citrus aromas. In case you didn’t know, those are all good words.
If you’re going to drink a pint of Trial by Wombat, you’d do well to protect yourself, because wombats have been known to attack humans. According to Wikipedia, humans can receive puncture wounds from wombat claws, as well as bites, and startled wombats can charge humans and knock them over.
Watkins says that as for the name, it was the work of Thin Man owner Mike Shatzel. “I really, really love that,” he says. “It’s one of those things where the name is super funny and I enjoy it a bunch. Then I went onto Wikipedia and realized that wombats are just about the cutest thing that ever was. Just the idea of fighting a wombat seems like a good time. I’m not saying I want to fight a wombat, but still.”
In addition to Trial by Wombat NEIPA, Thin Man will also be releasing a pair of other beers, Think of a Number, a malt-driven experimental hopped lager and Dank You Easter Bunny, a West Coast IPA brewed with Simcoe, Mosaic, Chinook and Columbus.
Of Think of a Number, Watkins says: “It’s nice with a super fun malt character going on. Clean fermentation and then we used an experimental hop, 06300 from Hopsteiner. It’s a really weird hop – I’ve never used anything like it before. It provides almost a cocoa character, but also a tropical fruit Jolly Rancher character. So this is a really weird, super fun beer.”
“Because everyone should have an almost 10% Easter Double IPA. It’s a big ol’ West Coast IPA. Nice bitterness, super tasty and frightening crushable for 9.5%,” he adds in regards to Dank You Easter Bunny.
And if three new beers this weekend isn’t enough, Thin Man will be releasing Nib Nut Imperial Stout on March 16. This new imperial stout was brewed with copious amounts of cocoa nibs and coconut for flavors of nibs & nuts, warming spices, dark honey and vanilla. In addition to the beer, the brewery will also be releasing a new special nub sauce available for this night only designed to pair with the beer, inspired by Jamaican Jerk rubs. Beer available in 5 and 10oz pours only. No crowlers/growlers available.
“The base is our Forever Cordial, which is aged on a ludicrous amount of cocoa nibs and coconut,” Watkins adds. “We only have five gallons of this beer.”
While wombats typically live up to 15 years in the wild and 20-30 years in captivity, Trial by Wombat won’t last nearly that long. Even though it was brewed as a full batch, meaning there are 15bbl of this delicious liquid available, it’s not going to be around forever.
For more information on any of Saturday’s beer releases, check out the event page. For more information on the Nib Nut release, head here.
Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague) and www.buffalobeerleague.com.
