Point Break

 Point Break is both one of my pal SDF’s fave flicks and a dry-hopped lager from the folks at Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing Co. The beery Point Break is a 4.1% session-friendly lager sold in 473mL cans. This version, at least, is dry-hopped with Opal.

The beer is slightly hazy, dull gold, and covered with a loose sudsy foam. It has dry, floral aromatics, twinned with a grain and malt backbone. The flavour is grainy and supplemented with apple notes. The beer has some floral hoppiness that, in a stronger lager, might be subtle, but which in this low-octane brew is really quite robust. The beer isn’t particularly bitter, due to the dry-hopping, but it has a bit of depth.

If you’ve a hankerin’ for a low-alcohol lager that has considerable “craft” charm (whatever that means), Point Break is a good answer. It’s crisp and drinkable, but with some depth.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Sidepart Dry-Hopped Lager

 Town Brewery’s Sidepart Dry-Hopped Lager is a 5% beer from Whitby, Ontario. The 473mL can features the logo of the Pink Boots Society. The beer is pale gold and hazy, with a fluffy white head.

Sidepart has a dry, yeasty, and floral aroma. The little lager has a crisp texture and a flavour that comprises floral and slightly spicy notes, culminating in a short, dry finish.

This dry-hopped lager has some saison qualities—dry, yeasty, and a little spicy. It’s a pretty enjoyable little beer, though I’d have liked a bit more robust hoppiness.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

No Bad Daze

 A dry-hopped lager out of Burlington, Ontario, No Bad Daze is a 10 IBU, 4.3% pale beer brewed with Azacca hops. Brewed by Nickel Brook Brewing Co., NBD is sold in 473mL cans that feature a skeleton in a sombrero. The golden beer has a lightly hazed gold colour and pours with a thin disc of white suds.

NBD has a cheery, grass-heavy aroma with a pleasant tinkle of of fruity sweetness. The flavour is sweet and grainy, with an unexpected juiciness, limited bitterness, and a bright and cracking texture.

No Bad Daze is a highly enjoyable little brew. Session-friendly and crisp, but impressively flavourful, this is a beer I’d gladly buy again—though I’d likely want it for backyard crushing in July rather than chilly sipping in February.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Umarell Dry Hopped Pilsner

 Umarell Dry Hopped Pilsner is born at the Toronto outpost of Goose Island—the Goose Island Brewhouse Toronto. It’s a 5% pale lager sold in 473mL cans. I’d class this little fella as an Italian pilsner. It’s a reasonably clear pale gold brew that pours with a thin layer of white suds.

Umarell has a mellow sweet and grainy aroma, with a slight floral hop lilt. The beer has a crispy texture and a pretty enjoyable flavour—it moves from sweet cereals to floral bitterness, with a whisper of soap.

I quite enjoyed Goose Island’s take on the Italian Pilsner. It was crisp and refreshing, with ample flavour.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Crispy Forever! Double Dry-Hopped Helles Lager

 

Crispy Forever! Double Dry-Hopped Helles Lager comes from Guelph, Ontario and the Wellington Brewery. Sold in 473mL cans, the 4.5%, 20 IBU lager has a hazy, dull gold appearance and some off white suds.

CF has a rich, perfume-y fragrance, with some sticky hops elements. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with hay, cereal, and corn notes, before a substantial floral hops heel turn.

This a lovely, sweet-to-hops Helles lager. It’s an even better than solid offering from one of Ontario’s most venerable and reliable breweries, and an exciting dry-hopped take on Wellington’s already quite good Helles lager.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Resistance Dry-Hopped Lager

According to the 355mL can that houses Resistance Dry-Hopped Lager, a portion of the proceeds are “donated to organizations dedicated to fighting oppression worldwide”—a laudable sentiment, though one that would have a bit more significance if it identified what proportion of proceeds and which organizations.

Born in Toronto, Resistance comes from Muddy York Brewing Co. The beer, a 5.2% alcohol, 18 IBU lager, is billed as the baby brother of Gaslight Helles Lager (but in truth, I think this is the superior beer—my own little bro has long maintained that the junior sibling can outstrip the senior,  and here is the first evidence I’ve ever seen to confirm his wacky theory). It has a slightly hazy golden countenance and pours with a thin but durable disc of off-white suds. The brew is dry-hopped with Sorachi Ace hops which doubtlessly contributes to the bitter lemon aroma that permeates the nose. Crisp and pleasant, the beer has a summer-friendly mouthfeel and a flavour to match—grassy blended with a modestly hoppy citrus finish.

I like pale lagers well enough when the context suits (hot day, full sun, sweaty, task recently accomplished or still in progress). However, I’m primarily an ale addict, which makes dry-hopping a likely winner. Resistance has a nice hop component, though I’d have liked it to be kicked up another notch. A percentage just north of the standard five also goes a long way—that 0.2% is worth .5 in my rating. A more assertive front end would have pushed this li’l lager still higher, but alas.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Resistance Dry-Hopped Lager

According to the 355mL can that houses Resistance Dry-Hopped Lager, a portion of the proceeds are “donated to organizations dedicated to fighting oppression worldwide”—a laudable sentiment, though one that would have a bit more significance if it identified what proportion of proceeds and which organizations.

Born in Toronto, Resistance comes from Muddy York Brewing Co. The beer, a 5.2% alcohol, 18 IBU lager, is billed as the baby brother of Gaslight Helles Lager (but in truth, I think this is the superior beer—my own little bro has long maintained that the junior sibling can outstrip the senior,  and here is the first evidence I’ve ever seen to confirm his wacky theory). It has a slightly hazy golden countenance and pours with a thin but durable disc of off-white suds. The brew is dry-hopped with Sorachi Ace hops which doubtlessly contributes to the bitter lemon aroma that permeates the nose. Crisp and pleasant, the beer has a summer-friendly mouthfeel and a flavour to match—grassy blended with a modestly hoppy citrus finish.

I like pale lagers well enough when the context suits (hot day, full sun, sweaty, task recently accomplished or still in progress). However, I’m primarily an ale addict, which makes dry-hopping a likely winner. Resistance has a nice hop component, though I’d have liked it to be kicked up another notch. A percentage just north of the standard five also goes a long way—that 0.2% is worth .5 in my rating. A more assertive front end would have pushed this li’l lager still higher, but alas.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hoppelgänger

Hoppelgänger is a hazy golden dry hopped pilsner. It comes from Toronto, Ontario's Bandit Brewery, where it is sold in 500mL bottle. Weighing in at the standard 5%, there is a decent enough heft for a pale lager, but nothing too exciting. The aroma has the (for me at least) beguiling aroma of brewery-fresh noble hops--a mixture of bitterness and recently mowed grass. It has a grassy flavour that is grain-rich, but which picks up dry, hoppy momentum at a considerable pace toward the finish of each sip.

As always when dealing with a Bandit beer, Hoppelgänger has a very cool label. I found it to be a very satisfying take on the pilsner--dry and bitter where it counts, but also crisp, grainy, and just slightly sweet. I have no problem with brewers using hop pellets--it's a totally necessary element of modern brewing. My only beef with this beer was that the hops tasted a bit like pellets. Still, I'd buy this stuff again in a heartbeat. It was excellent.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Charlie Wells Dry Hopped Lager

When I cracked my 500mL can of Charlie Wells Dry Hopped Lager, it fairly crackled. The lager within decanted beautifully--clear and gold, under a bright white head. Brewed in Bedford, England by the establishment of Charles Wells Ltd., this little number contained 4.7% alcohol.

The beer had an unassuming bouquet--slightly grainy and dryly bitter--but nothing too assertive. The flavour, too, proved to be a bit on the mild side. Grainy first, with only a touch of the promised hops, manifested as a floral charge that was admittedly pleasant, but nowhere near the bombast I was salivating over.

Truthfully, this dry-hopped lager had only the IBU heft of a Czech pilsner. Though it might have been hoppy by U.K. standards, it didn't offer the jolt I was counting on. I thought that this was, mostly, a fine beer, but if you're gonna boast about your hops, you'd better deliver.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.