1 Is there an award for beer can design? If there isn’t, there should be. And Hope Brewhouse would definitely be a strong contender (though they might have to fight off Balter Brewing – those guys’ can design is beautiful in its simplicity). You would probably get a better idea of how cool the Hope cans looked if I could take a decent photo that didn’t crop out half the can.

2 But I can’t take a decent photo. That’s partially because taking photos of beer is the least enjoyable part of doing this blog. At first I was looking for arty ways to take a pic, and would use my Snapseed app to get all fancy with effects and stuff. But, after four and a but years of writing this blog, beer photos tend to get old. Plus, you run out of ideas – and backdrops. All the blog pics are taken at home. I don’t get those who seem to carry a bottle on a hike with them just to take a pic.

3 Anyway, these days I just take a shitty photo on the kitchen counter and be done with it. In fact, see that little bit of yellow on the left-hand side of the pic? That’s a bottle of dishwashing liquid. See, frigging lazy.

4 Okay, so here’s what the uncropped image looks like (I stole it from the internet. Shh, don’t tell anyone)

See, cool huh? They’ve even replaced the “Marshall” logo at the top with “Michael”  – the name of the founder of Hope Estate in the Hunter Valley. Like a few other wineries around the place, Hope decided to diversify into beer.

5 And that’s a very good thing because some of these beers are lovely. I’m especially a fan of the IPA and the DIPA. I had them in that order and found the IPA to be delicious and fruity, with some good bitterness at the end to balance things out. But I was surprised to find I liked the DIPA even better because I’m not that much of a fan of high-alcohol beers – and this one is 9 per cent. But I loved it; it’s absurdly well-balanced and ridiculously drinkable for such a big beer. I loved this one.

Free or paid for?: I bought one of each of the Hope beers from my local bottlo. And will likely go back to buy some more.