Dominion Delivery--Tomorrow Never Comes IPA

Brewed with a trio of hops—Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, and Mosaic—Tomorrow Never Comes IPA comes from Ottawa’s Dominion City Brewing Co. A 6% ale, TNC comes in 473mL cans. It’s a hazy, orange-gold ale with a lush white head.

To my sniffer, orange juice is the biggest driver of the aroma, along with a dash of white wine. The flavour offers a lot of juiciness, but the chief note is vino blanco—presumably from the Nelson Sauvin hops. There is a little bitterness, but it’s understated. 

Tomorrow Never Comes is a good plus IPA. It has a slightly quirky flavour, which sets it a bit apart from the pack of hazy IPAs.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Dominion Delivery--Dark Night of the Soul

Dark Night of the Soul is a big ox of an Imperial Stout from Dominion City Brewing Co.—a 10% ale made with cocoa nibs from Hummingbird Chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnuts. The Ottawa, Ontario ale comes in 355mL cans that advise “meditate on this and it will be revealed.” It’s a near-black ale that pours with a thin layer of tan head.

DNotS has a sweet, confectionery nose with big cocoa and vanilla notes, complimented with ardent booze heat. The beer has a smooth and thick mouthfeel. The front end of the flavour is rich, malt-driven, and toothsome, driven by two-thirds of the palate of Neapolitan iced cream. The finish turns gloomily bitter, though the sweetness only lets up a bit.

A jumbo booze ball, sure, but DNotS is ale also a complicated brew. If you like stouts with a dessert-y vibe that aren’t gimmicky pastry oriented, this is a grand option.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Dominion Delivery--Two Flags IPA

Two Flags IPA is a 7% ale from Ottawa, built by the team at Dominion City Brewing Co. It’s sold in 473mL cans and is brewed using Ontario and Quebec Cascade hops.

In a world of hazies, Two Flags is a clear, copper beer with a sudsy white head. It has rich aromatics that wend their way from grapefruit to pine, with a lick of sweetness throughout. The flavour proved nicely balanced and agreeable, with a malt to bitter, juicy citrus to sticky evergreen flow.

For a 7% ale, Two Flags doesn’t have a huge flavour—rather, it is quiet and purposeful. A good beer made seriously, with apparent attention to detail. The only weak spot is the back end, which lacks the depth that would have made this an Ontario craft classic.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Dominion Delivery

One of the few positives that I can takeaway from the COVID-19 outbreak/social distancing that has been THE story of spring 2020 is the rise of beer delivery all across Ontario. Because I have long been hearing rave reviews about Ottawa's Dominion City Brewing Co., I decided to make my debut order with DCBC.

Excellent customer service, speedy delivery, and a bountiful haul of quality ales made me a believer in beer mail.

Stay tuned to the Bitter World over the next little while to read the reviews from my first experience with Dominion City and with beer through the mails.

Isar Pilsner

According to my 473mL can of Isar Pilsner, this pale lager was packaged on February 26, 2020, making it a gloriously fresh, pre-social distancing brew. I consumed mine late in the evening on March 21—thinking about the good ol’ days of bars and restaurants aplenty, and it gave me some joy. Isar is a 5.2% lager. It’s a clear gold grog, modestly carbonated, and covered in a layer of white head. The beer is produced by Toronto’s outstanding Bellwoods Brewery.

Isar has a fresh and grainy nose, built around a Czech-style waft of gritty hops. The flavour is large and bold for an Ontario pilsner, with a rowdy amount of dry bitterness that dominates a measure of malty grain-itude.

Bellwoods’ Isar Pilsner is a crisp and clean effort, but one that has, for the style, an extremely bitter body. I’m sure that this would be a brilliant hot weather patio guzzler, but late night on a chilly March evening, it still got the job done admirably. It’s not an easy-drinking pils—it is big and bold. Guys, this is a truly solid, born-in-Ontario pilsner. You should try it.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Hazy Days IPA

Blyth, Ontario’s Cowbell Brewing Co. calls their Hazy Days IPA a “hazy juicy IPA”. It’s a 6%, 35 IBU ale brewed with a quartet of hops: El Dorado, Galaxy, Mandarina, and Mosaic. According to the 473mL can, the beer is “triple hopped”—whirlpool-hopped, ferm-hopped, and dry-hopped.

Hazy Days is, unsurprisingly, a hazy one, with a golden hue and a sudsy layer of white foam. It has tropical fruit aromatics that are dank and juicy. The flavour is citrus driven, sweet, and a little sticky.

In a world where everyone seemingly makes a hazy IPA, I found Cowbell’s take on the style to be a good one: agreeable, approachable, and solid. The strength is right and the haze is strong without being chunky. The only complaint I’ve really got is that the mouthfeel is a bit too thin. It could still be smooth with a bit more depth.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--Wild Child Wheat Beer with Lemon + Flowers

My final purchase from my debut visit to Hamilton’s Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer was their Wild Child Wheat Beer with Lemon + Flowers. A 4.8%, 13 IBU ale, Wild Child is brewed with lemon zest, chamomile, and hibiscus, as well as wheat. It’s a rose gold beer with a slim layer of white head that comes in 473mL cans.

Wild Child has a really interesting scent, made up of yeast notes, lemon zing, and floral flourishes. The beer has a thin mouthfeel, but a pretty decent amount of flavour. The lemon zest is the main note in the front end, while the hibiscus and chamomile give the back end a tea-like vibe.

Wild Child might be a misnomer for a mellow, floral wheat ale, but the beer itself was certainly enjoyable. I’d have liked the body to be a bit more robust, but the flavour worked really well.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--Dream Pop Dry Hopped Sour w/ Orange & Passionfruit

The label on the 500mL bottle of Dream Pop Dry Hopped Sour w/ Orange & Passionfruit bills it as “liquid light show”. It’s a 6.2% ale from Hamilton’s Fairweather Brewing Co. The beer is a hazy golden sour ale with a thin, but durable white head.

Dream Pop has a tangy, tart, and fruity aroma. The flavour is genuinely, zealously sour, with tropical and citrus elements. There is a sweet undercurrent, but it’s subtle, when compared to the tartness.

Unlike many Ontario sours, Dream Pop really does live up to the term—it is a mouth-puckering sour ale. And I liked it.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--Early Bird Oak-Aged Sour with Cherries

The label of 473mL cans of Early Bird Oak-Aged Sour with Cherries are lovely, with a bird carrying off a sprig of cherries. The 5.8%, 13 IBU sour is from Hamilton, Ontario’s Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer.

Early Bird has a sediment rich bright pink colour. It’s a hazy beer that poured with almost no head. The beer packs a lot into its aroma: cherry notes, tartness, and a woody warmth. The flavour is sour, cherry-focused, and features an oaky essence. The woodiness is potent, and also a little unusual—it provides an odd funk that I found enjoyable.

Good strength, ample sour, and a woodiness that I thought was strangely agreeable made this a pretty decent sour ale, but not one I’d reach for routinely.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--Wide World Barrel Aged Wild Ale

Wide World Barrel Aged Wild Ale is a 5.7% brew from Hamilton, Ontario’s Fairweather Brewing Co. The beer comes in 500mL bottles. It’s a sunny, golden beer with lots of carbonation, some yeast haze, and a sudsy white head.

To my nose, the beer was tart and funky, with dry, lemony notes. The flavour walks a similar line, with hearty funk, citrus elements, and a dry, quick finish.

Wide World is compelling, particularly in the early going. The back end is a little bit on the thin side, though the dryness is well executed.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--In the Palms

Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer makes a lactose IPA that they call In the Palms. In addition to lactose, this Hamiltonian ale is brewed with oats, mango, and pineapple. It’s a 6%, 90 IBU(!) ale that they sell in 473mL cans.

In the Palms has a succulent nose rich in tropical notes—particularly mango, which sets the tempo. The flavour is quirky and interesting, with juicy, tangy fruit notes. The mouthfeel is, as you’d expect from an ale with lactose and oats, silky smooth. This all culminates in a back end that is undeniably bitter, though it certainly doesn’t taste like 90 IBUs to me (but I’m not a spectrophotometer).

In the Clouds IPA with Lactose is a complicated little brew. It’s juicy, tart, bitter, and smooth, with an oddball flavour. It’s not a beer that’d see me grabbing a second or a third in an evening, as it’s a bit too tangy, but it is a beer that I’d gladly reach for one of any day.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--High Grade

My first experience with Fairweather Brewing Co. was their flagship IPA, High Grade. Sold in pretty 500mL bottles, HG clocks in at 6.8% and is billed as being juicy, dank, and tropical. This Hamiltonian ale has a hazy look, a dull gold hue, and a covering of sudsy off-white head.

HG has a lush, tropical fruit aroma, rich in pineapple and passion fruit notes. It also has a sticky, resinous quality. The flavour, which is ample, has OJ and piña on the front end, and a modestly bitter back end.

This is a solid hazy IPA—flavourful, stanky, and very nice. It’s balanced between sweet and bitter in a way that is often missing from over-sweet hazies. Definitely recommended.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--Survival Mode

Survival Mode is billed as a “stout brewed with coffee & vanilla”. It’s a 6.5%, 20 IBU ale sold in 473mL cans by Hamilton’s Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer. The skull in a coffee pot optics on the label made this a hard beer not to buy, so I did x3.

Survival Mode has a handsome, blackish ale with a quick-lived tan head. It’s got a sweet mochaccino nose and a flavour that matches—sweet to bitter movement with café con leche elements. The back end delivers a finish that I’d have sworn was heftier than the advertised 20 IBUs. As for vanilla, there is a whisper, but not much more than that.

This beer has a lot to like—great strength, good balance, and solid bitterness. I didn’t entirely love the coffee flavour, which I found to be a bit grainy. I’d also like to know a bit about the coffee they sourced for the endeavour, but no info was immediately forthcoming.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul

Hamilton, Ontario has a bourgeoning brewing scene, and it’s a fun place that I don’t get to as much as I’d like. So, when I do, I purchase heavily and carry home en mass. During one of my periodic Hammertown beer buying binges, I brought a quartet of cans from Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer and a trio of bottles from Fairweather Brewing Co., both breweries with big reputations that I’ve long wanted to visit. Conveniently, they’re geographically practically adjacent, which is a big help to an out-of-towner.

Stay tuned to the Bitter World over the next fortnight for a septet of Steeltown beer reviews.

Beard of Zeus Barrel-Aged Barley Wine

A big ol’ beer deserves a fun bottle, and the 500mL bottles of Beard of Zeus Barrel-Aged Barley Wine are definitely that—they feature a mirror-eyed thunder god wielding a bolt and the label has a cool metallic rainbow tint. The beer is an 11.8% bruiser with 28 IBUs. It’s a cloudy brew, ruddy to the point of dried blood, with a thin cream head. BoZ is produced by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery.

BoZ has complex aromatics, with notes of dried fruit, red wine, clove, and just a hint of bubble gum. The flavour is extremely woody, sweet, with date and raisin notes, ample boozy bombast, and a spice-rich back end. The beer has a thick texture and a very warm finish.

BoZ is potent and punchy. It’s got loads of complicated flavours and a whole lot of booze. Perhaps too sweet, but so it goes with barley wines. Commendably, despite all of its complexity, this beer lists only four ingredients—water, barley, yeast, and hops—making it Reinheitsgebot approved.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.