Hop Nouveau 2012 Wet Hopped Pale Ale

I feel like I've been reviewing a lot of beers from Oakville, Ontario's Trafalgar Ales & Meads lately.  Typically, I try to spread my custom around, sampling the wares of a number of different brewers, but Trafalgar has been releasing a lot of interesting looking beers which keep bringing me back to the well for more.

Hop Nouveau 2012 Wet Hopped Pale Ale is, according to its packaging, made using Ontario grown hops and malts. Awesomely, the label provides data about where the hops used were harvested (Straffordville, Ontario), as well as brewed on and bottled on dates--very cool to see that kind of info.

Hop Nouveau poured a swampy golden colour topped with a fairly thin layer of off-white head. The aroma is fairly hoppy but also has a strong honey character. It moves from sweet to bitter. The front end has some honey and caramel sweetness, although I found it to be a touch thin. The finish is well rounded and nicely hopped.

Hop Nouveau 2012 Wet Hopped Pale Ale comes in a 650mL bottle and contains 5% alcohol. I was going to try to rate this stuff a 7.0, but I love the use and promotion of Ontario ingredients, so it gets a bonus tick. A little more front end oomph would've been nice.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.