Social Parade Dry Hopped IPA

Next up from Toronto’s Black Lab Brewing was their Social Parade Dry Hopped IPA. This 6.5% ale was actually the first bottle that I selected when I was putting together my mixed-six—the 500mL bottle pretty much flew out of the cooler and into my hands.

Dull-orange and hazy, Social Parade poured with a short-lived off-white foam. I caught an unexpected initial whiff of sweet harvest-time apple, but that was quickly out-muscled by a wallop of fresh, grassy hops looming behind. The flavour proved to be pretty assertively hoppy, floral first; then piney and dank. Despite an imbalance of hops to malt elements, there managed to be a fair amount of grainy sweetness, which was not at all unwelcome.

 

New as I am to Black Lab, this was my first brush with one of their IPAs (typically a brewery make-or-break for me, a lad of simple tastes). I found myself quite pleased with this one—it was a bit tough to categorize, without the bold citrus or pine of a typical West Coaster, the haze and juice of an NEIPA (despite the description on the website), or the malt balance of a British-style. Rather, this li’l unit had a grain bill befitting a pilsner backed with a floral hop kaboom that left me pretty satisfied. 

If this beer was regularly available to me, I can’t guarantee that it’d be in constant rotation (it’s perhaps a touch too sweet for that), but it’d certainly be a semi-regular guest star in my fridge. In a market where IPAs can blend together, its flavour offers something a little quirky.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.