BBC FIGJAM

It's over 40 degrees today in Melbourne.  Despite the air con working it's hardest to douse the inferno, I am still stuck fast to my leather recliner.  It is to the point where difficulty is found separating the two entities, almost as if I have become one with the chair in a non-consensual embrace.  The only remedy for this matter is a delicious cold beer.  So what better occasion to crack out this limited edition IPA, hand crafted by none other than Nathan Buckley himself?

I kid, I kid.  The 'FIGJAM' is a 'on the side' single run by Burleigh Brewing Co from Queensland.  And If you don't know what FIGJAM means, then I suggest you go look it up.  BBC is another award winning Australian micro, and they have a couple of absolutely cracking beers.  Adversely, they have also pumped out a few that missed the mark.  Nevertheless I was quietly confident that this 650ml IPA would be worth ponying up the $9 required to hire it's services.

The tagline they are using for this beer is 'A heavyweight that's light on it's feet'.  It's no surprise then that this Mike Tyson-esque braggadocio is aptly followed by a four paragraph blurb that quite literally chews your ear off.  I'm thirsty, ain't nobody got time for that.

FIGJAM enters the auditorium with adequate fanfare, pouring a glorious deep golden orange with a soapy head, and a body so thick you would fail to see a stampeding hippopotamus coming at you through the other side of the glass.  An eruptive nose of fruit and hops wafts from the surface, making it all the more alluring.

After consuming a considerable amount of this IPA, I was left in a certain state of bemusement.  I can see what they were trying to do...  but I'm just not sure as to whether or not I am personally happy with the result.  The base flavours are well and truly buried under bitter hops, to the weight of Rosie O'Donnell riding a Diplodocus.  There's an episode of 'Dino Riders' I'm glad I missed as a child.  It's not over the top, it's bearable, but the overall product seems slightly confused.  It is light on it's feet, and the citrus flavours are nicely blended, but the SPAS-12 shotgun blast of hops just doesn't mix well.

I know it's an IPA, it has to be that way, but at the same time you have to either go big or go home.  This could have been a really nice Pale Ale with a curtailing of the hops.  Or it may even have been a cracking IPA with a boost in the supporting flavours, and a richer palette all round.  I know these guys are based in Queensland, so it's preferable to have a beer that is easy to drink in hot weather, but from where I'm (uncomfortably) sitting, this is a beer that lost it's identity somewhere along the way.

Still, good beer, but there are a host of better alternatives out there both locally and overseas.

7/10