An esky, for anyone who hasn't spent time around Australians, is a cooler, and Original Pattern Brewing Co. has built a beer specifically to fill one. Esky Crusher is a West Coast IPA at 6.5% ABV, brewed with Mosaic and Centennial hops alongside a healthy dose of Australian Enigma, the hop doing most of the heavy lifting here.
The result is well-balanced with notes of passionfruit, raspberries, and red currants complementing the hop bite rather than fighting it, which is a fairly elegant trick for a beer whose branding is built entirely around crushing thirst on a hot day. Original Pattern's own pitch is refreshingly literal: pack the cooler to the brim, this one's essential.
West Coast IPAs have a reputation for leaning bitter and serious, but Esky Crusher's fruit-forward hop selection keeps things closer to crushable than confrontational, which tracks with a beer named after packing for a day outdoors rather than sitting around debating IBUs.
This is one of six new releases out of the Oakland taproom this week, available for pickup and shipping Friday at noon, with delivery across California for anyone whose own esky is still empty.
Wherever you're planning on cracking this one open, bring ice. This is not a beer built for lukewarm.