Bandit Brut

Bandit Brut is a Torontonian example of that trendiest of 2018 beer styles, the brut IPA. From Bandit Brewery, Brut comes in 500mL bottles and contains just 5.6%. It’s a hazy orange-gold ale with a boatload of carbonation and peaks and valleys of dense white head.

Zevon says in "smells interesting"

The beer has a sweet, almost peachy aroma, as well as a whisper of bitterness. The flavour here was delicate, with perfume-y stone fruit and yeast doing yeomen duty and a bright, effervescent mouthfeel occupying the starring role.

Admittedly, this was my first dance with a brut IPA, so I won’t paint the whole subtype with the same brush, but I wasn’t blown away by Bandit’s Brut. The flavour was understated but too thin, and the mouthfeel was pleasant, but hardly captivating. I have a hard time classing this 5.6% ale as any sort of IPA. All criticism aside, though, the peach notes, while thin on the ground, were enjoyable. I know the Bard’s cliché about a rose smelling as sweet, but call this a pale ale and I feel like I’d have been more receptive. That failing is mine and not Bandit’s, especially since there was actually a lot to like about their Brut, so I can’t take it out on them in the ratings. What I will say, though, is that the flavour was too sparse and the percentage too low, whatever you call the thing.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.