All's Welly That Ends Welly: Iron Duke

According to the copy on 355mL bottles of Iron Duke, the beer was first brewed way back in the Stone Age of craft beer: 1986. Iron Duke is an English-style strong ale brewed in Guelph, Ontario by Wellington Brewery. Clocking in at 6.5% it has some get up and go, but at just 21 IBUs, there isn’t a lot of hops in the tank. Coloured somewhere between amber and ruby, the clear beer pours with a sudsy off-white head. It has a warm aroma that is bready and fortified with notes of sticky toffee. It tastes malty, biscuity, and strong, with toffee notes and an agreeable metallic coil.

The Iron Duke is a bit too sweet and insufficiently bitter, but it has lovely strength and it’s a nice change up from typical Ontario strong ales that tend to be IPAs or porters.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.