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.