IPA No. 20: Citra Four Ways

 I love a beer with a subtitle! Collective Arts Brewing’s IPA No. 20: Citra Four Ways is a 6.5% ale brewed with Citra, Citra Cryo, Citra Incognito, and Citra Spectrum. Sold in 473mL cans, the 20th iteration of CA’s IPA series is a hazy pale gold ale with a light covering of white foam.

Citra Four Ways has, predictably, a citrus aroma, with mandarin orange notes. The flavour is sweet and juicy, with orange and floral elements. There’s not a lot of bitterness here and the texture is extremely smooth.

IPA No. 20 isn’t as memorable as some, but I like the innovative theme and it definitely tasted pretty good.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Cookie Thief

 At 6%, Cookie Thief is a quirky little stout from Toronto’s Bandit Brewery. It’s an oatmeal cookie stout that, according to the Bandit website, is brewed with lactose, cocoa nibs and oatmeal, conditioned on graham crackers. The beer comes in 355mL cans that have a raccoon scheming for a plate of cookies.

Cookie Thief has has a powerfully sweet aroma, with loads of chocolate, brown sugar, and, sure enough, a little touch of graham crackers. The beer has saccharine notes to a silly degree, with chocolate and vanilla. There are some roasty malt notes and just a slight touch of cocoa bitterness.

All told, this beer ain’t really for me. But, to be fair, it delivers what it says on the tin. It’s too sweet by far, though there is an agreeably smooth texture. I’d be willing to bet it’d taste really nice over ice cream.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.