Icebreaker Brut IPA

According to the copy on the 473mL can of Icebreaker Brut IPA, “[e]very spring when the weather starts to warm, brave and eager paddlers head out to break ice on the river.” The namesake paddlers and I have nothing in common. As the weather starts to warm, my own impulse [same as when the weather is chilly] is to reach for a beer, and in this case, I grabbed a can of the 5%, 46 IBU brew from Fosters Falls, Ontario. 

 

Brewed by the folks at Whitewater Brewing Co., who recently impressed me with their Astrolabe Session IPA, I approached Icebreaker with quite a bit of enthusiasm. The beer, billed as a “very dry” offering, is a hazy, dull gold grog under a loose, off-white head. It has a pretty hefty perfumed hops nose and a flavour built around floral bitterness. As indicated on the can, the beer is kindling dry, though it  lacks the champagne effervescence that characterizes the Brut IPA style. 

On the whole, I thought Icebreaker was a good effort, though it was undeniably under-strength. A bit more fizz would have been style-appropriate, too, though the dryness was well-executed and the bitterness was on point for a lower alcohol IPA variant.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.