8LBB uniquely stands for “8 Lorong Bakar Batu”, the address for the head office of Thirsty – Singapore’s largest and leading online craft beer retailer which has been around for more than 10 years.

Thirsty’s magic doesn’t just lie in its vast beer selection, its polished website or its quirky marketing banners. It distinguishes itself by taking the effort to introduce shoppers to each brewery’s beers sold on the site when you’re looking to purchase. What really grabs my attention, though is the hoppiness scale that accompanies each brew (telling you exactly how bitter or sweet it is), and the thoughtful lowdown on everything from the beer’s style, tasting notes, the place of origin and transparently stating its best before date.

It's a bit like having a beer buddy by your side, guiding you through what's going to be sweet and what's going to remind you of your bitter ex – pretty crucial when you're navigating the craft beer world. Little thoughtful things like these make you more confident in your purchase when shopping for craft beers.

Now, onto the 8LBB Dragon’s Breath West Coast IPA. This is a collaboration between Thirsty and The Craft Alliance, steered by none other than John Wei of Brewlander Brewery’s fame, practically a craft beer celebrity in Singapore.

Dragon’s Breath is said to be a nod to the heart and soul of Singapore’s food scene – the hawker centres. After all, these bustling food courts are a UNESCO-recognised cultural heritage of the nation state, where you could explore Singapore's rich culinary stories at one location. The brew is dedicated to the hawker "aunties" and "uncles," the culinary heroes of us who operate these challenging businesses and keep Singapore’s unique food culture alive.

Thirsty’s website sheds more light on how the collaboration took form. Apparently, they had a dim sum lunch with John before the Thirsty team provided the label art and some recipe ideas. John’s team at The Craft Alliance took charge of the brewing.

Labelled as a West Coast IPA, Dragon’s Breath uses neutral malt and those famously aromatic hops from the American Northwest. Light pine and tropical hop notes are said to flicker across our palate like the flicker of a dragon’s fiery breath. A little bit over the top? Probably. But it’s all in good fun especially since this is the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Dragon.

Let’s get into this beer!

8LBB Dragon’s Breath West Coast IPA, 5.8% ABV – Review

Appearance: Just an observation – most West Coast IPAs tend to be amber clear. This one presents a translucent gold hue, almost a New England IPA-like appearance.

Nose: Fresh, with indistinct tropical fruits, the most obvious being some ripe mango puree and Nestle’s Mango Sjora. There’s also a subtle undercurrent of pine complimented by light white florals.

Palate: Vibrant and citrusy, with light tropical notes once again. The initial impression is a burst of lemon zest and indistinct tropical fruits – passion fruit and coconut cream, buoyed by a thick and velvety texture reminiscent of a NEIPA. It quickly transitions into a cleaner profile marked by a clean confectionary candied sweetness, a solid malty backbone and some Digestive wheat biscuits.

Finish: Clean, concise and straightforward. It has a basic barley essence coupled by an emerging clean grassiness of hops.

My Thoughts

This one’s another straight crowd pleaser. Rather than being bolder and much hoppier like a typically robust West Coast IPA, this strikes a middle ground between a West Coast IPA and a NEIPA. It has a very pleasant hazy mouthfeel with a very restrained bitterness, paired with light tropical sweetness of mango and coconut cream, making this super easy to drink.

This will enjoy broad appeal as a friendly, tropical IPA that wouldn’t turn off hop-phobes .

For Singaporean readers, this beer is available on Thirsty.com ! Search “8LBB” to locate this product.

@CharsiuCharlie