Collective Arts IPA No. 5

It seems to me that the fifth entry in Collective Arts Brewing’s India Pale Ale series, IPA No. 5, is the Hamilton, Ontario brewery’s most ambitious entry to date: an 8.2% alcohol bruiser billed as a “New England Style Double IPA with Citra & Simcoe Hops”. No. 5 comes in CA’s usual, stylish 473mL cans. The beer within is a predictably cloudy, milky orange potion, under a decent layer of off-white suds.

No. 5 smells damned juicy—it has ample notes of grapefruit and tropical fruit on display, along with a waft of hoppiness. As juicy as the aroma might be, though, the flavour outdoes it, with fresh-squeezed OJ notes, along with peach and other, more tropical leanings. The downside of all of that fruit focus is that, when combined with the elevated booze content, this beer is mighty sweet—very nearly too sweet. There is a welcome uptick of bitterness at the finish, but it isn’t quite enough to provide the balance and grittiness I wanted.

As I said, IPA No. 5 is an ambitious addition to the series. To use a baseball metaphor in February seems sacrilege, but here goes: this beer took a mighty cut, aiming at the fences, but ended up with a long single. In short, it could have been better, but it a world where professional ball players fail to reach base more that 70% of the time, a single is a pretty solid result.

 

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.