If you’re looking for a stiff drink, few come stiffer than Wooden Leg IIIPA. Kicking out the jams with Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial, this triple tipple delivers a profusely fruity, piney flavour hit with a sweetbitter finish that is beautifully balanced… in every sense of the word.
THE I’s HAVE IT
Yes, you read that right – that’s a triple IPA. It’s a bit of a special release for Akasha, something that has anchored our identity over the years since our founding in 2015. Why? Well, when we first brewed it, there weren’t many triples getting made in Australia, and in many ways it – alongside its cosmic sibling, Korben – it has since attained a distinct status amongst craft beer cognoscenti for how adroitly poised it is for a beer this size.
Named after the wooden chunk that holds up our old cold liquor/water tank after someone realised it was missing a leg, Wooden Leg has stood the test of time and taste… pun most definitely intended.
“My fear is that you can occasionally get off course with what you’re doing and why, but Wooden Leg reminds us why we love this stuff so much,” says Dave. “It’s a reminder of the beers that we love – when we brew it and drink it we go, ‘that’s a great beer.’”
At the time, Wooden Leg severely tested the limits of what the brewery was capable of, and in many ways still does. “The first time we attempted to brew it, we put so much hops through it literally wrecked the brewery,” Dave recalls.
Brewery Operations Manager George Atkin, who wasn’t there for those first few brews, confirms the balancing act required to pull off Wooden Leg. “It’s not really that much fun to brew,” he laughs when asked about his experience with Wooden Leg.
“The amount of raw grain required for all the fermentable sugars is really hard to fit into the same system that we brew Little Smith and so forth with. The difficulty of this compared to Korben is almost double.”
“Wooden Leg was a big contributor to us altering the brewery at the time with things like a
bigger hop guard around the whirlpool so we could continue to brew bigger beers moving
forward,” says Dave. “It was stressful at the time, but we learnt a lot.”
STOMPING GREAT FLAVOURS
Besides brewery upgrades, there have been tweaks to the beer as well in order to better deliver Wooden Leg’s huge flavour with that beautiful balance that seems to tuck the 10.5% ABV into some kind of hidden pocket like a video game inventory.
The grain base, like Korben, is a specialty New Zealand malt, which when combined with the use of Centennial, Simcoe and Amarillo hops gives Wooden Leg that dank piney kick with the shimmering citrus and tropical notes West Coast style beers are so beloved for.
But that’s not even the best thing about it. “We brew it straight after Korben, so the seasonal hops are fresh AF,” George says. “The dry finish really stands out, too.”
Wooden Leg is the perfect drop whether you’re setting out on the high seas of beer adventure, or pulling up stumps to kick back by an autumn fire in a comfy leather chair. It’s huge, it’s hoppy, yet has all the poise you might expect from an Akasha Project release.
Beer nerds will love it, booze hounds will snap it up, and Bluebeard’s already got his order in – make sure to get yours before it sails over the horizon for another spell.