There was a time when I thought the beers from James Squire were pretty good. I was happy to buy them by the six pack and got a little excited whenever I saw them on tap at a pub. When I went to the James Squire pub at Darling Harbour I was quite excited.

But those times are gone. Clearly my palate has developed enough that the JS beers just seem plain. The Chancer and Sundowner (can never recall if they’re the same beer since JS changed all the names) were the first to seem lacklustre but as I went on, the stronger beers in the range stated to seem a bit blaah.

Which should certainly not be taken as a criticism. These beers are very much entry-level craft beers, the sort of beer that a newbie can try and marvel at flavours but not find them so strong as to be put off. I was one of those people who cut my craft beer teeth on these beers – and I will always be grateful for that.

I opted to try the Stowaway IPA, perhaps the strongest beer in the range flavour-wise (the porter would be its only competition in this department) to see if it still held something for me. I thought it might; I’ve been to a few BBQs where the host has laid on some cases of The Chancer Golden Ale and I’ve wished it was the IPA so that I could at least taste something.

It’s an English IPA rather than a US version, so there’s not a huge whack of hops on the nose. Flavour wise, it’s driven by a strong malt flavour, with the hops making their presence felt through bitterness rather that taste. And it’s a nice degree of bitterness too, which really lingers. I’d reckon for the craft beer newbie, the JS IPA might be a smidge challenging.

It wasn’t challenging for me – but it is my favourite beer from the JS range. And one I would still be likely to drink today.