Juicebox New England Pale Ale

Happy Hallowe'en from the Stout Man!

With a classic 8-bit label, Juicebox New England Pale Ale comes in great looking 500mL bottles. It’s a 5.5% ale from Toronto’s Bandit Brewery. The edition that I reviewed was made with Citra and Idaho 7 hops. The beer is cloudy and has a dull brown-gold hue.

Through a sudsy, off-white head, Juicebox has a fruitful aroma. The beer has juicy notes that, in my opinion, carried notes of raspberry and citrus. Like a proper New England-style, Juicebox is hopped fairly lightly, but there is definitely enough to lend a bit of balance.

Juicebox is well-made beer. Other than it’s pleasing raspberry vibe, the beer isn’t all that memorable, but it sure is quality. Juicy, adequately hoppy, and flavourful, it clicks without overawing.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Nor’Easter American Pale Ale

A 5% alcohol ale from Bathurst, New Brunswick, Nor’Easter American Pale Ale is brewed by the Four Rivers Brewing Co. The beer is sold in very attractive 473mL cans—really spiffy tins. It’s a hazy, brassy beer with a sudsy eggshell head on top.

The beer has a biscuity and toasty aroma. Nor’Easter tastes sweet and malty on the front end, with a tiny touch of cinnamon notes along for the ride. The back end is crisp and slightly bitter—not quite hoppy enough for me, unfortunately.

Nor’Easter is a toasty, toasty APA, but one that is a bit light on hoppiness. It is refreshing, though, and well worth a try.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Gerard Comeau Brut IPA

The intersection of beer and the law is a place that interests me greatly. That’s why, when I heard about an interprovincial collaboration between the Québécois Brasserie du Bas Canada out of Gatineau and Ottawa’s Flora Hall Brewing Co., I put out an APB for a bottle of Gerard Comeau Brut IPA. Luckily for me, my old pal KC was in Ottawa and obliged by purchasing not one but three 500mL bottles of the 7.2% alcohol grog.

For those not in the know, Gerard Comeau is a gent from my home province, Nouveau Brunswick, who dared to travel to Quebec in search of cheaper beer and booze. Cited by the RCMP and fined $240 plus fees and surcharge,  Comeau decided to fight. Successful at first instance and at the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, it looked like Gerard would prevail, but the province’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was allowed and his fine was restored. The reasoning is high-falutin’ constitutional law dealing with interprovincial trade and tariffs, and is better dealt with in a legal forum. For my purposes, Gerard Comeau is a dude who fought to freely bring beer across provincial lines and regardless of his ultimate defeat, I think he’s a folk hero worthy of a beer named in his honour.

On to the beer.

GC is a brut IPA, meaning it is effervescent like a sparkling wine and extremely low on sugar. The beer I got was a fizzy golden number; clear beer under a sudsy white cap. It had a dry, yeasty aroma with some faintly floral bitterness. Crisp and extremely dry, the beer wasn’t overly flavourful, though there were some perfumed bitter elements, particularly at the finish, and even more particularly as the beer warmed.

Incredibly easy-drinking for a 7.2% beer, GC was a well-brewed collaboration between two breweries I’d never before encountered. Even without its legal/historical significance, I’d have called this a quality beer, but the context is definitely worth an extra half-point in my personal scale. Brut IPAs, while all be rage, are still pretty new to me, but this one really clicked. I’d have liked for the amplifiers to be turned up a bit, flavour-wise, particularly in the early going, but that won’t stop me from enjoying the other two bottles I’ve got left.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Wrath of Putin DBL IPA

Ostensibly a double IPA from Nackawic, New Brunswick, Wrath of Putin DBL IPA should, in my opinion, be classed as a conventional IPA. At just 7%, Wrath may well be stronger than other IPAs from Big Axe Brewery, but that doesn’t make it a double.

The beer comes in 375mL bottles. It’s a swampy bronze grog that pours with quite a lot of sediment and a creamy head. Wrath has a piney, sweet, and slightly spicy. The beer has some malty bulk and sweetness up front, and an evergreen hops finish.

 

All in, Wrath of Putin DBL IPA is either a pretty good IPA or an understrength and underwhelming double. But classification aside, the beer tastes pretty nice, if a bit light on bitterness.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

150 Red IP-eh

I have to assume that Think Brewing Co.’s 150 Red IP-eh is brewed in honour of Canada’s sesquicentennial. However, there is no further indication one way or another on the 500mL bottle. So, out of an abundance of caution, I’m opting to take Think up on their eponymous suggestion and ruminate on Canada’s (albeit belated) 150th birthday—while drinking this 6% alcohol red IPA from Harvey, NB, I was Think-ing about Canada, both as a land of opportunity and beauty, and as a country with a significant social, racial, and economic baggage, where entire communities struggle needlessly without clean water. Also, I’m Think-ing about the fact that, according to the label, with the purchase of this ale, Think provides “1% to food programs”, so that’s cool. All told, positive and productive thoughts were Thunk.

As for the beer, 150 Red is a rusty, swampy ale that pours with a thick and persistent cream head. Its aroma is coppery and fairly bitter, with suggestions of sweetness. The flavor is metallic, with classic red ale caramel notes sitting in front of a fairly prominent woodsy hops finish.

As red IPAs go, I tend to like them more bitter and less sweet, but this one has some chops even though it comes from the other side of the line. A few more IBUs wouldn’t have hurt, but I’ll live.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

8 Days a Week Single Hop Session IPA (Ekuanot)

The Ekuanot edition of Bandit Brewery’s 8 Days a Week Single Hop Session IPA is a low-alcohol number, at just 3.9%.  Sold in 500mL bottles, the beer proved to be a swampy gold colour with a loose white head. I know by now that Bandit has great labels, but this one might be my new fave.

The brew has a tangy fruit scent with a slight floral kicker. The flavour is similarly situated, if a bit understated (not surprising, given the sub-4 percentage), but it still had some tropical tang.

A nicely-constructed low-octane ale, the Ekuanot edition of 8 Days has some character and style. Truly sessionable and quite pleasant. A more generous hopping would have been nice, though.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Chalice Belgian IPA

Chalice Belgian IPA comes from Long Bay Brewery in Rothsay, New Brunswick. I picked up a 355mL bottle based on the excellent label featuring a tonsured monk grasping a jeweled grail. It’s a 6.5% alcohol brew with relatively low levels of bitterness at just 25 IBUs. Brewed using Belgian yeast and with grains of paradise, the beer is a hazy, pale gold potion that pours with a lot of carbonation and lusty white head.

With a spicy, yeast-driven aroma, Chalice has the profile of a Belgian ale and its flavour backs up that assessment, with warm, yeast notes and a sizable spice presence. That said, there aren’t the subtle fruit esters that make a Belgian-style ale really click. The bitterness is modest to the point of timidity, but certainly provides some balance. Overall, it was a nice beer that could be great with a bit more fine tuning.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Haliburton Highlands Honey Brown Ale

“Store cool. Enjoy fresh.” So admonishes 500mL bottles of Haliburton Highlands Brewing’s Honey Brown Ale; so into the fridge it went and down my gullet soon after. A 5% alcohol ale from Haliburton, Ontario, this stuff is brewed using “locally produced honey and oats” to produce a handsome amber ale that pours under a blanket of eggshell head.

The beer has a honey-sweet nose offset against a roasted malt base. The flavour is equally well-balanced, with sweet oat and honey notes that hold there own against legitimate brown ale elements of malted toastiness and an English-style ale bitterness.

Honey brown ales often falter, as far as I’m concerned, when they focus too much on the honey and not enough on the brown ale—Halliburton’s take on the style doesn’t fall into that trap—it is a brown ale first, with sticky molasses, rich malt, and decent bitterness—dressed up with some local honey sweetness. This beer should have been in the 6% range, but otherwise, I thought it worked nicely.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Duggan's #18

Duggan’s Brewery in Toronto has adopted a numerical system of naming their beers (see previous posts in which I reviewed #9, #46, and #99). The #18 is billed as a raspberry weiss beer. It’s a 5.4%, 22 IBU brew that I recently picked up at the bottle shop in a bottle (volume uncertain, but it must have been between 400-500mL).

For a wheat beer, I found #18 to be notably dark in colour—closer to an auburn than the pale gold I was expecting. The beer poured with a fluffy cloud of off-white head, but it was short-lived. The beer had a tart berry nose supplemented with a waft of banana and a yeasty fug. The tartness of the raspberry elements really came through in the flavour, which is nearly sour. The mouthfeel was sturdier than many others in the style, which hurt crispness but gave the beer a bit more substance.

 

The big one-eight from Duggan’s is a pretty enjoyable little wheater; however, it is a bit wanting on the back end, which finishes short, tart, and uninspired. It’s also a bit low on the fizzy fizzy. Otherwise, the beer has a lot going for it: good strength, meaty body, and a tart raspberry vibe that tastes authentic and isn’t sweetened into jammy oblivion. Even with out a better established back end, I thought #18 was good stuff.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

A-Bay

Named in honour of Asbridges Bay, A-Bay is a pale ale from the team at Beaches Brewing Company, an outfit based in Toronto. A-Bay is a 4.5% alcohol, 28 IBU crusher. Sold in 473mL cans, the beer is clear, pale gold, and effervescent. According to the copy on the can, it’s a “Canadian style wheat ale”, although wheat is noticeably absent from the ingredients list. Regardless, A-Bay lands under a fluffy and thick layer of bright white foam and has a pretty imposing citrus aroma given the low percentage.

Fruit salad notes are the driving factors of A-Bay’s flavour, with orange, banana, and grape leading the way. The finish has some hops, but not in the assertive fashion necessary to compete with the fruity disposition of the front end. Despite the lack of wheat mentioned in the ingredients list, this beer does have the hallmarks of a wheated ale—most notably banana esters.

A-Bay was a pretty enjoyable little ale, but it falls a bit short in the bitterness department. At just 4.5%, there are some sessionable chops, but the beer is a touch too sweet to make that entirely realistic. What A-Bay is, though, is refreshing as hell. And that’s worth a lot.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Spin Dive Summer Gose

Spending a coupla days cat- and hog-sitting for my frère and his roomie, I picked myself up a few cans of cold after the sad supply I was left, including a 473mL number of Spin Dive Summer Gose. A light beer at just 3.8% alcohol and 11 IBUs, Spin Dive comes from Lake of Bays Brewing Company in Baysville, Ontario.

Hazy and golden, with just a whisper of thin, off-white head. It has a briny waft that promises a blend of tart and spice. The flavour is salty and tangy, with a nice lime element, but it is unexpectedly mild, and this mildness is born out by a disappointingly thin body. 

Spin Dive is a refreshing little fella with a nice flavour foundation, but it lacks body and depth. Insufficiently sharp for a gose, though, and a bit underwhelming in the main. 

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

New Wave New England-Style IPA

During a recent stop at Toronto’s Halo Brewing Co., I had a few minutes to kill before my pal joined me, so I dove into a 12oz pour of their New Wave New England-Style IPA. A 6.7% alcohol number; my beer arrived with an opaque orange and milky appearance and a very thin disc of white head.

New Wave had a mighty aroma that melded dank hops with juicy citrus. The flavour was pretty robust, with pineapple, grapefruit, and mango elements, balanced against a pretty zealously hoppy finish.

This beer was juicy, bitter, and decently strong. I’d have preferred to amp it up across the line to 7%, but I’ll live. NE IPAs are ubiquitous these days, but ones that are smartly brewed are in shorter supply, and Halo’s New Wave fits in that more elite class.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Clear Lake Session Ale

From the Clear Lake Brewing Co., in Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, comes Clear Lake Session Ale. A crystal clear, 4.8% alcohol beer, CLSA comes in 473mL cans and pours with a vibrant but very short-lived white head.

CLSA has a sweet aroma that is based around cereals and corn, with just a flicker of hops at the tail end. The beer is fairly crisp, though it is a touch too sweet to make it particularly session-friendly—at least for me. The flavour is grain and corn-driven, with a faint bitterness to close the door.

CLSA has a distinctly “macro” feel to it—it tastes like any number of golden ales that I’ve tried, with little to set it apart. I quaffed my can during a grilling session, and it made an adequate companion to that endeavour, though in truth, it didn’t add a whole lot. In my opinion, this beer was ordinary. Add to that a too-sweet complexion, and it’s not a beer I’m keen to revisit.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Saison Davenport

One of the most cleverly-named beers on the Toronto craft scene right now is Saison Davenport. Christened in honour of the legendary Saison Dupont—SD recognizes that its home brewery, Shacklands Brewing Co., is north of Dupont Street, but closer to Davenport.

The beer, which clocks in at 6.4% alcohol, came direct from the brewery in a 650mL bottle. The beer is a dull gold colour with reddish highlights under a fluffy off-white head. SD has a yeasty, fruity nose with notes of apple and Chardonnay. The flavour keeps up the white wine vibe. It’s dry, fruity, and a touch floral. Tying the whole thing together is a streak of convincing Belgian-style yeastiness.

I’m hot and cold on saisons, but a simple, well-made entry is a pretty agreeable beer, and that’s just what I got from Saison Davenport. Not over-complicated, but well-made and tasty. A bit more carbonated zip would have served the mouthfeel better.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Blue County Blueberry Saison

According to the copy on 473mL cans of Blue County Blueberry Saison, 100% of the blueberries used in the brewing process come from Hometown Brew Co.’s fields in Langton, Ontario. At 6%, BC won’t overwhelm, but it can stand up for itself. It’s a brassy beer with a sudsy white head, all of which has an ever-so-slight purplish tint (or I might just be losing it).

Yeasty and peppery to the nose, but with some berry juice, BC has a great smell. The flavour isn’t quite as splendid, although it does taste pretty good. It’s just that the beer, packed full of blueberries as it is, comes off a bit too sweet. There is a funky yeast subtext, but it doesn’t get a chance to shine due to the starring role occupied by those tiny round dudes from Norfolk County.

Blue County is exactly what it set out to be—a blueberry saison—except that the ratios are reversed. I wanted a blueberry SAISON, but I got a BLUEBERRY saison. But I still enjoyed it well enough. Big ups to my pals MN and LD for hooking me up with this (and other) beer for looking after their furry friends.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Prince Eddy’s Brewing Co.’s Citra IPA

The pineapple, grapefruit, and orange on the label of the 650mL bottles of Prince Eddy’s Brewing Co.’s Citra IPA are a bit of a giveaway as to  projected flavour notes. A 5% alcohol IPA (almost unacceptably low-octane) from Picton, Ontario, the beer has a light orange hue, with considerable haziness and a stable white head.

P.E.’s Citra IPA has a hoppy, citrus-focused aroma, but one with an unfortunate “foot” element. The flavour is heavy with citrus notes and, for a low-alcohol IPA, an almost heroically bitter cast. Fortunately, not “footy” to the taste, this little IPA has some depth.

Despite a layer of stank on the nose, Prince Eddy’s Citra is a tasty little beer. Anything that calls itself an IPA, but which contains less than 6% alcohol is due a 1.0 point deduction, so it was behind the 8-ball, but I still liked this stuff alright.

Rating: 7.0 our of 10.