hopping crazy

Went to my Shad Thames local The Dean Swift (nestling down a Dickensian alleyway in the shadow of Tower Bridge) for their first beer tasting of 2012 hosted by Philadelphia-born beer connoisseur Ric Brown (is the Dean the only eatery in London to have its own 'beer sommelier'?).
Drank some fine and some quirky drinks, including Sunwerk from California, a US attempt to create a Bavarian style Weissbier. I really enjoyed it although it came low down on the overall favourites for the evening. There wasn't the sharp, zingy effervescence in the Bavarian originals but it had a more mellow, malty taste than is usual for a wheat beer and a pleasant mouthfeel. Too bad it's so expensive over here or I'd be partial to a few.
Perhaps the most extreme taste sensation of the evening though was Columbus from Bristol brewer Arbor. Now, I've met the lads from Arbor, one of the burgeoning host of new British microbreweries, and I'm a fan of most of their fresh, hoppy IPA-style beers, but this one, using US Colombus hops alone, was too much of a challenge even for me. Like alpha bitter hops? This beer has them in bucket loads. Literally, I expect. Interesting for a taster to get the full impact of what hops mean to a brew, but a few pints and you'd feel like you'd been sucking a lemon. Well done, Arbor for experimenting, but please get back to beers we can actually enjoy drinking.