The Bridge Is Over

The Bridge Is Over is billed as a Bandit/Laylow Production—brewed by Bandit Brewery and Laylow Brewing in Toronto. The beer, a double dry-hopped Belgian New England IPA, is a 6.8% number sold in 355mL cans. The beer is a hazy orange-gold colour and it pours with a thick layer of white foam.

The Bridge Is Over has a yeasty, tart fruit nose. For just 6.8%, the beer tastes surprisingly potent, with a bit of funk, some floral elements, and a touch of tangy apple. The back end has a floral hoppiness, but it is quite mild and short.

A quirky little ale with a big flavour, The Bridge Is Over is a pretty enjoyable collab with some character.

Rating: 8.0 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.

Tongue Tied Double Dry-Hopped IPA

 

Tongue Tied Double Dry-Hopped IPA is a cute little offering cooked up by the stalwart gang at Nickel Brook Brewing Co. The Burlington, Ontario beer comes in playful 473mL cans and clocks in at a slightly understrength 5.6%. The beer is built using Citra, Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, and Strata hops, along with both flaked and malted oats. It’s a handsomely hazy little brew, with a resplendent crown of white suds.

To my nose, Tongue Tied is primarily driven by tropical fruit—pineapple and passionfruit—but also has a dusting of floral, woodsy hops. The flavour left me engaged, but definitely not tongue-tied. It kicks off sweet and tangy; a tropical fruit salad. On the back end, the beer has a hefty hop presence, characterized by citrus and evergreen, though effective dry-hopping keeps the bitterness to a minimum.

Nickel Brook is consistently been one of my fave Ontario establishments, but I’ve found some of their more recent IPA offerings have been a bit non-descript. But I am enthused by Tongue Tied—it’s lower-octane than I’d have liked, but it also balances sweet, tart, and bitter in a manner both subtle and notable. Other than ol’ standbys Headstock and Naughty Neighbour, Tongue Tied is possibly my fave non-sour offering from NB. It’s a treat!

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Isabella

 Sold in gorgeously labeled 355mL cans, Isabella is yet another double dry-hopped IPA from the gang at Toronto’s Bandit Brewery, this one is a 6.5% numbered made with Nelson Sauvin and Citra hops. The beer is a good-looking hazy brew with a dull-gold colour and a thin white head.

Isabella has a mild, fruit-forward aroma, with subtle notes of pineapple. The flavour is juicy, with citrus and green grape notes. There is a fair amount of hop flavour, but not much bitterness.

Quite a nice entry in the lengthy annals of Bandit’s double dry-hopped repertoire, Isabella is an enjoyable little beer. I’d have liked a bit more in terms of aromatics, but the flavour is grand.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Eneg

Eneg is both a reference that goes completely over my head and a double dry hopped IPA brewed with Citra and Sultana hops. The beer comes in 355mL cans that reference some kind of video game that, again, goes right over my head. It’s a 6.5% brew built in Toronto by Bandit Brewery.

It’s a very hazy IPA that pours dull gold with a creamy white head. It has a sticky citrus aroma and a juiced up orange flavour, atop a very smooth, creamsicle texture. The closing act is a touch of citrus bitterness.

I really liked Bandit’s Eneg. They’re basically a double dry-hopped specialist, and this was, to my mind, one of their better ones.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Bermuda

Toronto’s Bandit Brewery seems to be a double dry hopped IPA factory these days—they offer a bunch of beers in the style, including Bermuda, a hazy 6.5% alcohol effort. Bermuda comes in 355mL cans and it emerges pale gold with a thin white head and an unfortunate amount of yeasty sediment.

Bermuda has a juicy orange and tangerine aroma. Flavour-wise, the beer has an OJ vibe, with some floral sweetness. The back end has a bit of citrus hoppiness.

This beer tastes quite nice, but it’s not exactly beautiful. I’d need to have the sediment issues taken care of before I’d buy this one again.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Quantum Leap Double Dry Hopped IPA

 The gang at Toronto’s Rorschach Brewing Co. Are responsible for Quantum Leap Double Dry Hopped IPA, a 5.5% alcohol ale is brewed with Galaxy and Vic Secret hops, as well as oats and wheat. The beer comes in 355mL cans. When de-canned, it’s a hazy orange-gold colour topped with a fluffy white head.

QL has a sweet nectarine and mango aroma. It has a juicy, fruity aroma with a hint of sticky resin at the back end. The beer has a velvety smooth texture, though it also came off as a bit thin.

The copy on the sign of the can promised “notes of fuzzy peach candy”, which caught my eye and imagination, and I’d say that Quantum Leap delivered. I’d have liked more body, and a bit more booze, but it was still a pretty playful little ale and I’m pleased to know that I have another three in the fridge to which I can look forward.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

 

Odyssey Double Dry Hopped IPA

On a rainy afternoon, doing a little stubborn grilling, I selected a 355mL can of Odyssey Double Dry Hopped IPA to be my backyard companion—its label features an intrepid space raccoon, which felt appropriate to the task. Odyssey, from Toronto’s Bandit Brewery, is a 6.5% effort. A hazy IPA, it had a golden orange hue and poured with a helmet of sudsy off white head. According to the Bandit website, this beer owes its flavour profile to double dry-hopping with Galaxy hops.

Citrus and tropical notes jumped out to my nose, and the flavour continued down that same path, with OJ and passion fruit elements in the vanguard and a modestly floral bitterness bringing up the rear.

I thought Odyssey was an agreeable but not overly memorable entry in the crowded hazy DDH IPA category. It’s clearly well made and undoubtedly enjoyable, but if you asked me about this beer in six months, I’d have to pull up this review. It really is quite a good beer, made by a brewery that knows what’s up—it just didn’t offer anything unique.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Cactus Head D.D.H. IPA

Hazy to the point of milkiness, Cactus Head D.D.H. IPA comes from Toronto’s Blood Brothers Brewing. It’s a 6.5% ale sold in 500ml bottles that have a weird, pseudo-medical spiny-headed image on the label—genuinely eye-catching.

As mentioned, the beer is hella hazy; opaque with a light gold colour. It has aromatics they tend toward citrus and floral elements, with a faint whiff of bitterness. The flavour is considerably more assertive than the nose, but with a similar profile: it’s got orange juice notes, some mellow blossom notes, and a back end that modestly picks up the bitterness level, but retains a smooth mouthfeel.

With lots of East Coast IPA flourishes and a pleasant flavour, Cactus Head was an enjoyable double dry-hopped IPA and no mistake about it. It’s not memorable, exactly, but it did taste like a well-made ale, worthy of one of my fave Toronto craft brewers. I’d have liked a bit more aggressive hopping, earlier in the process, to provide more crackling bitterness, though.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

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.

Prospect (DDH Simcoe)

Prospect is a series of single hop IPAs made by Toronto’s outstanding Left Field Brewery. The 355mL cans are, unfortunately, way overpriced in the provincial liquor stores, but when I saw a DDH Simcoe edition of Prospect, I snapped it up pretty quick anyway.

At 6.7%, the beer has decent strength. It’s a hazy, slightly milky golden ale that poured with a sudsy white head. To my nose, the beer had a juicy, tropical fruit nose spiked with something slightly floral. Simcoe Prospect tasted surprisingly boozy, with notes of over-ripe mango, some sticky resin, and a flourish of bitterness at the back end.

This was a tasty, dank, and juicy IPA with some verve. Questionable price tag nothwithstanding, I thought it was pretty good stuff, though I’d have liked a beefier IBU presence.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Truth Serum

During my debut visit to Rorschach Brewing Co., I asked my server to recommend the beer that was most characteristic of the brewery. Without any hesitation at all, she recommended Truth Serum, a 6.5% double-dry hopped IPA brewed with oats.

Truth Serum is a hazy dull-gold ale. It arrived with a thin covering of loose eggshell head. Its nose is a veritable clangor of hoppy, tropical fruit notes. To the palate, the beer is bitter, particularly in the early going, with grapefruit elements. Behind that, there is a bit of a thin spot where the flavours are a touch less rambunctious than I might have hoped, leading into a fairly dank, hoppy finish. The oats give Truth Serum a lovely, smooth mouthfeel that added to my enjoyment.

If Truth Serum is indicative of the quality of Rorschach’s brewing acumen, then I’m a believer. It’s not the best dry-hopped IPA I’ve ever tried, but it is clearly skillfully brewed according to a grand design and to suit someone’s personal specs. I prefer my IPAs to be a touch stronger and more pushy, but Truth Serum left me feeling satisfied and contemplative, which is a definite win.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Double Dry-Hopped Cat Lady

Way back in 2014, I told you about Cat Lady IPA, from Toronto’s Bellwoods Brewery. This week, after shooting some hoops, I swung by the Bellwoods bottle shop and spotted an updated version, Double Dry-Hopped Cat Lady. At 7.2% alcohol, there is actually less booze than the original (7.3%). Sold in a 500mL bottle, Cat Lady DDH is an extremely hazy brew—it’s a milky dull orange-gold with a fairly fluffy off-white head.

CLDDH has a mammoth aroma that is resplendent in tropical fruit notes. Like the original, there are serious satsuma vibes, but in place of grapefruit, passion fruit is the secondary fruit feature. Despite the juicy sweetness, the beer manages a dry and bitter finish, with a slightly resinous vibe.

Compared to the original Cat Lady, I found the DDH sibling to be a bit more hop-bopping and considerably more juicy. This was, to my mind, a Vermont-style IPA. The only substantive failing that I perceived was a touch too much sweetness, particularly in the early going. Other than that, this was a lovely ale and quite worthy to share the stage with Cat Lady 1.0. I actually bought two bottles of this stuff; the first left me floored, but I was less blown away by the second.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.