Batch Brewing’s Pash The Magic Dragon is a passionfruit and dragonfruit sour which has become something of an unpredicted success for the brewery.
Pash The Magic Dragon has come and gone from Batch Brewing Co’s revolving line up of small batch beers over the years but it’s remained a popular one. It’s a beer that people ask for again and again, even months after it was last brewed.
At the start of 2018 Batch put it into their distinctive 440ml cans with a label that’s a bit more colourful than usual. Such is the popularity of Pash The Magic Dragon that the brewers released it with a view to make it a more permanent fixture of the Batch lineup alongside West Coast IPA and American Pale Ale.
Fruity Drinkability
Pash pours a beautiful peachy pink colour with a fizzy white head that soon dissipates. It sits relatively still in the glass but feels effervescent on the palate. Passionfruit is the dominant flavour in the beer but it’s by no means excessive or saccharine.
There’s a restrained tropical juice character that makes Pash The Magic Dragon incredibly refreshing to drink. Combined with a sessionable ABV, it’s a beer which is superbly quaffable. There’s a light lacto tartness towards the end which provides just enough tang lingering into the finish to keep you coming back for more.
Increasingly Popular Style
This type of fruited sour beer has become increasingly popular over the last few years, particularly here in Sydney. It suits our climate and the prevalence and improving quality of them has attracted new drinkers to independent beer. The flavour profile and drinkability of these light and refreshing beers is very different to many people’s traditional notions of what beer tastes like.
If you like this you’ll also enjoy Wayward’s Sourpuss or their limited release spin-off Passion of the Puss. Batch do a wide range of fruited sour beers which come and go with whatever fruit is in season. They’re similar beers and are best found fresh at the Batch tasting room.
Pash The Magic Dragon is a good summer quaffer and great Friday knock-off beer but it’ll go equally well with food. Pour it into a tulip glass and enjoy alongside a pavlova with mountains of fresh fruit, or use it to wash down a spicy and aromatic pad thai.
From: Marrickville, NSW
Beer style: Fruited sour
ABV: Approx. 4.6% – 5.1%
Pair with: Pavlova with lots of fresh fruit including passionfruit and dragonfruit
Have you tried Batch’s Pash The Magic Dragon? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.