Sunday, 21 April 2019

Surround Sound

At a rowdy 8.2% alcohol, Surround Sound is a “Double Dry Hopped DIPA”—that’s a lot of “doubles”—from Collective Arts Brewing in Hamilton, Ontario. The 473mL cans come with brilliant art—a skeletal flower rabbit: beautiful! The beer is sunny and pale under a sudsy white cap.


Surround Sound is brewed using Simcoe and Amarillo hops. It has an earthy, dank hops scent with a bit of perfume—relatively mild olfactory stats from a >8% ale, but pleasant. The flavour has more of a citrus lean than the nose, with some juicy clementine orange elements, nestled alongside perfume and floral notes. The beer is bitter and, for a strong guy, it isn’t over-sweet, which is worth a lot to me.

Collective Arts is one of Ontario’s premier producers of IPAs, double IPAs, and their ilk. I thought that Surround Sound was worthy of the pedigree and a delightful offering. Simply by minimizing the sweetness, the strong ale was out to a good start, but the flavour was pretty nuanced, too. I really like New England IPAs, but I have a bit of NEIPA fatigue. When I bought this stuff, I expected more of the same, but I was pleased to get something a bit different. Hey Collective Arts! Make this stuff a regular offering. I’ll buy it!

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

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