All Eyes on Yuzu Pale Ale

Brewed in Bracebridge, Ontario with flaked oats and yuzu purée, All Eyes on Yuzu Pale Ale is a quirky entry that originated from Muskoka Brewery’s Moonlight Kettle Series and has, as the 473mL can says, “graduated”.

The beer contains 5.3% alcohol. It pours orange-gold and hazy, with a fluffy eggshell head. The yuzu (a yellow or green citrus fruit hailing from Japan and Korea) gives the beer a citrusy nose, with lemon, grapefruit and lime elements. The flavour, too, has a citrus spine, though grapefruit-like notes are more pronounced that their lemon-lime cousins. The back end has some pale ale bitterness, though this is balanced with some biscuity sweetness.

An (for me, at least) unfamiliar citrus fruit used in brewing makes my heart go pitter pat, so All Eyes on Yuzu was already off to a good start. The result is a pretty mellow, enjoyable pale ale with an unusual flavour that tastes somewhere between grapefruit and cough drop (but in a mostly good way). A nice sunny day ale from a brewery that associates itself with dock drinking is a pretty good move, and this one was executed quite well. A bit more crispness would have really sealed the deal, though.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.