My girlfriend and I were on a lovely walk last week from Hackney Marshes to Victoria Park when we walked past what looked like the world fanciest SPAR shop of all time. Naturally, we popped in and spent a few minutes gawking at the variety of overpriced organic produce they had, before heading to the booze aisle. A very respectable range of craft beer from around London and beyond presented itself, including the beer for today’s review. ‘Why Do You Always Do This’ is a Mango & Coconut sour from Pressure Drop Brewing. Based in North London and brewing since 2013, Pressure Drop are considered one of the heavy hitters of the UK Craft Beer scene. I’ve had a few of their beers in the past, but this is the first time posting about them.

The beer pours the colour of pure orange juice, like it came straight out of the carton. No real head, which is to be expected for a sour with this level of fruit content. The aroma if full of tropical notes being led predominantly by the mango puree. The beer itself has a thick, smoothie like mouthfeel to it. The mango is the biggest flavour but there are notes of coconut that come through. It doesn’t hold back on being sour and has, for me, a solid kick of alcohol too.

A quick note on the can design: A rather clean and simple design, with the image appearing to be a close up photo of a mango. I like this style of artwork on cans as I’m directly drawn into reading what type of beer it is and how strong. No scrambling on the back or side looking for information!

Overall, this is a very good fruited sour. You can clearly tell that they’ve spent the money on adding a healthy amount of fruit puree to get the body and flavour they were looking for. Personally, I could get small hints of coconut, which was a nice balance. However, I often find it’s a flavour that is easily masked and lost in both sours and stouts. I think my main criticism for this beer was that I personally got too much of an alcohol flavour. This meant that the juicy fruits were, at points, being overtaken by the booze. That said, it could easily be a personal preference from myself and I would still recommend that a sour fan give this a go if they see it!

Score: 8/10

Thanks for taking the time to read this review! Feel free to drop a comment if you’ve had the beer before or are a Pressure Drop fan in general. Also, do you have any conspicuous corner shops or off-licenses near you that have a surprising craft beer selection along side the Eastern European lager classics? If you do, I would love to hear about it!

Additional Information:

Style: Fruited Sour

Hops: None

Malt: Not Available

IBU: Not Available

ABV: 6.3%

Gluten Free: No

Vegan: No

Location: SPAR Chatsworth Road

Price: £4.75