Fruit Helmet

I’m pretty late to the game, but Milkshake IPAs and pale ales are a big deal now. I’ve tried a couple, but Bellwoods Brewery and Evil Twin’s Fruit Helmet is my first review of the style. Milkshake Ales are a recent trend, brewed with fruit and lactose sugar. Evil Twin/Bellwoods’ Torontonian take, Fruit Helmet, features guava, passion fruit, and raspberry, and clocks in at 5.6% alcohol.

Sold in stylish 500mL bottles, Fruit Helmet is a rosy-hued, juicy, and milky ale. It’s opaque and pours with a thin layer of white head. The nose is dynamically fruity—sweet, with notes of grapefruit and tart raspberry. The flavour is equally fruity, though the notes are a bit different—primarily tropical, but with a rowdy berry tartness. The finish continues the fruity trend, but also packs a murky, bitter taste.

I understand that milkshake IPAs and APAs are an established style, but Fruit Helmet tastes to me like an innovative and inventive grog. It was juicy, thick, and altogether unfamiliar, but in a way that left me thirsty for more. A bit more booze could have helped the effort, but this stuff was already solid, with ample bitterness and big flavour. Bitter, yet tart, yet juicy, but still smooth—this is one of the finest Ontario ales I’ve tried in 2017.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.