DEYA X Bundobust

I wonder how often collaborations go south. Do the two head brewers butt heads over which hop to use? Are marketing teams firing passive aggressive emails back and forth in an attempt to enforce brand guidelines and the proper export languages?

Sometimes collaborations go North, like when Gloustershire brewery DEYA got together with Bundobust - the Craft Beer / Indian Street Food joint in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. I recently had a not-so-good Brewery-Restaurant collaboration involving a pizza place, so I was a little reserved when I picked out this can, but very happy after my first sip.

I've never stopped in at Bundobust on my very infrequent trips up to said cities, so I'm left wondering exactly what I'd be pairing this with. Spicy, saucy or some combination of the two would work. In any case, the Bundobust trilogy is now on my radar - added to the growing list of places to go as soon as we're all allowed out in public again.

Pale Ale

^{Alc 5.0% | Canned on 27.1.2021}

Colour

Deep gold. Dirty haze

Nose

Really fresh. Lots of lemon zest and orange juicy bits.

Mouth

Again, fresh. But unlike the nose there's hardly any citrus fruit here. Smooth bitterness from the hops throughout and a beautiful dry finish.

8/10

Did I mention I really love DEYA? Everything I drink from them just reinforces that. For 5% this occupies a crazy (good) amount of real estate in the mouth and really punches above its weight. It looks and feels like a really big 7% NEIPA, but with none of the fruit. Someone after a textbook Pale Ale might expect a little more bitterness, but styles aside, this is just really delicious.

jay