Detonate IPA by Little Rivers Brewing

This week’s beer comes from another excellent Tasmanian craft brewery, Little Rivers Brewing from Scottsdale in the northeast of the state.  I love my hops and I love my IPA’s, so what I say next I do not say lightly: their Detonate IPA isn’t just good, it’s a genuine knock-your-socks-off great beer.

As with Ocho Beer, I first tried Little Rivers’s beer during a trip to Hobart last year.  I didn’t really know what to expect when I selected it from the local bottle shop.  But I was definitely pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

So when it came time to do my Covid-isolation beer splurge, I got in touch with Little Rivers.  However, when I did, I was presented with a quandary.  They didn’t have an option for a variety case as with Ocho.  I had to pick one.  So my choice was to go with one of the standard range that I had sampled when I was in Tasmania, or to roll the dice on an intriguing one I hadn’t tried before.  I went with the roll of dice with the Detonate IPA from Little Rivers’ ‘Trails Series’. And my goodness did I ever hit the jackpot.  Not only did I end up with a fantastic beer, I ended up with 24 of them!

Anyway, on to the beer itself.  Detonate is an IPA first and foremost.  As per usual, in this case that means hoppy.  Gloriously, gloriously (but not overpoweringly) hoppy.  And in this particular instance that hoppiness is matched with an equally glorious citrus kick.  Now it doesn’t go overboard like some IPA’s (and especially some NEIPA’s or hazy’s) to the point where you think you’re drinking hoppy grapefruit juice.  But the citrus notes here are very strong, unmistakeable, and perfectly matched with the hoppiness. 

And holy cow is it sessionable.  The upshot of the excellent balance and overwhelming deliciousness is that it’s super easy to let one of them become 3 or 4 (not that that’s happened with me or anything, I can just understand how it might happen to someone with a lesser willpower).  I struggle to express how excited I am to have a full case of this awesome beer.

Detonate IPA reminds me very much of the Uraidla Sundown Sacrifice from South Australia that I wrote about a little while back.   It’s the kind of beer that you have a sip of and you don’t have to think about or analyse.  You know right away that this is a tasty, tasty beer. And that you’re probably going to want to have 5 of them.  It’s hoppy, it’s citrusy, it’s awesome.  If you are able to track one down, buy it instantly.  If you can’t find it, it’s probably even worth the effort of at least checking out Little Rivers’ website to see if an order might be for you.  It’s that good.