Sucker Punch IPA

When you’re the author of a beer blog with a demanding audience of dozens (dozens!) of readers, you don’t want to let them down by failing to deliver a review because you’ve got the sniffles. However, you still want to be sure to deliver an accurate review uncompromised by your plugged sniffer. What to do? My solution: crack open a can of particularly fragrant sour IPA that you’ve had before and, once you confirm you can smell it, write it up. So here are my thoughts on Sucker Punch IPA from Toronto’s Double Trouble Brewing Co.

Billed as a “sour & tart IPA”, the beer is a 6.5% number sold in 473mL cans. Sunny gold and well-carbonated, Sucker Punch pours with a sudsy white head. The beer has tart aromatics characterized by notes of funky yeast, unripe berries, and rhubarb. The flavour is also possessed of a rowdy tang—admirably sour, but also fairly bitter, particularly at the finish.

Sucker Punch is an unusual brew, at least by Ontario craft standards, where sour IPAs aren’t particularly common. It’s acidic, yet bitter, and undeniably flavourful. My review can was my third in under a month, so it’s safe to say I like it; however, I wish the balance was tilted a little bit more steeply toward bitterness.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.