Life on März

 Life on März is, of course, a Märzen. This one comes from Kingston and its Stone City Ales. It is a 5.3% amber lager that comes in 500mL bottles. The beer is beautifully clear and it pours with a short-lived layer of creamy foam.

LoM has a malty, slightly toasty aroma accented with a nod to sweetness. The beer has a sweet to bitter, malty to bitter progression. It’s flavour touches on roasted malt, grainy, floral hops, and some metallic elements.

I don’t see a lot of märzens (märzi?) in my perusal of Ontario’s brewery offerings, but I pretty much always buy some of this fall seasonal treat when I do. And I’m definitely glad to have picked up a couple of bottles of LoM—it’s a tasty take on the classic harvest lager. It’s tall on crisp, floral bitterness and relatively short on sweetness, which works for me.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Black is Beautiful--Stone City Ales

 Stone City Ales’ version of Black is Beautiful is a 10% imperial stout that raises money for the Black Luck Collective. This beer, brewed in Kingston, is a take on the original recipe from San Antonio, Texas’ Weathered Souls Brewing Co.

Sold in 500mL bottles, Stone City’s BiB is an extremely dark, almost black ale. It pours with a thin layer of tan head. It has dark chocolate and café mocha aromatics, supplemented with more than a whiff of booziness. The flavour is sweet and malty, with cocoa and coffee elements. In addition, there is a sticky molasses vibe and a bit of espresso bitterness to punctuate the finish. The beer has a thick, almost syrupy mouthfeel.

Another impressive rendition of the BiB formula, Stone City’s take is sweet and ferociously strong. I’d have liked a bit more balance (less sweetness and more bitterness), but that’s about all I have to whinge about.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Ships in the Night Oatmeal Stout

 At 5.6%, Ships in the Night Oatmeal Stout has a bit of ballast, but at just 25 IBUs, it’s still quite smooth. The beer comes from Kingston, Ontario’s Stone City Ales. It’s sold in 500mL bottles.

SitN is a handsome dark ale—almost black, but with deep amber highlights. The beer has a malty, molasses aroma and a flavour that walks a similar path, accented with brown sugar. The back end has some bitterness, coffee-style, but the maltiness persists throughout.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Continuum NEIPA

 Continuum NEIPA is a hella juicy and strong ale—one that I’d class as a hazy double IPA. It’s an 8% ale brewed in Kingston, Ontario by Stone City Ales. It’s made with Citra, Enigma, Galaxy, and Mosaic hops and it comes in 500mL bottles.

The beer is dull orange in colour and it pours with a fluffy white cloud. Continuum has sweet tropical fruit aromatics, supplemented with a whiff of bitter citrus. The flavour has tropical leanings, a faint coconut element, and a fairly bitter, grapefruit-driven back end. The beer doesn’t taste nearly as strong as its 8% pedigree, but you can certainly detect some heat.

Continuum is another enjoyable entry from Stone City—it’s a punchy hazer with a balanced flavour. Not a lot to complain about.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Bajus Brown Ale

 Brown ale! Criminally under-represented in Ontario’s brewing scene. I was fired up when I saw that Stone City Ales offered a brown—the 5.5% Bajus Brown Ale. It comes in stark 500mL bottles, from which emerges a handsome amber liquid. Through its durable, creamy head comes a malty aroma highlighted with bready and caramel-tinged notes. The flavour is cozy and malt-driven. It’s toasty and mellow at the outset, with brown sugar and caramel, and it gives way to a mild metallic bitterness.

Mild-mannered, but with some depth, Bajus is a solid little brown ale. It has excellent strength, too. I’d have liked a bit more of an explosive hop finish, but that’s about it for critiques.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Uncharted India Pale

Birthed in stately Kingston, Ontario, Uncharted India Pale is the flagship beer of Stone City Ales. It’s a no nonsense 7% brew sold in 500mL bottles with a sea monster on the label. The beer is hazy. It has a dull, orange-gold appearance and it pours with a substantial cloud of white foam.

This IPA has a sweet and dank aroma—there are tropical and citrus notes, as well as a hit of resin. The flavour has a sweet to bitter movement, with mango and pineapple kicking things off, transitioning into a hempy bitterness that, while still sweet, does stretch its legs a bit to reveal the full 70 IBUs mentioned on the label.

This is a dandy IPA from a brewery that I’m excited to learn more about in the coming days. I’ve got very little to complain about and much to be impressed by. Great strength, agreeable flavour, positive depth. Even a cool label. Win.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Stone City Run

 

Recently, I saw on the ol' Twitter that Kingston's Stone City Ales was doing a delivery run into Toronto. You better believe I jumped at the chance. So stay tuned to the Bitter World over the next few for my thoughts on a sextet of Stone City's offerings.

Prost! Dunkelweizen

Prost! Dunkelweizen is a dark wheat beer from the team at Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing Co. A 5.4%, 15 IBU offering, Prost! comes in 355mL cans. The beer is handsome brown, with a thin off-white head.

The modest aroma of this Ontario wheat concoction blends rich malts with apple and banana notes, and a hint of fall spices. The flavour is considerably more robust, with clove, banana bread, and warm malts in the spotlight, and a slightly smoky brown sugar subtext.

A great fall beer from Muddy York, Prost! is a solid take on the classic German style.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Nellie’s Cream Ale

Named in honour of Toronto’s last milk delivery horse, Nellie’s Cream Ale is the September 2020 “Ides of” Series entrant from Henderson Brewery. The ale contains 5.7% and 17 IBUs. It comes in 473mL cans and it’s brewed with flaked oats and a duo of Magnum and Tettnanger hops.

Nellie’s is a slightly hazy orange-gold brew with a thin covering of off-white head. It has a sweet cereal aroma, accented with some biscuity malt. The flavour has a similar construction, with a sweet grain and malt overture and a yeasty, slightly fruity finish. The beer doesn’t have much bitterness to speak of, but it has a lovely smooth texture.

According to Henderson’s website, Nellie’s reward for her daily labour was a bottle of beer and a whole onion. I think that Nellie’s Cream Ale would have satisfied the hard-working equine. I’d have liked a bit more hops depth from the finish and a little less sweetness overall, but otherwise it was an enjoyable little ale.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Frühschoppen

 Frühschoppen is both a German-style pilsner from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery and, apparently (according to the copy on the 473mL cans), the “German tradition of meeting for brunch with friends, often on Sunday, to share beer and food ... .”

The 5% pale lager is clear, straw-gold, and amply carbonated. It pours with a loose white head and has an aroma that combines sweet, slightly toasted malt elements with some graininess and a bit of floral hops. The flavour is primarily sweet, with grain and toast notes, initially. Where I’d expect crisp bitterness to close things out, the beer delivers only modest noble hops, while the sweetness persists.

Frühschoppen is a decent beer from an excellent brewery—in a way, it suffers from the expectations created by GLB’s high quality offerings. Too sweet and insufficiently crisp, but otherwise enjoyable beer.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Burst! ... A New England Pale Ale

 An entry from Great Lakes Brewery’s Tank Ten Series, Burst! ... A New England Pale Ale is a session-friendly brew at 4.5%. This Toronto brew comes in 473mL cans. It’s a hazy pale gold ale that pours with a fluffy white head. It’s brewed with wheat and oats.

Burst! has a mild, fruity-floral aroma. The beer has a smooth, light-bodied texture. The flavour is mild, particularly at the front end, with some tropical fruit notes, and a dank hop finish.

All told, Burst! is a pretty agreeable little ale. It’s a bit thin for my tastes, but otherwise, it’s yet another nice beer from one of Ontario’s finest.

Ibushi Godspeed Style Helles Lagerbier

 A clean pale lager from Toronto, Ibushi Godspeed Style Helles Lagerbier is a 4.5% brew that comes in 355mL cans. Created by the team at Godspeed Brewery, Ibushi is a clear and effervescent golden lager with durable white suds.

The beer has a fairly spicy noble hop nose, with lots of graininess and a slight metallic quality. For a low alcohol lager, Ibushi has a pretty robust flavour—dry and grainy with a bit of sweetness and respectable noble hop bitterness, alongside a notable touch of wood smoke. My complaint with this lager is its thinness—the texture is not as crisp or crispy as I’d have liked it to be.

Ibushi has great flavour, but it’s hampered by the wispy texture. A nice enough little lager, but not up to the standard of a brewery responsible for other magnificent lagers.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Dulce Tiramisu Pastry Stout

 

This beer was a mistake. I placed a mail order from the team at Toronto’s Indie Alehouse and one of the slots in the case of 12 bottles I ordered was inexplicably filled by Dulce Tiramisu Pastry Stout—but I’m not complaining. Dulce is a 9.5% ale sold in 500mL bottles—the label suggests that one should “share with a friend”, but I obviously went for the whole shebang myself while marinating a steak.

Dulce is a nearly black ale with a sudsy cream head. It has a sweet and potent aroma built around coffee, and a whiff of cocoa. The flavour is extremely sweet, with a woody quality. The elevated booze is evident, as are notes of cafe con lecce, vanilla, and brown sugar.

This is a definite dessert beer. Sure, it’s a bit gimmicky, but as pastry stouts go, this one has heat and heart. I’d have liked the coffee bitterness to come through more assertively in the finish, and less sweetness would have gone a long way, but I still liked the beer more than I expected.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Deece Petite IPA

 Bloomfield, Ontario is the home of Matron Fine Beer and of Deece Petite IPA. Deece is a 4% session IPA sold in 355mL cans. The beer is hazy and golden, with a loose off-white head.

 

Deece has a mild, fruit forward aroma, with primarily pineapple notes. Given the modest aromatics and low booze bill, the flavour is surprisingly punchy, with tropical fruit, decent yeastiness, and some floral bitterness.

For a low octane “IPA”, Deece is extremely flavourful and well-crafted. It’s a solid exploration of what a session ale can do in terms of flavour and body. Really nice stuff, though a bit more bitterness would have fully sealed the deal.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Clifford Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter

Hey Stout Man! You know how Clifford Porter is potentially the best (or at least your favourite) porter in Ontario? Guess what! They bourbon barrel-aged it for 10 months and brewed that beautiful bastard up to 8.5%! And your pal WFM gave you a 500mL bottle! For free! Lucky shit.

This beer, from Clifford Brewing Co. out of Hamilton, Ontario, is a near-black ale with a thin layer of tan head. It clocks in at 39 IBUs and has a sweet, woody, boozy aroma. This ambitious take on the classic Clifford Porter tastes considerably more powerful, with a decidedly malty bent. It has notes of brown sugar, vanilla, and a little bit of brown liquor. The ale remains sweet through the finish, but it does close with a warm hit of bitterness.

This burly cousin of my sweet li’l Porter is a good take. The booziness and in-your-face woodiness are excellent characteristics of a grand ol’ BA imperial porter, though I’d have liked it more if the sweetness was dialed back a touch.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Green Goddess Imperial IPA

Green Goddess Imperial IPA is a take-no-prisoners 9% brute from Kingston, Ontario’s Stone City Ales. Sold in 500mL bottles, the beer is dull gold and hazy, with a slim but durable layer of off-white head. There is a dusting of sediment at the bottom of the glass, but this is acceptably minimal.

The beer, brewed with a trio of hops (Azacca, Citra, and Mosaic), has sweet and juicy aromatics. The scent has pineapple, melon, and citrus elements, as well as a heavy layer of boozy sweetness. The flavour is big on citrus, specifically clementine and orange juicy. It has some substantial hops presence, but also a load of warm booze heat that manifests as sweetness.

This is a stronger-than-average Imperial IPA, but one that exudes balance and juiciness. I thought it was a pretty solid rendition and I was glad my pal MZ shipped a bottle my way care of mutual mün WFM.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Hazy New England IPA with Clementine

The fourth collaboration between the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies and Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Co., Hazy New England IPA with Clementine gives you almost everything you need to know with its name. The beer, sold in 473mL cans, contains 6.5% alcohol. Along with clementine peel, the beer is brewed with flaked wheat and flaked oats. It’s a hazy golden orange brew and it pours with a durable white foam.

 

This hazy NEIPA has a bright, fruity aroma—juicy with some floral elements. The flavour has clementine to spare—it’s bursting with orange juiciness, supplemented with pith and peel bitterness.

The result is a cheery, summertime beer brewed with (in my mind anyway) a fruit synonymous with the holiday season.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Days in Between

An oat pale ale from Toronto, Days in Between is a low-octane, high flavour brew. At just 4.2%, the beer is session-friendly. It’s sold in 500mL bottles and comes from Indie Alehouse.

Days in Between is a hazy buttery gold ale. It pours with a nimbus of white suds, but also with a bit more yeasty sediment than would have been ideal. It has a juiced up citrus aroma and a flavour that blends citrus and tropical fruit, as well as a decently bitter orange rind quality through the finish.

 

The use of oats gave this beer a nice smooth quality. For a low-alcohol beer, there was a nice amount of flavour. The amount of sediment in this beer was a bit worrying, though. The beer was in my possession for a bit under two months, so it wasn’t perfectly fresh, but certainly not stale either.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Nothing Civil IPA

 The showpiece of  the impressively striking packaging of Nothing Civil IPA is a brilliant and powerful poem by Truth Is... The 473mL also features snarling dogs, handguns, batons and a broken chains. It ain’t subtle, but it is decidedly impactful. According to the copy, 100% of the profits of this 6.5% New England IPA go to Black Lives Matter Canada. When I saw Guelph’s Wellington Brewery tweet about this one, I immediately ordered a dozen.

Nothing Civil is a hazy dull-gold IPA. It pours with a sudsy off white head and boasts a sweet pineapple and citrus aroma. The beer kicks off with sweet and juicy vibes, packs in piña and tangerine notes, an apricot mid-range, and transitions into a dank and resinous hops finish.

More bitter than a typical NEIPA, Nothing Civil offers a big flavour profile alongside a philanthropic contribution to an important cause. I chose this beer to be my 4th Q good luck charm in the Raptors’ game three playoff matchup against the Celtics and it delivered a mighty miracle win!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Ice Cold Beer 100% Ontario Ale

 

 Ice Cold Beer 100% Ontario Ale is a crushable, crisp blonde ale from the team at Toronto’s Left Field Brewery. The beer comes in cute 355mL cans and contains just 4.5% alcohol.

Simple and sessionable, Ice Cold Beer is a slightly hazy blonde ale with a thin layer of white suds. It has a sweet, corny nose. The flavour is crisp and balanced, with sweet, grain and malt out front and a faintly bitter back end.

ICB is an approachable, people pleasing ale that one might irresponsibly destroy while watching a ballgame or otherwise wiling away an unproductive weekend afternoon. It is both unremarkable and notable in its simplicity and sip-ability.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Black is Beautiful--Merit Brewing Co.

 

My first taste of a beer from the Black is Beautiful initiative came from Hamilton, Ontario’s Merit Brewing Co. According to the label on the 500mL bottle, the proceeds of Merit’s version of BiB support the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion’s Black Youth Mentorship Program.

Their take is an 8.7% imperial stout. It’s a very dark beer with a long-lasting tan head. The brew has a sweet, chocolaty aroma with sticky molasses notes. The flavour is decadently sweet and strong, with chocolate, leather, and and dried fruit notes, and a bitter/acidic French roast coffee finish. It is also conspicuously boozy, which gave me some joy.

If Merit’s BiB is any indication, I’m going to have a lot of fun tracking down as many variations of this beer as I can. Their take is boozy, bold, and balance—a terrific after-dinner ale.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Black is Beautiful

Black is Beautiful is a brilliant, large scale collaboration developed by San Antonio, Texas’ Weathered Souls Brewing Co. The idea is that they developed a high-alcohol stout recipe and made it available to be brewed and modified by breweries worldwide, with three requests: (1) that 100% of the proceeds be donated local organizations that support reforms targeted at police brutality or legal defense funds; (2) that breweries “[c]hoose their own entity to donate to local organizations that support equality and inclusion”; and (3) that a commitment be made to “the long-term work of equality.”

According to the stats on the website, as of September 7, 2020, Black is Beautiful was being made by 1,140 breweries across all 50 states, as well as in 21 countries.

This is a genuinely amazing initiative and one well worth supporting.

Replicant Haze New England IPA

A juicy 6.2% brew, Replicant Haze New England IPA comes from People’s Pint Brewing Co. The Torontonian beer is sold in 500mL bottles. It’s a hazy orange-gold brew with a sudsy white head. According to the People’s Pint website, the beer is brewed with oats, as well as a quartet of hops: Amarillo, Centennial, Mosaic, and Prince Edward County Cluster.

 

Replicant Haze has tropical fruit aromatics, a nice sweet-bitter balance, and a smooth texture. The flavour has pineapple, mango, and peach elements, with a floral hoppiness.

This is a pretty enjoyable NEIPA from a great little brewery. It’s not PP’s best offering, but it tastes pretty good all the same. I’d have liked a bit more booze, but the mellow texture is definitely a solid attribute.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

 

Artificial Paradise India Pale Ale

A recently released offering from the 2019 Canadian Brewery of the Year, Hamilton’s Clifford Brewing Co., Artificial Paradise India Pale Ale is a 6.8% ale. Sold in 473mL cans, AP is brewed with oats and a trio of hops: Citra, Galaxy, and Simcoe. It’s a hazy, dull gold ale that pours with an extremely sudsy white head.

AP has a mild nose, with some tropical notes. The beer has mango and pineapple flavour notes, some solid sweetness, and a back end that tends toward some resinous bitterness.

I thought Artificial Paradise was an elegant hazy IPA. A bit stronger than the mean for the style, the beer is has a grand balance of sweet and bitter, and almost nothing to be critical of.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Wallflower

Sold as a “farmbier”, Wallflower, from Matron Fine Beer, is a low-alcohol farmhouse/saison. At just 4.4%, the beer is session-friendly. It comes from Bloomfield, Ontario in 355mL cans. The beer is a bright and cloudy gold colour, with a shock of white suds.

The beer has a spicy, yeasty aroma, accented with a lemony lilt. The beer has a softly effervescent, dry texture. The flavour is non-insubstantial for a low-octane beer, with farmhouse yeast, citrus, floral, and spice elements.

Wallflower is an enjoyable little saison with more flavour than I expected to find. It’s a fine bit of brewing.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

West Coast Classic IPA

West Coast Classic IPA appears to be a dual homage: both to a wildly popular video game and to a now-classic beer style. A true west coast IPA, WCC is a clear, copper brew with 7% alcohol and a durable, sudsy head. The beer comes from Toronto, where it’s made by Henderson Brewing Company. The beer comes in 473mL cans that are instantly recognizable to video game fans. It’s brewed with a quintet of hops: Centennial, Citra, Columbus, Magnum, and Simcoe.

The beer has powerful twin aromatic elements in evergreen and citrus. The flavour contains some caramel malt notes, but it’s pine and grapefruit that really make the wheels turn.

I enjoyed WCC quite a bit. It’s a flavourful beer in one of my all time favourite styles. The packaging is quirky and the beer itself looks perfect. The strength is good, too. The only complaint I’ve got is that the mouthfeel is a bit too creamy for a style that calls for something a bit more assertive.

 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Chanan

A “dry hopped saison with orange zest and Indian coriander”, Chanan comes from Hamilton, Ontario’s Merit Brewing Co. It’s a 5.3% concoction sold in 500mL bottles with  beautiful, peaceful labels. It’s an extremely cloudy brew—pale orange with a sudsy white foam.

Chanan has a spicy, yeasty aroma with a whiff of orange peel. The beer has a delicate texture and agreeable, if mild, flavour. It’s got a farmhouse yeast base, with some spice and an extremely dry finish.

This little Hamiltonian saison is pretty solid stuff. I’d have liked it to be a bit more effervescent, but otherwise it’s swell swill.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner

A quirky spin on Bellwoods Brewery’s excellent Bell Weiser is the Toronto brewery’s Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner. The beer, a 4.2% pale lager, is a pink hued and hazy concoction sold in 473mL cans. 

The beer, which pours with a thin layer of white suds, delivers a grapefruit blast to the sniffer. The crisp little beer has a potent pink grapefruit juice flavour that dominates the underlying pilsner flavour, though there is a pretty healthy dose of noble hop grapefruit at the back end to remind you of its pedigree.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner drinks like a fairly high alcohol shandy or radler. It’s a juicy lager with lots of grapefruit heft in a low-octane format. The beer isn’t subtle, but it’s fun. A compelling summer Saturday beer for sure.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Crispy Forever! Double Dry-Hopped Helles Lager

 

Crispy Forever! Double Dry-Hopped Helles Lager comes from Guelph, Ontario and the Wellington Brewery. Sold in 473mL cans, the 4.5%, 20 IBU lager has a hazy, dull gold appearance and some off white suds.

CF has a rich, perfume-y fragrance, with some sticky hops elements. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with hay, cereal, and corn notes, before a substantial floral hops heel turn.

This a lovely, sweet-to-hops Helles lager. It’s an even better than solid offering from one of Ontario’s most venerable and reliable breweries, and an exciting dry-hopped take on Wellington’s already quite good Helles lager.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Yeasayer

 Billed as a “lagerbier”, Yeasayer is a 4.8% pale lager from Bloomfield, Ontario’s Matron Fine Beer. Clear and pale gold, Yeasayer comes out of its 355mL can with a sudsy white head.

Yeasayer features a fresh, grainy nose with a crackle of noble hops as subtext. The flavour is metallic, grainy, and surprisingly hoppy, with a faintly floral character. The beer has a crisp and lively texture that makes it extremely guzzle-able.

This li’l lager from Matron is a bright and enjoyable product. In my vernacular, it’s a classic early Sunday afternoon football watching brew. Just a classic beer to accompany the early lineup of games.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Inexplicable Grisette

 Inexplicable Grisette is a bright and bubbly low-alcohol ale in the French style—a session-friendly cousin to the saison. The beer comes from Toronto, Ontario’s Eastbound Brewing Co. It clocks in at just 3.2% and comes in 355mL cans. It’s a sunny golden brew with a sudsy white head.

IG has a lively yeast aroma that comprises both citrus and spice elements. The flavour is primarily yeasty, with a bit of perfume character. The back end is short and crisp and the texture is quite effervescent.

IG has quite a lot of flavour for a low octane brew. It has a pretty agreeable vibe and I’d be glad to buy it again. A nice little beer to wile away a sweltering afternoon.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Ringwood Ale

 Born and bred in Toronto, Ringwood Ale comes from the venerable Granite Brewery & Tied House. It’s a 5% blonde ale made to star the Ringwood strain of yeast. The beer is golden in colour and slightly cloudy, under a sudsy white head.

Ringwood’s nose is a blend of toasty and malty, with a vibe that is slightly metallic and also a wee bit fruity. The flavour is initially sweet, with apple cinnamon notes. The back end is a bit toasty, still sweet, and it has a modest bitterness.

My outstanding spouse used a can of Ringwood to create a truly outstanding loaf of beer bread and the result was bangin’. The yeastiness and balance really hit the spot.

Blonde ales are seldom my favourite, because they tend toward moderation and milquetoast-iness. Ringwood had considerably more elegance than the average blonde ale, and I thought it was pretty good stuff. I’d have liked a bit more hops presence at the finish, but otherwise it was pretty solid.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

At Last Hazy IPA

 

Hamilton’s Merit Brewing is a venue that I’ve long heard great things about and, had the pandemic not scuttled my summer travel plans, is almost certainly a place whose door I’d have darkened in the flesh. Instead, I placed an order for a box of 500mL bottles. Among the bottles that showed up at my home is At Last Hazy IPA. The 6.5% ale came in a bottle with a generic but pretty Merit label and an info tag. The beer inside was bright gold and hazy as heck, with a very sudsy layer of bright white head.

At Last has a sharp tropical fruit nose—mango and passionfruit. The flavour is sweet and fruity, trending toward a lightly floral hop finish.

The hazy IPA market in Ontario is, in a word, bustling. Still, At Last managed to stand out above the horde by demonstrating an elegant and balanced flavour and an extremely smooth texture. Nothing about this beer made it unique—rather, it was just well put together stuff that ticked all of the hazy IPA boxes in an above average fashion. Drinking this hazer has got me amped to try the saison and imperial stout in my Merit order.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Up and At Them

 One of the best looking homage labels in Ontario belongs to Indie Alehouse’s Up and At Them, an American Wheat Beer with Mango & Tangerine. The label and name are nods to Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy—classic peripheral Simpsons characters. The tag line of the 5% ale is actually: “Not radioactive, man.” This Torontonian ale comes in 500mL bottles. It’s a hazy, dull gold beer that pours with an extremely sudsy white foam.

Up and At Them has a yeasty nose with a tangerine twist. The flavour has citrus and tropical elements, built atop a yeasty plinth. The mango has gotta be in there somewhere, but I didn’t track it down.

This is a tangy take on a wheat beer. The flavour is pretty solid and the branding is next level.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

All Together India Pale Ale

 

According to the 355mL can, All Together India Pale Ale is billed as a “worldwide collaboration brewed to support hospitality professionals”. The collab is spearheaded by Other Half Brewing in Brooklyn, NY, and this particular iteration comes from Eastbound Brewing Co. The label states that a “portion of the proceeds from this beer will be used as a helping hand to support the out of work members of our own Eastbound team during this tough time.”

This take on All Together is a 6.5% IPA. It’s a modestly hazy and enthusiastically carbonated beer with a nice golden colour and a fluffy white head. The aromatics are juicy, sweet, and a touch yeasty—it has citrus notes, pineapple, and some berry too. The flavour has some juiciness well balanced against a respectable bitterness, with orange juice, grapefruit, and floral hops.

This is a pretty simple IPA, with a nice flavour. It isn’t all that memorable, but the philanthropic and collaborative nature of the beer makes it a solid choice.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Fancy Walker

 

A Belgian dubbel from the team at Eastbound Brewing Co., Fancy Walker is a 7.4% brew sold in 355mL cans. The copy declares the flavour elements are: “figs, brown sugar, dates”. The beer has a handsome ruddy brown colour and it pours with a thin layer of creamy suds.

Fancy Walker has a sweet, malty aroma that has sticky date and toffee notes. The flavour, too, is sweet and sticky. It has molasses, tobacco, and dried fruit elements, initially, and a considerable amount of roasted malt throughout. The beer does have some Belgian-style yeastiness, but it is pretty understated. Also, the booziness is fairly low-key.

I thought that Fancy Walker was a pretty solid take on the dubbel style. I’d have liked a bit more yeast emphasis, but otherwise, it was an enjoyable strong ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Janky

Janky is a much ballyhooed IPA from Bloomfield, Ontario’s Matron Fine Beer. It’s a 6% ale sold in 355mL cans. The stuff is hazy and dull gold on colour, and it pours with a picturesque cover of off white suds.

Janky has an elegant, slightly floral grapefruit aroma. The flavour is juicy, yet subtle, with decent back end bitterness. The beer has a lazy, mellow texture.

This is a subtle, luxurious take on the IPA. The booze count is on the low end of the spectrum, and the flavour is mild, but finely tuned—there are no rough edges on this ale. I try to ignore Twitter hype when reviewing beers, but it think the stans have got this one right—it is a very good, modern take on the IPA. It also has the most even, durable, and pillowy head I’ve seen on an Ontario IPA in quite a while. A subtle, well made effort from a brewery that seems to be developing a serious reputation. I’d have liked a bit more oomph toward the finish, but otherwise, the beer has it.

 

 

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Rage and Love Cream Soda Sour

A lurid pink potion, Rage and Love Cream Soda Sour is a 5.4% ale from the team at Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing Co. The beer, sold in 355mL cans, contains vanilla, as well as a “hit” of blackberry, sour cherry, and lychee—it isn’t immediately clear whether these are ingredients or flavour notes, though I suspect the former.

Through a modes off-white head, R&LCSS does indeed have a sweet, cream soda-esque nose, packed with vanilla notes and a touch of cherry. The flavour has a seriously rapid sweet-to-sour progression. The front end is vanilla sweet, but this is subsumed by a tart and fruity finish in a blink. The beer is only modestly sour, which makes it fairly approachable for the style.

This little sour ale is a quirky piece of work. It genuinely has cream soda elements, which are a bit divisive—for instance, I don’t really love that particular soda. However, the beer is pretty enjoyable, with modest sourness, an interesting cornucopia of fruit notes, and a brief sweetness.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Danger Close IIPA

A modestly strong and impressively juicy imperial IPA from the gang at Indie Alehouse in Toronto, Danger Close IIPA is an 8.1% ale. Sold in 500mL bottles with a label featuring some sort of pineapple armament, the beer is an extremely hazy brownish gold. It pours with a sudsy white head.

Danger Close has a potent and extremely sweet pineapple aroma. The beer has a smooth texture and it delivers a sweet, tropical flavour. Not particularly bitter, the beer finishes sweetly with some citrus elements and some boozy heat.

This beer is juicy and sweet—verging on too sweet. It’s easy to forget that this smooth offering is actually an imperial IPA.

 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Better Days Pale Ale

A perk of being a known beer geek is that people who don’t really know you still try to dazzle you with beery gifts. Such was the case when new pal BB provided me with a 473mL can of Better Days Pale Ale. The beer comes from Jarvis, Ontario’s Concession Road Brewing Co. It’s a 5.1% ale with a lowly 16 IBUs. It de-canned with a a clearish rich gold colour, loads of carbonation, and a thick layer of off-white head.

Better Days has a fruity, grain-heavy aroma. The flavour is extremely sweet, with considerable maltiness and a slightly metallic streak. The beer has berry and nectarine notes, and a bit of toffee on the finish, alongside a faint English-style bitterness.

My first glimpse of Concession Road’s offering didn’t exactly wow me, but it did make me aware of an Ontario brewery that was otherwise unknown to me and that I’ll look out for in the future. Perhaps a visit will be in the offing post-pandemic? And I did enjoy it a fair bit, despite it being notably too sweet. And many thanks to BB for her generosity and thoughtfulness.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Red Leaf Lager

An amber lager from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery, Red Leaf Lager is a 5% brew sold in 473mL cans. The beer has limited bitterness (just 10 IBUs) and a striking copper colour. It pours with a thin, off-white head.

Red Leaf has an agreeable toasted malt aroma with a bit of brown sugar sweetness and a whiff of copper. The flavour is malty, first, and also features toast, copper, and some confectionery sweetness.

Ontario doesn’t have nearly enough amber lagers, so Red Leaf really stands out because it is a pretty good one in a marketplace that lacks peers. It is smooth and easy-drinking, but flavourful, too. I’d have liked the bitterness to be amped up a bit, but otherwise I have few complaints.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Bachelor Chow

 Bachelor Chow is a collab between Toronto’s People’s Pint Brewing Company and Bent Mallet Brewing. A wheat IPA sold in 500mL bottles with awesome labels, the beer contains 6.4% alcohol. It’s a dull gold ale with a modest but durable layer of off-white head.

B.C. has a sweet nose that weds caramel and citrus. The flavour follows a similar pattern, with creamy caramel maltiness at the outset, some coppery notes throughout, and builds to a decently bitter grapefruit crescendo. The use of wheat lends this IPA a certain silkiness that hits the spot.

This is a fun beer—flavourful, with both British and west coast IPA tendencies, as well as a smooth texture, and an excellent label. Could be stronger, though, and it is a touch sweet. Overall, dug it.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Biggie East vs. West: New England IPA

Biggie East vs. West: New England IPA, out of Kingston, Ontario is a hazy orange-gold brew with a sudsy white head. It’s a 6.5%, 42 IBU ale built by Daft Brewing. Sold in 650mL bottles, the beer is constructed with Citra, Mosaic, and Sabro hops.

Once poured, Biggie punches the drinker with a tropical fruit aromatics—primarily pineapple and passion fruit, but also a whisper of coconut. The flavour is sweet, juicy, and fruit-loaded, with piña colada elements and passion fruit pop. The beer closes with a touch of bitterness, but it isn’t outrageous.

Based on my historic beer preferences, I’ll admit that I went into the East vs. West debate expecting Tupac to be the star, but, though they were both quite good, I preferred the fruity, playful Biggie. It was, to my tastes. executed slightly better.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Tupac East vs. West: West Coast IPA

 

Tupac East vs. West: West Coast IPA is a 6.9%, 60 IBU ale from Kingston, Ontario’s Daft Brewing. It is made with Cascade, El Dorado, and Simcoe hops and it comes in a 650mL bottle. Tupac is a clear, copper ale with a lush white head.

Tupac has a robust aroma characterized by citrus and pine notes and an assertive malt presence. As you’d expect from a west coast IPA, the flavour has bitter grapefruit and evergreen qualities in generous measure and a malty, coppery sweetness that provides some balance.

Tupac is a sticky, bitter IPA and I enjoyed it quite a bit—it was a touch too sweet, perhaps, but still definitely enjoyable. I’d say it’s a well made  and to-style West Coaster.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.