Sunday, 26 August 2018

Wicked Awesome IPA

With a name a Bostonian can surely get behind, Wicked Awesome IPA is clearly New England-style. This 6.5% alcohol, 64 IBU brew comes from Nickel Brook Brewing Co. from Burlington, Ontario. According to the 473mL cans (festooned with a purple and teal jungle cat, BTW), this beer is the winner of the vote from NB’s first ever mystery pack competition.

Cloudy, milky, and dull orange-gold, Wicked Awesome pours with a sudsy off-white head. It packs a robust scent, built around mango and hops stank. The flavour is equally split between tropical fruit notes and sticky, resinous bitterness.

Easy-going for an IPA, but bursting with juicy flavour, it’s not hard to see how this beer is a contest winner. At 6.5%, there is a little room to up the ante, but there is ample taste to keep your taste buds’ interest piqued.

Other than their lamentable Green Apple Pilsner (I won’t let it go—it’s awful!), Nickel Brook is one of Ontario’s most consistently good, easily available breweries. Their Naughty Neighbour and Headstock IPA are almost always present in my fridge, and if Wicked Awesome remains available, I expect it will join the gang in my staple roster. It’s not groundbreaking, earthshaking, or heartbreaking, but it is a damn fine brew. Plus, with the relatively low percentage and big, tropical flavour, this is the beer you give to your pal Kevin who is convinced he doesn’t like IPAs because they’re “too bitter”. Fuck you, Kevin! It’s a big tent style.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

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