Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

I don’t normally dig on weapon imagery, but the label on the 473mL cans of Rainhard Brewing’s Horseshoes and Hand Grenades is pretty cool and a great nod to the classic idiom. The Torontonian beer, brewed with El Dorado and Strata hops, clocks in at 6.5%. It’s a clear, golden ale with a lively off-white head.

H&H has sweet citrus and just a bit of pine on the nose. The flavour is quite mild. It’s sweet on the front end, with ample juiciness. The back end has a lick of bitterness, manifesting in evergreen and grapefruit.

According to the copy on Rainhard’s website, H&H was intended to be a hybrid of the East and West Coast IPA styles. The beer ain’t a bad attempt at that lofty goal, as it features the clarity and pine of a WC brew and the juiciness of an EC ale. However, I’d like for it to be a biiiiit more robust and stronger, with a little more depth of flavour. Still, it’s an easy-drinking and undeniably enjoyable brew.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Granite Summer Ale

 According the copy on the 473mL cans, Summer Ale is the oldest seasonal beer from The Granite Brewery & Tied House, an august Toronto institution celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021. 

Summer Ale is a session-friendly 4% ale. It’s a clear golden beer with a respectable covering of white suds. SA has agreeable malt-forward aromatics with sweet grain and grass notes and a touch of apple. Based on the aroma, I expected a fairly sweet flavour, and though there is a decent dose of cereal sweetness, the beer also surprised with a decent amount of floral bitterness.

My only real complaint with Granite’s Summer Ale is the relatively thin texture. Though, for a beer with just 4%, thinness really should be expected. The balance on display in this brew is impressive and the crushability quotient is off the charts.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Figo

Figo is another Italian pilsner out of Toronto, this one is a 5.5% number from Henderson Brewing Co. The beer pours a honey-gold with a slim covering of off-white head. 

Sold in 473mL cans, the beer has a sweet, grainy aromatic profile with a decidedly floral, dry-hopped bent. The flavour kicks off with big grain sweetness, and transitions into a flowery, slightly soapy place. The back end has some noble hop vibes, but it ain’t overly bitter.

I suspect that purists would decry Figo is too sweet and too strong for style, but I actually liked it more than a lot of the T.O. Italian pilsners I’ve tried so far. The heft is agreeable to me, though I’d have liked a bit more crispness.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Nachmeleny Czech Double IPA

From the Pivovar Godspeed series of Czech-style beers comes Nachmeleny Czech Double IPA. The 8% beer from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery is sold in 355mL cans with the majority of the copy written in Czech, but the Godspeed website explains the historical importance of hop-picking under communism and how it remains a “popular summer gig in Bohemia.” The beer is made using Saaz and Kazbeck hops. It’s a clear, bright copper ale with a modest cap of off-white head.

Nachmeleny has, for a strong beer, a refined and restrained aromatic profile. To my nose, there were floral notes as well as a whiff of cranberry. However, where I might have expected a tart flavour, instead I found a quirky blend of earthiness, pepper, white wine, and a touch of baked apple. The beer proved quite hoppy and the floral bitterness really lingered on the palate.

Beers like Nachmeleny make me a happy lad—I love the double IPA strength and format, but I can sometimes get a bit tired of the same, familiar flavour profiles: pine, citrus, and tropical fruit (I love ‘em all, but a departure is a treat). This beer was strong and well made, but offered something a bit different. The aroma could have been a bit more robust, but otherwise, these were some quality suds.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Magnificence

Magnificence is a mighty hazy double dry-hopped double IPA from the gang at Toronto’s Rorschach Brewing Co. The beer comes in 355mL cans and checks in at 8%. It’s an almost milky orange hazer with a thick white head.

The beer is hopped using Nelson Sauvin and this gives it a fragrant juiciness with pineapple and grape notes. The flavour has quite a few white wine elements, and the texture is mellowed by the use of wheat and oats. Bitterness, in a floral/citrus configuration, only really enters the scene in the back end.

Magnificence is a tasty number. The booze is present, but not overwhelming, and the flavour is quite enticing. The white wine touches make for quite a refreshing beer.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Sakoku

Sakoku was the Japanese policy of isolationism, means “closed country”, and is an American-style stout from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery. It’s a 6.9% bad boy that comes in 355mL cans feature a black and white image of a steam/sail ship. The beer is  near-black, and pours with an exciting layer of tan head.

The beer has a hefty aroma that blends evergreen forest and roasted malt. The flavour is robust, with pine and coffee bitterness, big malt, faint peat, and a fair bit of boozy burn. Very little sweetness, which I particularly liked.

When I think of Godspeed, I think of beautiful lagers, but with Sakoku, they delivered a potent and engrossing bitter stout.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Occult Classic Coffee Doppelbock

The 473mL cans that house Rainhard Brewing’s Occult Classic Coffee Doppelbock are almost laughably dark, such as they are nearly impossible to read. However, I was able to squint enough to tell you that the beer contains 6.7%—the same as the original version of Occult Classic (without the coffee). No idea where the coffee comes from or when it was added to the brew, but there you are.

The beer is dark and looks like root beer, with amber highlights and a sudsy tan head. It has a substantial aroma of roasted malt, backed with toasted bread and just a soupçon of brewed coffee. The flavour leans a bit harder into the coffee notes, though not so much as to be indelicate. As well, there are sweet, malt-forward elements, as well as toast vibes and a modestly java-bitter back end.

Compared to the original Occult Classic, the coffee version didn’t strike me as a notable improvement (although it has admittedly been a while since I last slurped a can of the original). The coffee flavour is nicely integrated, but I’d really rather just get down on a classic doppelbock—Ontario versions are already rare enough.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The Revue Double Dry Hopped IPA

Brewed in honour of a Toronto cinematic landmark, The Revue Double Dry Hopped IPA features the façade of the Revue Cinema on the 355mL cans. The 6.5% IPA from Toronto’s Bandit Brewery comes out pale gold and hazy, with a thin layer of white suds.

The Revue has a citrus and floral aroma. The flavour tosses together orange, grapefruit, melon, and tropical fruit notes up front, with a floral hop finish with just minimal bitterness.

I thought The Revue was a tasty little offering from a brewery that is becoming known for its dry hopped IPAs. It doesn’t exactly stand out when compared to Cloud, Isabella, and Eneg, but it’s up to the standard set by other Bandit offerings like Odyssey.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.