Friday, 30 October 2020
Yeasayer
Wednesday, 28 October 2020
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.
Monday, 26 October 2020
Ringwood Ale
Sunday, 25 October 2020
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.
Saturday, 24 October 2020
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.
Wednesday, 14 October 2020
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.”
Monday, 12 October 2020
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.
Saturday, 10 October 2020
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.
Thursday, 8 October 2020
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.
Tuesday, 6 October 2020
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.
Sunday, 4 October 2020
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.
Friday, 2 October 2020
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.
Thursday, 1 October 2020
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.