Next up from Toronto’s
Black Lab Brewing was their Social Parade Dry
Hopped IPA. This 6.5% ale was actually the first bottle that I selected
when I was putting together my mixed-six—the 500mL bottle pretty much
flew out of the cooler and into my hands.
Dull-orange
and hazy, Social Parade poured with a short-lived off-white foam. I
caught an unexpected initial whiff of sweet harvest-time apple, but that
was quickly out-muscled by a wallop of fresh, grassy hops looming behind.
The flavour proved to be pretty assertively hoppy, floral first; then
piney and dank. Despite an imbalance of hops to malt elements, there
managed to be a fair amount of grainy sweetness, which was not at all
unwelcome.
New as I am to Black Lab, this was
my first brush with one of their IPAs (typically a brewery make-or-break
for me, a lad of simple tastes). I found myself quite pleased with this
one—it was a bit tough to categorize, without the bold citrus or pine
of a typical West Coaster, the haze and juice of an NEIPA (despite the
description on the website), or the malt balance of a British-style.
Rather, this li’l unit had a grain bill befitting a pilsner backed with a
floral hop kaboom that left me pretty satisfied.
If
this beer was regularly available to me, I can’t guarantee that it’d be
in constant rotation (it’s perhaps a touch too sweet for that), but
it’d certainly be a semi-regular guest star in my fridge. In a market
where IPAs can blend together, its flavour offers something a little
quirky.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10.
