Beer of the Week Howling Hops Tropical Deluxe

Beer of the Week Howling Hops Tropical Deluxe

Jul 01, 2021Shop Staff

Howling Hops Tropical Deluxe pale ale poured in a Caps and Taps glass on a wooden table in the garden. The beer is a hazy pale yellow.

One week I'll recommend a beer above 4% but this is not that week (watch out for next week though, it's a whopper!). We're back with the summer-y weather, and what could be more summery than Howling Hops Tropical Deluxe?

Howling Hops started as a brewpub in east London, before moving to a huge warehouse (still in east London, of course) where they have set up their brilliant Tank Bar - 10 lines direct from the tank for the ultimate freshness. Because this was so what they were known for, there was a little scepticism when they first started bottling, with some feeling that the beers lost a certain something in packaging. A couple of recipe tweaks and a move to canning later though, and their canned beer is just as impressive (their IPAs and DIPAs are also excellent). My first sip of this can took me straight back to the Southampton Arms—my favourite pub in London, and one that just happens to have this on tap regularly—which seems to me a mark of success.

Tropical Deluxe is a New England-style pale, so it's all juice and haze at a pleasingly low alcohol level. There's definitely tropical notes, with pineapple and peach, but it's also got a really fresh kick of citrus and green apple, as well as a little earthiness to round it off—nothing cloying here. It's light and refreshing and really just everything you could want in a summer beer.

Poppy Simon

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