As one of the first brewers of interesting beer I ever found, Williams Bros. has always had a bit of a halo for me. That said, where I see them recently tends to be in Aldi, and the beers they make for the supermarket are universally terrible and cheap-tasting. Well, here we are again: two IPAs, both with a nod to contemporary beer fashion. Fingers crossed and in we go.
The first is called Rocka Hula, described as a tropical IPA, and is 5.1% ABV. The can promises grapefruit, mango and guava but doesn’t provide a list of ingredients. I’m not convinced that the flavour comes solely from the hops, because while it is indeed tropical-tasting, there’s a sticky and sickly quality to it, which suggests to me that it’s done with syrup. It’s not unpleasant, however. It’s a pale gold colour and only faintly misted with haze. The base is crisp and clean, with a bite of dry grain husk on the finish, after the artificial candy effect fades away. It tastes cheap, however. While it’s better than the previous Williams x Aldi efforts, I can’t really recommend it.
With it to Aldi came Magma, a hazy IPA of 5.2% ABV. It’s barely hazy, pouring quite a dull translucent orange, though with a better head than most of the premium-grade versions manage. The aroma has both the sweetness and sharpness of citrus fruit, a little like lime or grapefruit marmalade. None of that makes much of an appearance in the flavour. Cold from the fridge, it tasted very plain, with any hop character reduced to the very finish, where it’s no more than brief tang. There’s kind of an empty cereal effect before that, lacking taste, as well as body and carbonation. Given a little time to warm up, all that emerges is a hard onion acidity, which is best ignored. At least that’s some way to-style. Like the other one, it tastes very cheaply made, and while there’s nothing especially offensive about it, there’s nothing to recommend it either. It certainly won’t give you the full-on, or even half-arsed, hazy IPA experience at an Aldi price.
These were actually better than I expected them to be. They sin by omitting pleasant flavours rather than putting in nasty ones. Maybe they’ll be a gateway to something better for the curious Aldi shopper, but mostly I don’t think they’ll do anything positive for the reputation of craft beer in general and IPA in particular. This is what all the fuss is about?
