27 July 2015 - Best Beer HQ
Panhead Lola Deville craft beer review
ABV: 7%
The can: A scarred woman in a motorcycle helmet stares ominously at me from the front of this 440ml can of rosehip hibiscus saison from Panhead Custom Ales in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Her name is Lola Deville and she looks like one bad motherf*&ker.
This can of Lola Deville is one of four new “Canheads”, each featuring a bad-ass black-and-white character with their own backstory.
Blurb on the can: Trust is just the opening act to betrayal. Lola was innocent once. Scarred in neither body nor soul, she lived for beauty and truth until both were taken from her by men who are remembered now only by the worms that wreath their bones.
So now she rides, out of the dull glare of the sodium lamps into darkness that knows her better than she knows herself.
This rosehip and hibiscus saison mourns distant sweetness turned bitter by earthly corruption.
Taste: This can of Lola Deville tastes almost as good as it looks, which isn’t a backhanded compliment. I know it sounds like one, but realise that I love the look of the Canhead range of Panhead craft beer, and the fact that the beer inside the awesome-looking can nearly measures up to its aesthetics is actually very high praise indeed.
Lola Deville pours a lively deep-red colour with a thin pink head that dissipates shortly after. It’s sort of like a dessert beer, sweet and tangy with notes of strawberry and hibiscus. It’s highly carbonated, which is to be expected with this style of beer, with a dry finish.
Is it the best beer ever? I’m loving this style of beer right now; I recently reviewed Garage Project’s Tournesol spiced saison, which I said brought me some sunshine on a shitty winter’s day. Lola Deville is another very good one.
What else should I drink? I haven’t tried a bad beer from Panhead Custom Ales yet, so take your pick. Also check out my review of the Panhead Port Road Pils.