Black Raspberry Thunder Milkshake IPA

According to the 473mL can that contains Black Raspberry Thunder Milkshake IPA, this beer from Bracebridge, Ontario’s Muskoka Brewery is a collaboration with Kawartha Dairy, and some of the proceeds go “to support ongoing local community improvement projects”, though it isn’t immediately clear just which projects and what support.

Black Raspberry Thunder is one of my faves among Kawartha Dairy’s excellent ice cream flavours. Muskoka’s milkshake IPA homage is a 6% brew constructed with oats, raspberries, blackberries, and black raspberries. The beer has a vibrant red colour and a blaze of white head. It has a robust berries and cream aroma and loads of sweetness. The flavour is juicy, with lots of berry elements. The mouthfeel is agreeably smooth, though the bitterness quotient could be a smidge higher.

This beer would make a tasty dessert on its own—it’s sweet and flavourful—though if I had some vanilla ice cream, I bet this stuff would make for a gnarly float. To the negative side of the ledger, I’d really have liked more assertive bitterness and a few ticks more booze.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Aloha Friday HPA

Fittingly, I had my first taste of Longslice Brewery’s Aloha Friday HPA on a Friday evening following a long work week. The “H” in HPA stands for hibiscus. According to the 355mL can, Aloha Friday is brewed with both “tropical hibiscus and fruity Azacca hops.” The Torontonian ale contains 4.9% alcohol. The cans are particularly eye-catching, with a pink and teal colour scheme, flowers, and a distant volcano. The beer is, itself, quite pinkish in hue, and it pours with a thin covering of eggshell head.

Aloha Friday has a sweet nose that, to my mind, suggested strawberries. The flavour, equally sweet, packed some floral notes around a berry body. The back end had a suggestion of bitterness, though if truth be told, it was also a bit on the watery side.

Aloha Friday was a lovely change of pace from the typical Ontario pale ale. I really enjoyed its floral/fruity dichotomy and style-appropriate weight. If I were pulling the levers, I’d have given the beer a bit more oomph through the finish to close out strong and a bit more body—its current configuration has an unfortunate kool-aid mouthfeel. Overall, though, I thought it was an innovative and enjoyable can o’suds. I’ll definitely be buying it again soon.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Vim & Vigor Pilsner

Vim & Vigor Pilsner is billed as “a lager of distinction, devilishly hopped with exuberance”, according to the 355mL can. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, the 5.2% pale lager comes from Tooth and Nail Brewing.

 

The beer is an almost clear golden liquid with a thin layer of white head. It has a dry, grainy nose supplemented with noble hop bitterness and a bit of cereal sweetness. True to the copy, I found that the beer really was assertively hopped, and this is particularly evident in the lingering bitter finish. The initial impression involves slight sweetness and lots of grain elements.

For a beer drinker like me, a pilsner with a fiendish amount of hops is a delight, and Vim & Vigor certainly delivered that. Good strength and acceptable crispness make this a quality lager in my books.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Bristol Helle Raiser Beer

Like my great friend R.E.A., Bristol Helle Raiser Beer comes from Bristol, Virginia, so I was intrigued when a sixer of 12oz cans showed up at my door. The beer is a 4.8% number sold as a “Munich Helles Style Lager”. It’s a clear golden lager with a thin layer of off-white head that fades pretty quickly. The beer comes from Bristol Station Brews & Taproom.

BHRB has a rich, grainy nose. For flavour, has loads of malty grain and finishes with dusty dry hops. Along the way, there is some cereal and corn sweetness.

As an alternative to macro lagers, I thought Bristol’s BHRB was a pretty solid response. It’s too sweet by a tick and not quite strong enough, but it blows the typical American macro pale lager out of the water. I’d have liked more emphasis on a crisp finish, but it still tasted decent.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Surround Sound

At a rowdy 8.2% alcohol, Surround Sound is a “Double Dry Hopped DIPA”—that’s a lot of “doubles”—from Collective Arts Brewing in Hamilton, Ontario. The 473mL cans come with brilliant art—a skeletal flower rabbit: beautiful! The beer is sunny and pale under a sudsy white cap.

Surround Sound is brewed using Simcoe and Amarillo hops. It has an earthy, dank hops scent with a bit of perfume—relatively mild olfactory stats from a >8% ale, but pleasant. The flavour has more of a citrus lean than the nose, with some juicy clementine orange elements, nestled alongside perfume and floral notes. The beer is bitter and, for a strong guy, it isn’t over-sweet, which is worth a lot to me.

Collective Arts is one of Ontario’s premier producers of IPAs, double IPAs, and their ilk. I thought that Surround Sound was worthy of the pedigree and a delightful offering. Simply by minimizing the sweetness, the strong ale was out to a good start, but the flavour was pretty nuanced, too. I really like New England IPAs, but I have a bit of NEIPA fatigue. When I bought this stuff, I expected more of the same, but I was pleased to get something a bit different. Hey Collective Arts! Make this stuff a regular offering. I’ll buy it!

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Punk Rock Pilsner

Unfiltered and dry-hopped, Punk Rock Pilsner owes its existence to the folks at Ridgeway, Ontario’s Brimstone Brewing Co. At 4.6% alcohol, PRP is a quaffable pale lager—and pale it is a clear sunshine yellow brew with a load of carbonation and a thick (but short-lived) white head.

According to the copy on the 473mL cans, PRP came into the world as a sudsy complement to a punk rock showcase at the Brimstone home base, known as The Sanctuary. The beer has a cereal-heavy nose backed with a whiff of Czech-style bitterness. The mouthfeel is fresh and light, and its flavour starts out malt-and-grainily, but finishes with a slight clamour of floral hoppiness at the back end.

This is a crushable beer. It isn’t complicated or fussy—it’s the kind of grog a younger me would slam with abandon and the current me would ... slam with slightly older, significantly fatter abandon. However, something (my money’s on the dry-hopping) gives this beer a crafty quality that sets it apart from its macro brethren. 

PRP isn’t a Euro-style pilsner—no, this beer has an impatient, North American feel that suited me fine. What it lacks is a well-developed opening note; however the finish is delightful and the flavour is pretty respectable given the constraints of style and percentage. Would buy again.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Citra Ass Down

Citra Ass Down is a brilliantly named double IPA from Louisville, Kentucky. Brewed by Against the Grain Brewery, the brew tilts the scale at a robust 8.2%. It comes in wacky 16 oz cans and pours a faintly hazy bronze under a cloud of cream-coloured head. The beer has a powerfully boozy aroma, with notes of tangerine. It’s a sweet, strong ale, with a flavour that is both juicy and a little floral. The back end is rich in citrus and evergreen hops.

Perhaps a bit too sweet, but Citra Ass down is a pretty substantial offering with a big flavour and some serious punch. If it were readily available to me, I bet this would be a frequent presence in my refrigerator.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Tsar Wars Imperial Stout

With perhaps one of the best name-and-label combos in Toronto craft brewing, Tsar Wars Imperial Stout is basically an irresistible purchase. Sold in 500mL bottles, the labels feature Northern Maverick Brewing Co.’s polar bear mascot decked out in a Darth Vader helmet and some Russian military garb. The beer, classed as a Russian Imperial Stout, clocks in at 8% alcohol and 30 IBUs, both of which are on the low end of the spectrum for the style. The Toronto-born ale is near-black in colour, under a thin layer of tan head.

Tsar Wars (incidentally, a name that is wildly susceptible to autocorrection) has a sweet, sticky, boozy aroma. The scent encompasses leather, fruitcake, and molasses notes. The flavour charges ahead with roasted malt, molasses, raisin, and a bit of dark chocolate. It finishes with some warmth and java bean bitterness.

Excellently-named and well-packaged, Tsar Wars is a pretty fair ale, too. It could definitely be stronger (I’d have liked it to be in the environs of 10%) and more assertively hopped, but the flavour is quite agreeable and, for a strong ale, approachable. This is certainly the best Northern Maverick offering that I’ve sampled.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Boulevard Whiskey Barrel Stout

Kansas City, Missouri is home to the Boulevard Brewing Co. and their enormous 11.8% alcohol Whiskey Barrel Stout. Sold in 355mL bottles, just one WBS is a pretty fair start to a long night. The beer supplements its boozy heft with 32 IBUs as well—not particularly bitter, but certainly not timid.

Boulevard’s WBS is, as the name gives away, a barrel-aged imperial stout. It’s a black ale with a thin, short-lived wisp of tan head. It has a sweet, woody nose built around a molasses foundation. The flavour is packed with wood sweetness, chocolatey malt, and a boozy backdraft. Through it all, the beer has a thick. languid mouthfeel.

Boulevard’s Whiskey Barrel Stout is a take no prisoners ale with loads of flavour and even more booze. A quality after dinner beer, this is stuff best tacked on a full stomach. If you like your stouts sweet, thick, and woody, this is your brew.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Rainbownade

One of the busier IPAs I’ve ever gotten down with, the aptly named Rainbownade features additions of grapefruit, passion fruit, mango, raspberry, and blueberry. Brewed in Boston, Massachusetts by Dorchester Brewing Company for Evil Twin Brewing. The beer is a 7% brewski. It has a sediment-heavy ruddy bronze hue, poured with a thin off-white head.

Rainbownade has a sweet, juicy nose rich in a the expected cornucopia of fruit notes. The flavour is fruitful, with a lot of berry elements. What there isn’t is a lot of classic IPA touches—other than the high percentage. There isn’t really a lot of citrus, either.

More fruit punch than IPA, Rainbownade was a tangy, juicy carnival of boozy flavour. I dug it, but not as an IPA.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Im-Peach-Ment Tart & Peachy Wit

Walking down the aisle of a Victoria, BC beer shop, I spotted a 473mL can of Im-Peach-Ment Tart & Peachy Wit and needed it to come home with me. The can was plain, but a name like that is worthy of a purchase every time. Brewed in Kamloops, BC, the 5%, 10 IBU wheat ale is made by Red Collar Brewing Co. The beer was strikingly clear, which seemed strange for a wheat bear. It had a sunny gold colour and poured with a thin layer of white suds.

Brewed using those fuzzy, juicy round guys, Im-Peach-Ment had a tangy nose that incorporated yeast, wheat and a wallop of peaches. The mouthfeel was initially thin, but picked up steam toward the peachy hind end. The flavour kicked off with the watery sweetness of a peach tea, but closed out with some unripened peach tartness.

Cute name aside, the beer was just pretty good. It was a bit short of body, and the flavour was agreeable, but a bit wispy.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Calypso IPA

Billed as a “west coast session IPA”, Calypso IPA is a 4.8%, 42 IBU brew from Perth, Ontario’s Perth Brewery. The beer comes in busy 473mL cans. It’s a slightly hazy pale golden ale, packed with carbonation, and covered up with white suds.

Calypso has a nose both juicy and floral. It has tropical fruit sweetness and clover notes in the flavour, giving way to a slightly resinous hops finish.

Overall, the beer was pretty standard, but it was the slight clover lilt that lent Calypso a little intrigue.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Mayday Belgian Pale Ale

Zealously carbonated, to the point that its a challenge to pour, Mayday Belgian Pale Ale is a 5.7% beer from The Napanee Beer Company. Brewed in—you guessed it!—Napanee, Ontario.

The brew is a hazy dull bronze, atop a wee bit of sediment and capped with a bountiful off-white foam. Mayday has crisp, slightly tart aromatics, with ample yeast notes and a whiff of baking apple. The flavour displays lots of Belgian-style yeast-funk, with some witbier elements (banana and coriander). The back end has some bitterness, but there certainly isn’t anything approaching APA IBUs.

I thought this was a well-executed brew—it’s got decent strength and unconventionally conventional flavour notes. It’s a touch yeasty, but honestly, that’s more my beef with the style than a flaw in the beer. All told, this is a fine ale worth tracking down.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

9 Mile Lickinghole Creek India Pale Ale

At first glance, everything about 9 Mile Lickinghole Creek India Pale Ale seems silly, from the name of the brewery, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery, to the name of the town it comes from, Goochland, Virginia. However, the 6.5% beer ain’t actually all that silly, and, according to the label, a portion of the proceeds from each 473mL can goes to helping provide potable water to a remote Jamaican village; that probably explains the green, black, red, and yellow colour scheme and the lion on the can, too.

9 Mile is a slightly hazy golden ale. Through a dense off-White head, the beer has a sweet and resinous aroma. To my tongue, the beer has a juicy front end, with a dank, sticky, and slightly piney finish.

A beer for a good cause will always land in my shopping cart, though I wish the can gave a bit more info on the village and its water purification process. Either way, the beer is pretty good, if you like your IPAs to have a stank and dank quality. It could have been a bit less sweet, though.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Barracuda

I picked up a 473mL can of Barracuda during a stop in a Victoria, British Columbia beer store because I was entranced by its weird pastel look. The beer, an India pale ale, comes from Vancouver’s Superflux Beer Company. It’s a 6.2% brew that pours with a creamy orange look and an off white head.

Barracuda has a pulpy citrus aroma supplemented with a whiff of funk. It has orange and grapefruit elements in the front end of the flavour, while the back delivers a hefty dose of dank IBUs.

I’d class this as a West Coast take on a New England IPA, and a well executed one. The beer could have been stronger and a bit more bitter, but overall it was really enjoyable.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.