Dripping Pitch is a West Coast-style IPA. Resinous and citrusy, it’s a delightful balance of fresh and bitter flavours. Dripping Pitch is suitable for vegans but contains gluten.
Norfolk is famous for a range of reasons. It was the birthplace of Horatio, Lord Nelson. It makes a fabulous holiday destination if you don’t mind getting cold and wet in February. And its residents are all safe in the event of global sea levels rising because they all have webbed feet.
Perhaps Norfolk should be more famous for its beer, and less for its long-standing tradition of first cousins marrying. Woodforde’s Brewery, just outside Norwich, makes some cracking beers, as does Humpty Dumpty down on the Broads. But further off the beaten path you’ll find today’s brewers: Duration, over in West Acre.
Named for the longest-running laboratory experiment ever (Queensland University’s “pitch drop” experiment turns 100 years old in 2027), Dripping Pitch claims that IPA has turned into something similar: “a decades long experiment changing and flowing with our taste and location.” This is perhaps a little more philosophical than I expect from my beverages, but at 6.7% I may find myself waxing philosophical when I finish this can.
It pours a hazy straw colour with a generous, white head. The aroma is light and fresh: bright orange zest with sweet, sticky pine sap.
The mouthfeel is soft, the effervescence gentle. While Dripping Pitch has some of the bitterness you’d expect of a Westie, that’s balanced out with a good amount of fruity, juicy sweetness. That leads into a warm, ever so slightly spiced finish and a mouth demanding the next sip arrive soon.
You might not expect to find a West Coast IPA in East Anglia. But if you ever come across a can of this stuff in the wild or, for some reason, you find yourself in West Acre, I’d suggest you give this Westie a try.
Brew Report 