September pairs 2: Wicklow Wolf

First beer of the evening on one the hottest day of late summer: if that doesn't provide a fair context for a piña colada sour beer, I don't know what does. Wicklow Wolf has called it If You Like, and it takes the brewery's Endangered Species series of limited editions to number 68. It's a gentle 3.8% ABV, and the ingredients include pineapple, coconut and lactose, as one might expect. As one also might expect, at least if you're me, is that it's not at all sour. The first thing to hit the palate is a smooth and slightly gummy milkshake sweetness. It's effect is exaggerated by the lack of any properly strong flavours, of any kind. After a moment, the pineapple starts to emerge, syrupy and processed rather than crisp and fresh. I couldn't really pick out any coconut, and that was a surprise, as it's not normally shy (boom boom!), and of course you can forget about any hop or malt flavour. Sticky pineapple is where this one begins and ends. Maybe it does the job of conjuring memories of…