504 Pale Ale

Liberty Village Brewing Company's 504 Pale Ale owes its name to the 504 King Streetcar, which is crappy and unreliable. Fortunately, this born in Toronto brew isn't. It contains 5.3% alcohol and comes in 473mL cans. I had a can on offer at the outstanding Tallboys Craft Beer House while waiting for some amigas to arrive. It was a hazy orange-gold ale that poured with a thin off-white head.

504 had a slightly hoppy aroma that featured unexpected notes of juicy fruits. Following that pattern, the flavour blended notes of passion fruit and peach with a meagre bitterness to form a very drinkable, curiously tropical Ontarian pale ale.

Other than my distaste for its namesake, 504's only significant failing is that its bitterness is underwhelming. It has the hop quotient of an under-boozed, sessionable American Pale Ale--less than expected from a slightly boozier cousin. That aside, my first foray into Liberty Village Brewing Company's offerings left me pleasantly surprised. Perhaps because Liberty Village is such a horrid neighbourhood, I was expecting to be unimpressed with the progeny of this brewery.  I'll eat some crow though, because it was quite a lovely little ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.