Hopped & Confused Session Ale

Sold in 473mL cans that feature salmon, a Canada goose, a bear, and a beaver in a canoe, Hopped & Confused Session Ale has to be in the running for the most stereotypically Canadian packaging of all time. It’s a 4.7% ale from Toronto’s Mill Street Brewery. Cloudy and pale, this brew is orange-gold and pours with a sudsy white head. The copy on the can is almost inscrutable, declaring “This beer is really hoppy but not bitter. It is an ale and a lager. ... It is a sessionable version of a non-sessionable style. ...” and some more stuff. We’ll see.

The beer has a succulent, yet saccharine nose, with juicy fruit notes. The flavour is similarly constructed, with pleasant tangerine notes supplemented with a subtly flowery note. H&C is hoppy, but, as billed, it isn’t particularly bitter—at least not as bitter as I expected it to be. I don’t know where they get that nonsense about it being “an ale and a lager”, because it clearly tastes like an ale”, but it does taste pretty good.

The only element that would prohibit me from buying this beer on the semi-regular is its sweetness—it the beer were a little less juicy/syrupy. I’ll maybe buy it again, but despite its “session” nature, I feel unlikely to reach for a second can.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.