Sweet Disposition Plum IPA

On what might well have been the first glorious spring day of 2018, I poured myself a 500mL bottle of Sweet Disposition Plum IPA from Toronto’s Rorschach Brewing Co. My glass of beer a dark gold with a cute pinky hue, although it was a considerably sediment-heavy ale. According to the bottle, the stuff was bottled on December 20, 2017 (the day after my 33rd), so it wasn’t as fresh as it could have been, but all of the floaties gave me pause all the same. At just 5.5%, the stuff was a touch under-strength for an India, but not jarringly so.

Sweet to the nose, with an indisputable fruity proclivity, S.D. had a slightly candied aroma. The plum came through nicely in the flavour, though it was accompanied with a clout of bitter brashness—more hoppy, in fact, than I initially expected, given the sugary scent. Acerbic, but sweet, the flavour combo was unusual. I might not have gleaned that it was a plum tint had I not been tipped off, but there it was.

A neophyte to plum IPAs, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Sweet Disposition. I felt the name was fitting, although it belied the depth of bitterness packed into the finish. The fruity front end was a dream, although, as longtime readers of the Bitter World will surmise, I chafed a bit at the 5.5% listing, and could have done with a bit more sabre-rattling gravitas. I’m no stranger to sediment-y beer, but this one was very nearly too far down the garden path, four months of aging or not. On flavour alone the rating’d have been higher, but sediment and low octane’ll getcha. I might has filtered this one ever so slightly...

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.