Canatara!

A Berlinerweisse brewed with passion fruit, Canatara! comes from Sarnia, Ontario and the Refined Fool Brewing Co. The beer comes in 473mL cans and contains 4.7% alcohol.

Canatara! is a slightly hazy golden brew that pours under a thin but durable white head. It has a tart, yet juicy passion fruit nose. The flavour is really quite mild, with a bit of tartness, some tropical fruit notes, and a quick, dry finish.

If I’m being honest, I found this beer to be a bit of a disappointment. It is nowhere near as tart as I wanted it to be, nor is the passion fruit flavour as robust. On this flip side, I did enjoy the dry, champagne-like mouthfeel.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Passionfruit Guava Flavoured Kettle Sour

Apparently a relation of Coriolis Effect Berliner Weisse, Sawdust City Brewing Co.’s Passionfruit Guava Flavoured Kettle Sour weighs in at a mere 3.5% alcohol and 6 IBUs, but it punches well above its weight in terms of flavour.

The beer, which is sold in 473mL cans, has a straw yellow, almost pale green colour. It pours with a little bit of white head and a deep well of tart and juicy fruit aromatics. This can be explained by the presence of passionfruit juice, guava juice, and lactobacillus brevis (apparently a lactic acid—brewing science is neat).  Tart and acidic, this passionfruit guava concoction has a wild amount of fruity funk, with both tropical products represented about equally. Though low alcohol, the beer has a similar mouthfeel and essence as a glass of young white wine, and once you acclimatize to the sourness, there is a pretty high degree of juicy sweetness waiting in the wings.

 

I fairly crushed this can after coming home from a toast late July afternoon walk. It wasn’t quite as refreshing as the tall glass of water I downed first, but it was decidedly more satisfying. If you dig fruity, sour, sessionable suds, this little entry from Gravenhurst, Ontario is a winner.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Pineapple Uber Sour Beer

Pineapple Uber Sour Beer is a low alcohol, ultra low IBU effort that comes from Burlington, Ontario’s Nickel Brook Brewing Co. This berlinerweisse is flavoured with piña. It’s a 3.9% brew with just 3 IBUs that comes in 500mL bottles.

Pineapple Uber is a hazy, almost milky pale yellow brew that pours with a persistent inch of white suds. The beer has a tangy and stimulating nose built around a sour pineapple vibe. The flavour moves from sour to sweet, but lingers at the former, only getting near the latter at the absolute finish. 

For a beer so low in alcohol it’d be hard pressed to ever make me stagger, there really is a staggering amount of flavour in this little sour. If you like pineapple and you dig sour beers, this quirky little wheated brew has a lot to offer.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Burlington Funk: Nickel Brook Raspberry Über Berliner-Style Weisse

Nickel Brook Raspberry Über Berliner-Style Weisse is a 3.8% alcohol ale in the German style from Burlington, Ontario's Nickel Brook Brewing Co. The ale poured a surprisingly pink and hazy hue, topped with a short-lived light pink head. According to the label of the 375mL bottle, this pink concoction clocks a mere 3 IBUs.

Über has a punchy raspberry aroma that straddles between tart berry and cool-aid sweetness. The flavour is far leas sweet than the aroma, built around a tart raspberry vibe. Über has a tight, short taste, with a fraction of sweetness dwarfed by seriously fruity sourness. It is effervescent, but fairly thin on the mouthfeel.

Once one battles through its lurid pinkness, NB's Raspberry Über Berliner-Style Weisse has an engrossing cordial quality that makes it quite enjoyable. I'd have liked a bit more body from this wheat beer, but it tasted pretty nice all the same. The real beef for me was that the raspberry flavour really dominated the beery elements of this little ale.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.