North East Beer Review

When a mix of interests in craft beer and airplanes collide. I purely bought this beer due to the plane on the can and old Pan Am style artwork. Brouwerij Kees is a Dutch brewery and Commonwealth Brewing Company is a Virginia based brewery, this shows a collaboration across the Atlantic. The Great Circle Route is a Double Dry Hopped Triple IPA. Please tune in to view the history of these two breweries, the beers, the pour, the taste and aroma and finally my verdict. Enjoy, Cheers

A collaboration derived from a flight path

First I will start with Brouwerij Kees. This Middelburg, Netherlands brewery was founded by Kees Bubberman in 2015. Kees started brewing as a hobby in the 1990’s before becoming a brewmaster in 2007 at Brouwerij Emelisse. During his time there, Emelisse became known for British- American style ales.

In 2015, Bubberman founded his own brewery after years of homing and perfecting his skills. Known for hop forward beers and experimentation, Brouwerij Kees was founded in Bubberman’s hometown and within one year his beers were globally renowned. The brewery operates on bold flavours, creativity and quality. Kee’s background in brewing shows his passion in tropical hop forward IPAs. Today, Brouwerij Kees is well known for its groundbreaking ales and making moves in the modern craft beer scene.

Commonwealth Brewing Company was also founded 2015 by Natalie and Jeramy Biggie in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This brewery started as somewhat of a passion project before growing and cultivating a major following across the Virginia area. The brewery is set inside a former fire station and it became a well known taproom, beer garden and social spot in Chic’s Beach.

From the start, Commonwealth produced a wide variety of styles from hop forwards IPAs to Belgian style ales and Sours. They reflect their brewing on a mixture of traditional and modern techniques. Their brewery has expanded to an additional site in Fairfax, Virginia. Increasing the popularity in Virginia.

And onto the beer, Great Circle Route is a Double Dry Hopped Triple IPA born from the collaboration. The beer is named in reference to the shortest flight path between the Netherlands and the United States which showed the transatlantic relationship between the two breweries. Great Circle Route carries a moderate 10.5% ABV which shows the different styles of the cross continental breweries, aiding in a hop forward approach.

A slightly hazy orange pour

When poured into my schooner glass, Great Circle Route shows a hazy orange to golden colour which is remarkably bright in appearance. A small head appeared but left no real lacing. However the colour of this beer and the lively carbonation made this quite inviting.

A tropical taste and aroma

Aroma

On the nose, this is a hop forward aroma with particularly notes of tropical fruits such as Mango, Pineapple and Passionfruit. The undertones are that of Citrus zests such as grapefruit, orange and a pinch of lemon. This is an extremely hop forward beer with a resinous edge along with a malt sweetness. This was an extremely inviting beer due to the aroma.

Taste

When taking the first sip, Great Circle Route mostly followed on from the aroma. It overwhelmingly had flavours tropical and citrus fruits. Mid palate, a soft malt backbone provided a moderate balance which stopped the beer from being very sharp due to the ABV. The warmth from the alcohol was there but not overpowering at all. Overall, this was an extremely well balanced and smooth Triple IPA.

Time for my verdict

In all honesty, I was not sure what to expect with this beer due to its 10.5% ABV. Sometimes these types of beers can be overly warm from the ABV. The Great Circle Route perfectly used this warmth to add to the balance of the hop forward beer. Packed with tropical and citrus flavours, this was amazing as the bitterness from the alcohol was balanced with the malt backbone and resinous flavour. The message of the beer makes this one particularly interesting as a plane enthusiast due to the flight path message from the Netherlands and United States. Overall, I rate this beer a solid 4.5 out of 5.

Where did I purchase this beer?

I bought this beer from The House of Trembling Madness in York and I paid £6.99 for this can. Trembling Madness is such a good bottle shop and bar, If you know your craft beer in the UK, nothing more needs to be said.

Thank you so much for reading this beer review. If you enjoyed this beer review you will love my review of another public transport inspired beer called Donzoko x Lumo Train Beer.