Yes, I only had a middy of the Apocalypso, because I was driving and had already sampled a few other beers. But if I’d caught the bus down, you can bet that glass would have been a pint.

Whether in other people’s blogs or on Twitter, I always read about the great beers they get to try in their neck of the woods. For instance, I follow the blogs of a few United States residents and routinely will read about beers I want to try but know I will never, ever get the chance (I’m not being negative, it’s just the truth). Then there’s the guys in Melbourne, who seem to be pouring great beers down their throats every night of the week.
And there’s Sydney, about an hour up the road from me but, when you’ve got a young child, it might as well be a million miles away. I have to sit at home reading tweet after tweet about people visiting the so-called Frankie’s, knowing that, by the time I get up there to check it out, it will have long become uncool.

So I’m hereby calling the next seven days Wollongong Beer Week – where I bang on about the beers that are pretty easy for me to get my hands on. Most of them I could drink any time I want (note – I have a young child so ‘‘any time I want’’ actually translates into ‘‘about once a week, if I can swing it’’).

Of course pedants will note that two of the breweries are actually of Wollongong and so ‘‘South Coast Beer Week’’ might have been a more accurate title for this series. But the alliterative qualities of ‘‘Wollongong Beer Week’’ appealed to me, so I went with that. Besides, if you pedants want ‘‘South Coast Beer Week’’ then go write your own damn blog. Sheesh!

The very first beer in Wollongong Beer Week is one I wrote of just a few weeks ago, but it’s so damned good it deserves to be written about again. I write of Apocalypso, the latest seasonal from those mighty tall brewers at the Illawarra Brewing Company.

I’d first heard the guys talk about it as a ‘‘summer IPA’’ but now it’s being described as an ‘‘American IPA’’ according to the posters I saw at the brewery bar. I very much prefer the former as it’s so much more evocative and nails the characteristics of the beer.

When I think American IPA, I think of something with fistfuls of hops that just punch you into submission and leave you not wanting any more than just one. That is so not the case with the Apocalypso, Made with Calypso, Belma and Mosaic hops (which I mention here because I think including the names of the hops makes me sound like I know what I’m talking about), they offer up more tropical fruity, than piney flavours.

The first time I had one of these was with the guys at the brewhouse and found it quite tasty indeed. So, next time I had a day off work, I headed to the brewery bar to drink some more and was pleasantly surprised.

There was a lovely, distinctly pineapple flavour that stood up right at the first sip. It was something I hadn’t noticed the first time had it at their Brew HQ – I think it stood out this time because the beer was served slightly warmer. It was added surprise that made me love this beer even more.

There are piney components in the flavour, most noticeable at the back end, where they delicately linger. But unlike many other IPAs they never cause you to think ‘‘Hmm, not sure if I can drink another one of these’’. Instead, the response when your glass of ‘‘Apocalypso’’ is finished is, ‘‘jeez, I could go another one of them’’.

Sadly it’s only a seasonal and so won’t be around for that long. Which is a shame because I reckon it’s the best thing I’ve tasted from the Illawarra Brewing Company. That’s saying something because they make some damn fine beers.