Hibernator 2019

During the last Sunday of the NFL regular season, I was looking forward to watching my Raiders battle the hated Broncos. The game was listed on the TV schedule. I sat down to root ... and found my game had been preempted by the Titans and Texans! Steaming mad, I reached for something strong: Hibernator 2019 from Toronto’s Bandit Brewery. H:2019 is a 10% alcohol, bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout brewed with coconut. Sold in 750mL bombers, the labels feature a ghoulish raccoon skeleton gripping a chalice. It comes from Toronto's Bandit Brewery. I received this beer as a birthday gift courtesy of the always thoughtful and thoroughly rad S&G. Thanks buddies!

Tar black and capped with tan foam, H:2019 has a sweet, roasted malt nose accented with a splash of baked coconut. Extremely sweet through the flavour, the beer packs strong, woody elements, considerable booze warmth, and a crunch of toasted coconut. Given its strength, the beer is drinkably smooth, and it only has limited bitterness, manifested as dark chocolate and espresso at the back end.

If I’m being honest, this beer didn’t have the imperial stout depth that I hoped for. It was too sweet and the coconut was used as a primary note rather than an accent. It’d be a great digestif, and would probably go well over vanilla ice cream; however, as a stand-alone beefy stout, it’s got a bit too much of the peripherals and not enough of the meat and taters.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

WHIP Piña Colada Smoothie IPA

WHIP Piña Colada Smoothie IPA, from Left Field Brewery, is a complicated little brew that reflects a moderately complicated pitching statistic. Like its cocktail namesake, it features pineapple, coconut, along with lactose, oats, wheat, vanilla yeast, to combine in a 6% concoction that is sold in 355mL cans.

A milky golden brew, WHIP glugs out of its aluminum cage with a thin off-white head. It has a coconut-driven nose accented with pineapple 

 sweetness. The flavour hits the piña colada pedigree ever more squarely, with sweet coconut and pineapple elements evident to even the most untested palate. Behind that, there is a light hoppiness evident at the finish.

Left Field’s Piña Colada Smoothie IPA delivered exactly what it promised, with a creamy mouthfeel and boatloads of Island flavours. This isn’t exactly a novelty beer, but it is definitely the kind of ale that I’d only reach for occasionally. Too sweet for business drinking, but definitely interesting, it’s a beer I liked, but won’t hurry out for a second. I was watching the Toronto Maple Leafs host the hated Boston Bruins when I reached for this can of ale, needing something Toronto-born to cheer on the Buds—something from one of Toronto’s elite breweries seemed like an appropriate choice, and even if it didn’t fuel the Leafs to victory, it left me satisfied. My only real beef is that I’d have liked a more boisterously bitter finish to balance the sweet front end.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Queen City Craft--Death By Coconut

Death By Coconut is an Irish porter flavoured with both coconut and chocolate. DBC comes from Longmont, Colorado, where it is crafted by Oskar Blues Brewery. The beer comes in 355mL cans and clocks in at a portly 6.5% alcohol.

This beer packs a hefty coconut aroma that pretty much dominates the light chocolate tone. The flavour plays in the opposite direction, with a bitter chocolate vibe towering over some coconut foothills--fine by me, since I'd take chocolate over coconut any day. This beer is more than just choco and coco, as there is a nice roasted malt quality and a decent hops charge to close things out.

As I expected, this beer was a bit too sweet for me, but it was undeniably enjoyable. This stuff makes an excellent dessert beer--one that would be well matched to chocolate or fruity sweets.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.