Jelly King Blood Orange

A modified version of Bellwoods Brewery’s Jelly King is Jelly King Blood Orange, a dry-hopped sour ale with fruit. This Torontonian ale contains 5.6% alcohol and comes in a 500mL bottle. Brewed with blood oranges (one of my favourite things), this beer has a cloudy dull-gold look and a thick off-white head.

JKBO has an aroma that is both juicy and tart. There are potent citrus notes and just a whiff of bitterness. Its flavour is only moderately tart, making JKBO an approachable sour, but one sharp enough to intrigue sour heads. As well, there is a bit of a briny edge that runs parallel to a gently hopped finish.

Approximately equivalent to the original Jelly King, but with a juicier bod, JKBO is an interesting take on the classic formula. It could probably be a bit more sour, but the beer is all the more accessible as a result.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Palmetto Espresso Porter

According to the 355mL cans of Palmetto Brewing Company’s Espresso Porter this dark ale is “handcrafted in the great state of South Carolina”—Charleston, SC to be precise. The beer claims to be “brewed with coffee” though there is no indication on the can just what kind of coffee it is or where it is sourced. The beer clocks in at a stable 6% alcohol and 25 IBUs. It’s a dark amber brew—fairly clear and with a thin layer of eggshell head.

The Espresso Porter has a sweet and bitter aroma combination that blends coffee notes with a sweet caramel lilt. The flavour is that of a sweetened iced coffee, with brown sugar notes. There is some bitterness here, but it manifests more as java than as hops.

Unlike my favourite coffee porters, this effort from Palmetto focuses less of the grainy bitterness of a potent French roast, and more on a sweetened cuppa joe. That’s not to say that it doesn’t work—just that I was expecting my coffee black and got cream and two sugars. Palmetto’s Espresso Porter has a beautifully enticing aroma and nice strength. The flavour is less remarkable and far too sweet, but it isn’t disagreeable by any stretch. Mostly, that’s not how I take my coffee. If you’re a cream abs sugar aficionado, this might be your ticket.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Spoaty-Oaty

My second brush with an offering from Appalachian Mountain Brewery was Spoaty-Oaty, their 5.4% “Appalachian Pale Ale”. Brewed using oats and sold in 473mL cans, this stuff comes from Boone, NC. It’s name is a reference to the old folk song—the version I’m most familiar with is Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee”.

The beer is a hazy golden grog that pours with a particularly thick and lively off-white cumulus. It has a fresh, hoppy scent and a flavour to match, with soft notes of grapefruit and pine. The oats used in the brewing process lend this ale a creamy, easy-sipping texture.

I wasn’t blown away by AMB’s Long Leaf India Pale Ale, but Spoaty-Oaty left me with renewed enthusiasm for the pride of Boone. The flavour is mild, but nuanced, and the mouthfeel is superb. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Man of Law American IPA

In a roundabout sense, I like to think of myself as a man of the law, but I got nothing on the badass outlaw robot sheriff that appears on the 355mL cans of Man of Law American IPA. MoL comes from the Southern Pines Brewing Company out of Southern Pines, North Carolina. It’s a 6.4%, 60 IBU brew.

Dull orange, hazy, and with a sudsy white head, MoL has a sweet and citrusy scent. The flavour is initially citrus-oriented, but veers quickly into  funky hops territory.

Man of Law is a pretty tangy, tasty IPA. It has an unusual hop flavour that I enjoy. I’d have liked a bit more strength, though.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Monkeysphere IPA

According to the copy on the 355mL can, Monkeysphere IPA gets its name as a reference to Dunbar’s Number—which is apparently the theoretical limit to the number of social relationships a human can maintain. Hmm.

The beer comes from Gibb’s Hundred Brewing Company in Greensboro, NC. It’s a dull orange-gold ale, with a thin cover of off-white head. The 6.7% brew comes with a nose that blends bready notes with dank citrus notes. Its flavour is bitter, in the resinous sense of the word, and contains some fruit and forest elements, along with some caramel maltiness.

Monkeysphere is a decent IPA—it has adequate strength and a nice aroma. It has balance. However, it doesn’t really come together as anything memorable. In a crowded IPA marketplace, there isn’t much about this one to set it apart.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Hopness Monster

The 355mL cans of Hopness Monster feature an adorable hop-headed sea beast and I love it! The beer, an India pale ale, comes from Morganton, NC, where it is brewed by Catawba Brewing Co.

The 6.5% ale is a hazy gold number that pours with a fluffy white head. Its nose combines fruity notes, yeast, and cracklin’ hops. The flavour has some tropical notes that precede a significant burst of bitter stank.

Fruity up front and arid hops out back make Hopness Monster a winner in my books. 6.5% is a bit low on my preferred booze scale for an IPA, but the IBU count is more than adequate. The only real fly in the ointment is the transition between front and back end is a bit thin and unremarkable.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Long Leaf India Pale Ale

From the “Old North State”, North Carolina, comes Long Leaf India Pale Ale. Brewed in Boone, by Appalachian Mountain Brewery, this stuff contains 7.1% alcohol and comes in a 473mL can. According to the copy, some of the proceeds from every can go to support the “revitalization of our mountains and rivers”, so that’s cool.

Long Leaf is a hazy gold-orange. It pours with a fluffy off-white head, and exudes a a sweet, dank, and fruity aroma. The beer is extremely sweet to the tongue, with a slightly syrupy mouthfeel. The flavour has sweet citrus notes, evergreen and resinous hops, and a boozy streak.

Strong-tasting and flavourful are normally some of my favourite adjectives in an IPA, but in the case of Long Leaf, these attributes are a bit undermined by the overpowering sweetness that clings to this beer from start to finish. It’s not a bad offering, but I wanted it to be a bit different. To its credit, the back of the can has the “NC State Toast”, which was immortalized (at least to me) in song by American Aquarium in “The Old North State”, which is pretty cool.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Frostbite Black IPA

Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is the fount of Frostbite Black IPA, a 6.2% 74 IBU, an obsidian ale with a loose, off-white head. Frostbite has a rowdy aroma crammed full of roasted malts and dank hops. Its flavour is rich in nearly-charred malts, built on top of a very bitter and resinous lupulin body.

Black IPAs are a big ask, since I expect jumbo bitterness combined with roasty, malty elements. Foothills IPA does a pretty fair service of walking those boundaries—it’s hoppy and dank, but bold and well-rounded. I’d have liked it to punch a bit harder in terms of booze, but the IBU count is admirable, the colour is nice, and the aroma is robust.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Fresh Squeezed IPA

Fresh Squeezed IPA came into my possession as a leftover from my NYE beer and cheese extravaganza. The beer, brewed in Bend, Oregon, is produced at Deschutes Brewery. It’s a 6.4%, 60 IBU piece of work that pours a strikingly clear copper colour, under a thin disc of off-white head. The labels on the 12oz bottles of Freah Squeezed are nicely designed and quite sharp.

Not surprisingly, citrus notes are a major player in both the aroma and taste of this India pale, with grapefruit and tangerine leading the pack. Under these fruit-forward elements, there are some gritty and resinous hop tones.

Juicy is good in an IPA, but I’m wary of over-sweetness. Fresh Squeezed almost tightropes that boundary, though it does manage to keep its toes on the agreeable side of the line. I’d gladly enjoy this stuff again—and it should be noted that it finished tied for second place among the beers schlepped to my beer an cheese competition, so it’s clearly a crowd pleaser.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Wandering Monk Belgian IPA

At a hearty 8% alcohol, Wandering Monk Belgian IPA packs some significant heft into each 500mL bottle. From Elora, Ontario’s Elora Brewing Co., this potent ale is an orange-gold elixir. It’s hazy and pours with a very lively layer of thick, sudsy off-white head.

Wandering Monk has a yeasty nose, augmented by white wine vibes. The flavour is multifaceted; it kicks off with Belgian-style funk and opens into a curious melange of fruity notes. The back end remains yeasty, but swivels into a bitter posture.

This beer would be a nice partner in crime with a strong cheese—methinks the funks would make a joyful noise together. On its own, it’s pretty good stuff, though the somewhat unusual flavour almost certainly precludes teaching for a second bottle—given the potency, that’s probably not a bad thing. I’d have liked a bit heavier hand in the hopping of this brew and it’s a touch sweet, but these are minor complaints about a largely impressive and well-executed ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Truth Serum

During my debut visit to Rorschach Brewing Co., I asked my server to recommend the beer that was most characteristic of the brewery. Without any hesitation at all, she recommended Truth Serum, a 6.5% double-dry hopped IPA brewed with oats.

Truth Serum is a hazy dull-gold ale. It arrived with a thin covering of loose eggshell head. Its nose is a veritable clangor of hoppy, tropical fruit notes. To the palate, the beer is bitter, particularly in the early going, with grapefruit elements. Behind that, there is a bit of a thin spot where the flavours are a touch less rambunctious than I might have hoped, leading into a fairly dank, hoppy finish. The oats give Truth Serum a lovely, smooth mouthfeel that added to my enjoyment.

If Truth Serum is indicative of the quality of Rorschach’s brewing acumen, then I’m a believer. It’s not the best dry-hopped IPA I’ve ever tried, but it is clearly skillfully brewed according to a grand design and to suit someone’s personal specs. I prefer my IPAs to be a touch stronger and more pushy, but Truth Serum left me feeling satisfied and contemplative, which is a definite win.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Latent Construct

Getting ready to host a beer and cheese competition to ring in the New Year, I took a different approach than I usually do to create my pairing: I actually chose my cheese first and then went in search of a complimentary beer. The cheese I landed on was a semi-soft cow’s milk number from Quebec called Le Cendré de Notre-Dame—creamy and mild, with a delicate flavour. Traditionally, I have gone beer hopping first and then found a cheese to match, but I was feeling impish.

 

After some soul-searching, I decided that what I wanted was either a local (Toronto) brown ale or a stout, not too sweet, and not too strong. I put my internet skills to work and decided on a likely contender: Latent Construct is a coffee and oatmeal stout. From Rorschach Brewing Co. in Toronto’s east end, sourcing LC provided me with an opportunity to visit a brewery I’ve been hankering to try for ages. And at an even 5%, the flavour of the beer would be able to shine.

Latent Construct has a bold, java-heavy scent, with dark chocolate and brown sugar notes. It’s flavour is likewise bold—strong brewed coffee is paramount, giving the beer a bitter and rich tone—but this is supplemented by chocolate notes and a lingering hops finish. It is a handsome obsidian ale that arrived with a lush off-white head.

When I host a beer and cheese event, I always play to win. With my duo of Cendré and Latent Construct, I went into the party feeling pretty confident. This is a beer I’d gladly revisit, and one that left me feeling extremely curious about the rest of Rorschach’s lineup.

 

Note: I did won both the coveted best pairing and best beer awards.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Panache Session I.P.A.

The northern Ontario town of Sudbury is the birthplace of Panache Session I.P.A. Built by Stack Brewing, Panache is a 4.5% alcohol session sipper. The beer comes in 473mL cans that feature a lakeside image in homage of the namesake Lake Panache. It’s a cloudy, sunny pale gold bräu topped with peaks and valleys of fluffy white head.

Panache has a mild nose—it’s slightly hoppy with juicy citrus notes. The flavour starts promisingly, with a panoply of fruity and hoppy notes. Unfortunately, after the front end, the flavour really tails off into a somewhat thin and watery melange. 

Compared to other, more assertive session IPAs, Panache falls down after the initial taste. It feels a bit hollow after a hopeful beginning. I’ll likely buy this beer again once or twice, but it isn’t nearly as rad as some of the other excellent Stack ales that have visited my gullet in the past.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Pivot Imperial IPA

Pivot Imperial IPA is a pretty cool series of strong ales from Picaroons Traditional Ales/Northampton Brewing Co. out of Fredericton, NB. The concept is simple and the execution is elegant. There are (to date at least) nine versions of Pivot. The grain bill is the same in each, though the hops vary from release to release. They all seem to come in very handsome 500mL bottles and contain 8% alcohol. Sadly, I only had one version to write about, rather than multiples to compare, but I’ll live.

The version I found in my parent’s fridge was #8—brewed with locally-grown Sorachi Ace hops from Moose Mountain Hop Farm, along with Warrior and Azacca varieties. 

Pivot 8 was a largely clear number. It was golden-hued and poured with a nice layer of creamy eggshell head. It had a dankly bitter nose supplemented with a waft of floral perfume. Like many of Picaroons’ offerings, Pivot 8 is built around a familiar biscuity, slightly toasty, malt foundation, but it departs from the formula in the degree and style of hopping—fragrant and floral, with some pretty arid attitude. It wasn’t as assertively, crisply hoppy as I’d have liked, but the IBUs were definitely there.

Picaroons’ Pivot Series is almost certainly one worth exploring if you’re a beer lover with a passion for hops varieties. Unfortunately, I can only speak to one version, which I enjoyed, but if you dig exploring how a few changes elements can affect the whole of an ale, this here is a good opportunity.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.