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.

East vs. West Duo

 

 

I lucked into a pair of Hip Hop themed IPAs via my ol’ pal WFM, who in turn received them from our friend MZ. The beers, both named East vs. West, are a respectively a New England IPA and a west coast IPA, the former named for The Notorious B.I.G. and the latter for Tupac Shakur. Both originate in Kingston, Ontario, where they’re brewed by Daft Brewing. Both beers come in matching 650mL bottles that feature a flamingo on the label.

Stay tuned to the Bitter World over the next couple of days to find out whether East is the beast or West is the best.

Bear Worship B.A. Golden Sour

Born in Toronto, Bear Worship B.A. Golden Sour (5?) is a hefty sour ale from the team at Blood Brothers Brewing. It’s a 9% barrel aged sour sold in 500mL bottles with gorgeous ursine labels.

Bear Worship is a cloudy orange grog that decants with a thin layer of white suds. It boasts a tangy aroma with tangerine and peach elements. The beer is certainly sour, but it is backed by some sweetness from the barrel aging process to give it a pleasing balance and, by some alchemy, to also mask the 9% alcohol content to a devilish degree. The key flavour is sour fruitiness, but it sidles into faintly woody territory by the finish. There is next to no bitterness on display.

A boozy brute from BBB, Bear Worship is a tart and satisfying potion.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

NZ IPA

 During a cottage weekend on the shores of the mighty Lake Huron, my pal WFM and I split a 500mL bottle of NZ IPA, billed as a “DDH IPA with New Zealand Wai-Iti and Wakatu Hops”. The beer comes from Kingston, Ontario, by way of our mutual chum and rad guy, the incomparable MZ and his lovely missus (who is actually from NZ). NZ IPA is a 5.5% offering from the team at Stone City Ales. It’s a cloudy dull-gold brew and it poured with a thin and quickly receding layer of white suds.

WFM

More muted than expected, without the anticipated exotic flavours. The aroma has orange notes. It’s bitter, but without much aftertaste. All hops, but not particularly pungent, with some juiciness.

7.0 out of 10.

Stout Man

NZ IPA had tropical aromatics, but I found the scent to be unexpectedly mild. The flavour had considerably more vibrancy, though, with white grape and melon elements. The mouthfeel was notably mellow and soft, leading to a juicy, modestly bitter conclusion.

7.0 out of 10.

Tropic Like It’s Hot Pineapple Sour

 

A collab between Toronto’s People’s Pint Brewing Company and the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies, Tropic Like It’s Hot Pineapple Sour is a 4.9% brew sold in 500mL bottles. Fifty cents from the sale of bottles of Tropic go to the Glad Day Lit Emergency Fund. It’s a clear rosy gold ale with a layer of white suds. According to the PP website, this is a "Catharina sour", which I had to look up--according to a helpful article on https://byo.com/, I learned that it's a Brazilian-style kettle sour with fruit.

Tropic has a tart, fruity aroma. The flavour, as one might surmise, is fruity and has a pineapple tendency, though a bit more sour than you’d want your eatin’ pineapple to be. The beer has next to no bitterness and it finishes quite abruptly.

I enjoyed my bottle of Tropic, but I’d have liked it still more if the pineapple flavour were a bit more pronounced and the zealous sourness we’re dialed back just a touch. Still, the beer was extremely refreshing and it made a lovely companion on a warm July evening.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Bay Street Bitter

 

Bay Street Bitter is a collaboration between two excellent Toronto institutions: Indie Alehouse and Bar Volo. The beer, named in honour of the legal and economic hub of the city, is a 4.2% ale. Sold in generic 500mL bottles, it is a swampy burnished copper colour with a sudsy tan head.

BSB has a toasted malt nose with a bit of apple cinnamon sweetness. The bake apple and cinnamon only faintly translates into the flavour, which is more focused on malt toastiness up front and a classic English ale bitterness in the back end, along with a jangle of metallic notes.

At just 4.2%, this brew is session-friendly, but still substantially flavourful. It tastes great, with classic best bitter tendencies, but there is also a little bit of an innovative flavour profile to make the beer stand out among its fellows.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Variety Show IPA

 Solid at 6.7%, Variety Show IPA comes from Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing. It comes in 355mL cans with what appears to be hand-stickered labels. The beer inside is a heartily carbonated golden ale with a thick measure of bright white head.

Variety Show has a juicy aroma with candy and fruit elements—notes of berry and guava are the central focus. The flavour is sweet and fruit-filled, with a tropical bent. The back end is a bit yeasty, a bit bitter, and mostly still sweet.

I got six cans of Variety Show and I was glad to have them—they had good strength, robust juiciness, and little bit to like. On the other hand, by my sixth can (spaced over a couple of weeks), I’m still not convinced that I could pick this beer out of a lineup of similarly constituted Ontario IPAs—well made, but not a lot to set this one aside from a glut of similarly situated, fruit-forward IPAs.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Reminiscence Mexican Lager

Brewed to 4.9% in Toronto, Reminiscence Mexican Lager is a pale golden crisper born of Rorschach Brewing Co. The beer, brewed with corn, comes in 473mL cans and it pours with a thin layer of white suds.

 

Reminiscence has sweet, grainy aromatics. The flavour is, expectedly, mild, with some corn and grain notes and an unassumingly crisp bitterness.

I don’t totally get the current brewing hype with Mexican lagers. I mean, I understand that they are difficult to brew and that every flaw shows. I just don’t get them from an appreciation standpoint as a craft beer fan who isn't a brewer. That said, I did find Reminiscence Mexican Lager to be a nice and refreshing, if perhaps a bit too sweet, little brew.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Memento Mori

 

At 4.5%, Memento Mori is an Oatmeal Stout from Toronto’s Indie Alehouse. Sold in 500mL bottles with Indie’s generic labels, MM is a near-black ale that pours with a thin layer of tan suds. 

 

MM has a gorgeous coffee and cocoa aroma. For flavour, it starts sweetly with a roasted malt and molasses vibe, before transitioning into a mild but agreeable espresso bitterness. The texture is smooth from end to end.

For a beer with a relatively light frame, Memento Mori has a complex flavour. It’s a nice beer and if the back end were a bit more substantial, it’d be a real winner. As it is, I thought it was a nicely put together bit of brewing.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

An IPA

With a very descriptive, yet generic name, An IPA w/Galaxy, Simcoe & Mosaic Hops tells you exactly what you can expect. Built by the team at Bellwoods Brewery in Toronto, An IPA is a muscle-bound 7.3% IPA sold in cool 473mL cans. It’s an extremely hazy orange ale with a modest dusting of white suds.

 

An IPA has a bouquet that blends tropical and citrus fruits—notably orange, pineapple, and melon. The flavour trends is the same direction, with a veritable fruit salad on display, but also backed with an undeniable booze heat and a citrus-heavy bitterness.

This high percentage take on a hazy IPA is definitely my kind of beer. An IPA is juicy and flavourful, but unapologetically strong, too. It’s a winner in my books. My only critique is I’d have liked the bitter back end to be a bit amplified.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Fox Force 5 IPA

Fox Force 5 IPA is both a 6.5% brew from Indie Alehouse and an excellent shout out to Pulp Fiction. The beer, born in Toronto, is sold in 500mL bottles with beautiful labels with more nods to the film. The beer is made with Voss Kveik yeast, as well as the duo of Enigma and Lotus hops. It’s a hazy brown-gold colour and it pours with a this white foam.

FF5 has an agreeable aroma reminiscent of fruit leather—sweet and a bit quirky, with a hint of citrus bitterness. The flavour is also built around dried fruit notes, with a citrus/berry blend. There is a wee bit of bitterness and an understated, earthy yeastiness.

Clever branding, great flavours, and high refreshment value makes this a nifty little IPA worth tracking down. The deft use of kveik—the brewing world’s hottest microbe—is also a nice touch.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Reverie Hawaiian Punch Dreamsicle Double IPA

At 8.5%, Rorschach Brewing Co.’s Reverie Hawaiian Punch Dreamsicle Double IPA, is a hefty ale—a novelty that’ll get your ass drunk. Sold in 355mL cans, this Torontonian brew is made with apricot purée, guava purée, orange purée, passionfruit purée, pineapple purée, lactose sugar, oats, wheat, and vanilla. The beer is a cloudy, slightly sludgy dull orange colour with a white head.

 

As should come to absolutely no one’s surprise, this brew is extremely juicy, both in its nose and its flavour. The aroma is sweet and tropical, with little bitterness. The flavour is extremely sweet, with a bit of tartness lurking, and a touch of bitterness. Moreover, there’s a lot of booziness in this odd ale.

I appreciate the quirkiness of this big and complicated ale; however, the truth is that I didn’t love it. I liked the strength and the smooth lactose texture, but I found it too sweet and there was a bit of misplaced funk at the back end that gave the beet an “over-ripe” vibe.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.