WHIP Piña Colada Smoothie IPA

WHIP Piña Colada Smoothie IPA, from Left Field Brewery, is a complicated little brew that reflects a moderately complicated pitching statistic. Like its cocktail namesake, it features pineapple, coconut, along with lactose, oats, wheat, vanilla yeast, to combine in a 6% concoction that is sold in 355mL cans.

A milky golden brew, WHIP glugs out of its aluminum cage with a thin off-white head. It has a coconut-driven nose accented with pineapple 

 sweetness. The flavour hits the piña colada pedigree ever more squarely, with sweet coconut and pineapple elements evident to even the most untested palate. Behind that, there is a light hoppiness evident at the finish.

Left Field’s Piña Colada Smoothie IPA delivered exactly what it promised, with a creamy mouthfeel and boatloads of Island flavours. This isn’t exactly a novelty beer, but it is definitely the kind of ale that I’d only reach for occasionally. Too sweet for business drinking, but definitely interesting, it’s a beer I liked, but won’t hurry out for a second. I was watching the Toronto Maple Leafs host the hated Boston Bruins when I reached for this can of ale, needing something Toronto-born to cheer on the Buds—something from one of Toronto’s elite breweries seemed like an appropriate choice, and even if it didn’t fuel the Leafs to victory, it left me satisfied. My only real beef is that I’d have liked a more boisterously bitter finish to balance the sweet front end.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.