3-4 More-Than-Triple, Less-Than-Quad IPA

 After watching my Raiders get absolutely upended by the hated team from Kansas City, I needed some strong medicine, so I reached for a 355mL can of 3-4 More-Than-Triple, Less-Than-Quad IPA. The beer, easily the most hyphenated I have ever reviewed, is an 11% bruiser from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery; a celebration of GLB’s 34th anniversary. The big beer is brewed with both oats and wheat.

I expected 3-4 to be hazy and was surprised when it poured a nearly clear copper colour with a thin but durable off-white foam. The beer had a potent sweet peach and citrus nose. The flavour was extremely sweet, with peach and caramel notes early on and a still-sweet, candied grapefruit finish. Not a lot of evident bitterness, though I suspect that the IBU number is fairly significant—it’s just dwarfed by strength and sugars. The beer is undeniably boozy and is best sipped slow.

This a fun celebration beer, but not one that I’d be particularly inclined to crack open on a school night. It’s too strong and too saccharine for more than occasional sipping and, having enjoyed one and purchased three more, I’m not certain that I’ll be in a rush to load up on any more. Liked it, but didn’t love it.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Astro Ever After

 

Over the course of the Pandemonium, I’ve had the opportunity to place a few mail orders from Town Brewery, but when I found myself driving home via Whitby, Ontario, I decided to stop in to the source to pick up a mixed two-four and a beautiful stemmed glass. 

One of my purchases was an IPA called Astro Ever After, a 7.2% brew made to feature Mosaic hops. This stuff comes in 473mL cans adorned with space-themed labels. The beer is hazy and dull-orange, with a foamy off-white head. My schnozz encountered a bounteous, juicy aroma, with notes of citrus, mango, and peach. The flavour is dank and juicy, with a sweet to bitter progression, and a decent boozy hit. The finish has some hemp, but it’s mostly about citrus bitterness.

I love a full-strength IPA, and at 7.2%, Astro Ever After hits the mark. The flavour is quite nice, too.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Outstanding Pub Ale

 Outstanding Pub Ale comes from the baseball-mad team at Toronto’s Left Field Brewery. I’d probably class it as a British-style pale ale or a blonde ale. It’s a clear golden ale, at 4.1%, that comes in 355mL cans emblazoned with the 17 names of the 2021 indictees into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. According to the can, 25¢ goes to support the work of the Hall. Cheers!

The beer has a toasty, malt-focused aroma with a little bit of sticky toffee. The flavour is  impressively robust for a low-alcohol ale, with ample malt, caramel, and toast notes. There is also an agreeable copper streak running through this one. As for bitterness, there is just a tickle, localized in the back end in a floral/nutty configuration.

This was a really good little beer: enjoyable, huge flavour for the strength, and in service of a good cause. This beer went down beautifully on a crisp November eve.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Havana Affair

 Havana Affair (great name!) is a 5% rum punch sour from the folks at Rainhard Brewing in Toronto. The 355mL can lists a veritable fruit salad: cherry, lime, mango, pineapple, and tangerine. The beer itself is bronze-orange, with a fluffy off-white head that dissipated quickly.

HA has a tangy, fruit zip right off the nose, with lime and cherry leading the way. The flavour is a medley of fruit elements with a zing of quite respectable sourness. No bitterness here, just sweet and sour.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Verse The World

 

Rainhard Brewing in Toronto has been pumping out a slew of pretty nice IPAs and pale ales and Verse The World is another example. The 5.8% pale ale is brewed with Barbe Rouge, Citra, Columbus, and Vic Secret hops. It’s sold in 473mL cans.

The beer is near clear with a handsome gold colour and a decent layer of off-white head. VTW has tangerine and grapefruit aromatics. The flavour is a little underwhelming—it has citrus elements, but they aren’t as well developed at the nose led me to expect. The beer isn’t too sweet, which is nice, and the finish has a middling grapefruit bitterness.

I wanted to like this more than I did, but it wasn’t disappointing or anything. It’s just a decent pale ale.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Radicle Red IPA

 

This beer lived in my fridge for a bit too long, but it still tasted great! Radicle Red IPA is the July 2021 "Ides of ..." entry from Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Company. It’s a 6.5% ale that comes in 473mL cans. The beer is dark bronze in colour and pours under a creamy head.

Radicle Red has an assertive pine and caramel aroma, with a slight metallic tinkle. The flavour matches from malty to bitter—it kicks off with coppery grains and drifts into a hearty evergreen bitterness.

This brew tasted bigger than its 6.5% due to its dank, piney bitterness. It’s an enjoyable, brassy beer—one I liked quite a lot.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Prost! ... an Oktoberfest Märzen

 Much of what you need to know about Prost! ... an Oktoberfest Märzen is right there in the name. It’s a clear, caramel-hued lager from the team at Great Lakes Brewery in Toronto. The beer, sold in 473mL cans, pours with a lush and creamy head.

Prost! has a malty, bready nose. The flavour is sweet, malty, and toasty, with a back end that tastes boozier than its 5.6%. True to style, the beer leans toward the maltier end of the spectrum, but there is a little nod to floral bitterness in the finish.

Not a bad little Ontario take on the classic Oktoberfest style.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Yamayama

 Yamayama is the latest American-style IPA from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery. The beer comes in 355mL cans. It’s a 6.9% ale with a rich copper colour and a goodish layer of off-white head.

The beer has a refined evergreen aroma. Its flavour ticks a lot of West Coast IPA boxes—it’s resinous, piney, and a bit dank. The beer has a sticky, stanky finish that I quite enjoyed.

I found this beer to be quite similar to another Godspeed offering: Shizumu. It’s an enjoyable ale and I’d gladly buy it again.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Rush Canadian Golden Ale

 Awesomely, Rush Canadian Golden Ale, is a collab between Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Company and Rush, the iconic rock band. The beer comes in gold-coloured 473mL cans that say, around the rim, “Books are for tourists” and “Beer is for geniuses”. The beer contains 5.5% alcohol and it pours dull gold with a thick and durable off-white head.

RCGA has a soft and subtle aroma, with faint notes of baked apple, malt, and not a lot else. The flavour plays on those themes, but features quite a bit more depth. The apple elements are well represented, along with a touch of spice and some earth. The front end is quite sweet, while the finish has a dose of limited floral bitterness.

No idea what to expect when I cracked open the can, but I ended up really enjoying this little beer. The beer was quite rich, nuanced, and agreeable, with a decent percentage. Good stuff, if a bit sweet.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Paper Salesman Pale Ale

 During an impromptu visit to Canada’s capital city, I insisted on a first-ever visit to Dominion City Brewing Co., a brewery that I have ordered from several times but never set foot inside. After a couple of IPAs and a tasty BLT from Almanac Bakery, I went into DCBC’s “Corner Store” and dropped some dough. One of the beers that left with me was Paper Salesman Pale Ale. The 5.6% brew came in office-themed 473mL cans. The beer inside proved to be hazy orange with a fairly thin layer of eggshell foam.

Paper Salesman has big tropical aromatics and a flavour to match. Both were built around a mango-heavy fruit salad; a bit on the sweet end, but certainly enjoyable. The fruit juiciness carried on from start to finish, with just a faint dip into citrus bitterness.

A couple of the hazy IPAs that I bought from DCBC on this run were a bit heavy on the sediment; however, Paper Salesman kept is hazy right where it belonged. Really a nice little pick-me-up that brought me all the way back after a short afternoon hike in Orleans. A bit less sweetness is all I’d ask of this tasty ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.