RSA Hazy IIPA by Wayward Brewing

For this week’s beer we come back to Sydney’s Inner West with another visit to Wayward Brewing.  This time it’s for the brilliant limited release: RSA Hazy IIPA.

Wayward is one of my favourites.  Their range is great, their venue is even better, and the beer is of consistently excellent quality.  But with all that being said, this is my favourite beer they’ve made, hands down.

The RSA in RSA Hazy IIPA here refers to the hops used in in this cracker of a beer: Rakau, Simcoe, and Amarillo.  The fact that the name of the beer is a list of three hops should give you a pretty good indication as to the character of this beer.  It is hoppy.  Very hoppy.  Don’t get me wrong, it is still a hazy so there’s a hefty citrus component going on here as well.  But it’s very much centred around a bitter citrus peel flavour.  And that reinforces and compliments the bitterness of the hops brilliantly. It’s that rare beer that can simultaneously taste perfectly balance and deliciously over the top hoppy at the same time.

I love Wayward Brewing.  However, I feel like a lot of their range inhabits the ‘really, really good’ space in craft beers.  And that’s obviously not a bad place to be.  Especially since that range is so broad and encompasses delicious sours, inventive stouts, hoppy IPA’s, and rich reds.  But sometimes it feels like they’ve lacked that one utterly stand-out beer you can hold up next to the best craft brewers out there. and say ‘Get this, it’s objectively brilliant’.  This is that beer. Go find one, buy it, drink it, and love it.