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.

Fun Juice New England Pale Ale

According to the 473mL can, Fun Juice New England Pale Ale has “intense tropical flavour” and “an explosion of citrus”. Sounds about right for a sweltering and muggy July evening. The beer comes from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery. It’s a 5% hazy pale ale with a swampy golden colour and pours with a bit of off-white foam. The beer is brewed with “southern hemisphere hops”, oats, and wheat.

To my sniffer, Fun Juice had aromatics that blended sweet with tangy, and featured passionfruit and citrus notes. The flavour was juicier still, particularly initially, though in more of a fruit medley sense—I had a hard time picking out individual fruit flavours, and so I’ll rely on the old standby descriptors of tropical and citrus. The beer has a smooth texture and a finish with a healthy hop presence, but likely few IBUs.

Fun Juice is tasty, dangerously crushable, and bright. It’s what I think of as an “uptempo beer”—one for getting things started or for lighthearted merriment. I’ll definitely buy it again, though I’d be grateful if a bit more definition among flavours and a bit heartier finish.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Juicin’ New England-Style IPA

 

It took me a while to try Sawdust City Brewing Co.’s much ballyhooed Juicin’ New England-Style IPA. In the past, this 6.0% fave of Ontario Beer Twitter had never been in stock when I’ve placed orders from the Gravenhurst-based brewery, but I was in luck this time. The beer comes in 473mL cans that feature a peach receiving a dose of something that looks a little stronger than the Moderna vaccine. It’s made using a trifecta of hops (Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe) and oats. The beer is a hazy sunny orange-gold and it pours with a durable crown of white suds.

Juicin’ has apricot and peach aromatics, as well as a dusting of citrus bitterness. The tasty ale has a smooth texture, and a flavour profile that tends toward fruit sweetness, with a lilt of hempy hops.

Was Juicin’ worth the wait? Did it live up to the online hype? Sorta. It’s an undeniably enjoyable beer and I was glad I had six of ‘em to enjoy. But it isn’t as elite as Sawdust City’s Lone Pine. That said, on a hot day, this hazer is incredibly refreshing.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Kilo Green

Next up from Goose Island Brewhouse Toronto is their Kilo Green, a 6.4% IPA. The beer is sold in 473mL cans and has a nice, slightly hazy gold colour. 

Through a fluffy eggshell head wafts a mega mango aroma. The beer has a sweet and juicy aroma, with tropical fruit notes and a faintly bitter citrus finish.

I suppose Kilo Green would be classed as a New England-style IPA, given its juiciness and slight haze. However you class it, I found KG to be quite enjoyable, if a little on the sweet side.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hazy New England IPA with Clementine

The fourth collaboration between the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies and Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Co., Hazy New England IPA with Clementine gives you almost everything you need to know with its name. The beer, sold in 473mL cans, contains 6.5% alcohol. Along with clementine peel, the beer is brewed with flaked wheat and flaked oats. It’s a hazy golden orange brew and it pours with a durable white foam.

 

This hazy NEIPA has a bright, fruity aroma—juicy with some floral elements. The flavour has clementine to spare—it’s bursting with orange juiciness, supplemented with pith and peel bitterness.

The result is a cheery, summertime beer brewed with (in my mind anyway) a fruit synonymous with the holiday season.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Nothing Civil IPA

 The showpiece of  the impressively striking packaging of Nothing Civil IPA is a brilliant and powerful poem by Truth Is... The 473mL also features snarling dogs, handguns, batons and a broken chains. It ain’t subtle, but it is decidedly impactful. According to the copy, 100% of the profits of this 6.5% New England IPA go to Black Lives Matter Canada. When I saw Guelph’s Wellington Brewery tweet about this one, I immediately ordered a dozen.

Nothing Civil is a hazy dull-gold IPA. It pours with a sudsy off white head and boasts a sweet pineapple and citrus aroma. The beer kicks off with sweet and juicy vibes, packs in piña and tangerine notes, an apricot mid-range, and transitions into a dank and resinous hops finish.

More bitter than a typical NEIPA, Nothing Civil offers a big flavour profile alongside a philanthropic contribution to an important cause. I chose this beer to be my 4th Q good luck charm in the Raptors’ game three playoff matchup against the Celtics and it delivered a mighty miracle win!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Replicant Haze New England IPA

A juicy 6.2% brew, Replicant Haze New England IPA comes from People’s Pint Brewing Co. The Torontonian beer is sold in 500mL bottles. It’s a hazy orange-gold brew with a sudsy white head. According to the People’s Pint website, the beer is brewed with oats, as well as a quartet of hops: Amarillo, Centennial, Mosaic, and Prince Edward County Cluster.

 

Replicant Haze has tropical fruit aromatics, a nice sweet-bitter balance, and a smooth texture. The flavour has pineapple, mango, and peach elements, with a floral hoppiness.

This is a pretty enjoyable NEIPA from a great little brewery. It’s not PP’s best offering, but it tastes pretty good all the same. I’d have liked a bit more booze, but the mellow texture is definitely a solid attribute.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

 

Junction Hazy IPA

A New England-style ale from Toronto, Junction Hazy IPA is a 6.2% brew from Junction Craft Brewery. The beer, which clock’s in 473mL cans, is a gently hazy dull-gold colour and pours with a puff of white suds.

JHIPA has a bashful aroma punctuated with tropical fruit notes. The flavour is considerably more sweet and substantial than the nose, with mango and pineapple tones, a malty and metallic base, and a decent bitter finish.

Junction Hazy IPA is a slightly over-sweet offering that isn’t actually all that hazy. There are some nice flavour notes, and there is balance between malt and bitterness. However, in a cluttered market where hazy IPAs are over-represented, this one falls into the average category

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Brand New Day NEIPA w/Galaxy, El Dorado & Mosaic

A beer from the FVX Series from Toronto’s Granite Brewery, Brand New Day NEIPA w/Galaxy, El Dorado & Mosaic is a 6.3% ale. Sold in 473mL cans, Brand New Day is a super swampy, hazy ale with a dull orange colour and a layer of creamy off-white head.

BND has a substantial fruit nose with notes of grapefruit and strawberry, and a boozy pineapple energy. Tropical fruit sweetness is front facing and continues through the whole experience, and the back end picks up a bit of bitter momentum—I’d have sworn it was higher than the listed 28 IBUs, but there you go.

As NEIPAs go, I thought that Granite’s Brand New Day was a winner. I liked the fruity medley of flavours, the slightly above style bitterness, and cloudy as hell dull colour. It also had a pleasantly mellow mouthfeel. As with most NEIPAs, I’d have liked the booze quotient to be a bit higher, but that’s my beef with the style rather than the fault of this one. The beer isn’t elite, but it’s certainly enjoyable as heck.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Working Hard New England I.P.A.

Brewed by one of (in my opinion) the leading lights of Toronto’s craft brewing scene, Muddy York Brewing Co., Working Hard New England I.P.A. is a 6.5%, 20 IBU ale. Sold in snazzy 473mL cans, WH is a hazy golden ale brewed with El Dorado and Mosaic hops.

The beer pours with a durable blanket of white foam, through which emerges a bright tropical fruit aroma. The flavour is crisp and pleasant, if a bit mild, with citrus and mango elements on display and a back end with just a hint of bitterness.

WH is a good NEIPA—not as rich and flavourful as I’d have liked—but there is a delicate flavour that hits a lot of agreeable, fruity notes. It’s very sessionable for a strongish ale, which is delightful (if dangerous), and the look is on point. I’d have liked a bit more depth of flavour, but I can assure you that if I had another can in the fridge, I would annihilate it right now.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Voodoo HazeMama New England IPA

I had a marvelous beer mail delivery from the friendly team at Great Lakes Brewery. Included were eight cans of Octopus Wants To Fight, eight of Meanwhile ... Down in Moxee, and eight of the only one that was new to me, Voodoo HazeMama New England IPA.

Voodoo HazeMama (dumb name IMHO--in fact, in the weeks since I wrote this review, the beer has been re-branded and re-christened as HazeMama NEIPA) is a 7% ale sold in 473mL cans that have a sticker that declares “may contain strawberry”.  The crazy hazy beer has a rosy gold hue and pours with a fluff of off-white head. The beer has a juicy, slightly bitter nose with notes of orange, peach, and (maybe I was influenced by the sticker on the can) strawberry. The flavour continues the fruit cocktail vibe, with lots of sweetness up front, a tinge of bitterness at the back end, and a pretty creamy mouthfeel throughout.

Compared to some of the other beautiful IPA efforts from the crew at GLB, Voodoo HazeMama is a second tier effort. It has great strength and a beautiful, hazy look. It’s too sweet and it lacks the crackling back end that puts the IPA in NEIPAs.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

As Far Back As I Can Remember New England IPA

As Far Back As I Can Remember New England IPA is an ode to hipsterdom and a 6.4% alcohol ale from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery. A hazy, almost milky gold brew, AFBAICR is from GLB’s Tank Ten Series. It comes in 473mL cans and pours with a frothy eggshell head. The ingredients list oats and wheat, along with the standard malted barley, hops, water, and yeast.

AFBAICR has a sweet and fruity nose, with some OJ elements. The flavour, too, has orange notes, along with some floral hops. The back end is modestly bitter (40 IBUs), in a juicy, citrusy sort of way.

As NEIPAs go, this one is better than average, with the right boxes checked: hazy look, low-ish bitterness, and modest alcohol content on top of a juicy, fruit flavour.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

IPA No. 12

The dozenth entry in Collective Arts Brewing’s IPA series, IPA No. 12 is a 6.9% ale made with Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic hops. Sold in 473mL cans that have a cheery octopus, the Hamiltonian beer has a golden glow and a hazy aspect, under a fluffy white foam.

The “Dozen” has a nose that combines good ol’ fashioned orange juice and a whiff of white wine. The flavour has similar notes, but in reversed proportion: white wine is the primary element, and citrus takes the silver medal. The New England-style IPA has a very smooth mouthfeel and not a lot of bitterness.

IPA No. 12 is a worthy entry to the Collective Arts series. Though it isn’t particularly memorable, it’s a solidly built NEIPA with good strength and lots of juiciness.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Overhop Hazy New England IPA

Sold in 473mL cans, Overhop Hazy New England IPA’s packaging has a ... creepy, sexy Terminator/Ghost Rider (?) vibe. The cans feature a woman with nearly half a face’s worth of exposed bone and one hoppy eye. They’re weird. But a new IPA from a Toronto brewery (this time(Overhop Brewing Co.) will always bring this boy to the yard, so I picked up a can of the hazy, 6.5%, 50 IBU brew.

The orange-gold beer is attractive as can be—it’s hazy as heck and topped with a fluffy layer of white head. It has a bright, sweet, citrus aroma. The flavour seizes on those themes, emphasizing orange juice notes, and progressing from light and sweet to dank and bitter.

The result is pretty good, though this hazy boi is too sweet from stem to sterm. The beer itself is beautiful, though the packaging is clearly not to my taste, and there isn’t a hint of the sediment that occasionally plagues a lesser NEIPA. Given the opportunity, I’m sure I’d buy this stuff again.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Getaway IPA

Getaway IPA calls Collingwood, ON, and its Side Launch Brewing Company, home. The 473mL can shows that this 6.3% ale is brewed with rye flakes, oat flakes, and wheat flakes. According to the copy, it’s a New England-style IPA, though based on the lack of haziness alone, I question that classification.

Getaway is a fairly clear golden ale that pours with a luscious cover of white suds. The aroma that emerges through the bubbles is poised between citrus and evergreen. The flavour trends closer to coniferous than juicy, though the finish is moderately bitter, and its here that a little tropical fruit enters the mix.

I found Getaway to be reasonably enjoyable stuff, though it’s a touch too sweet for my tastes. If I’m drinking a mid-strength IPA, I want crisp and bitter in the driver’s seat. There is a place for sweetness, but it calls for more rambunctious fruit notes than were in evidence here. The mouthfeel is nice, though, and the initial burst of pine is delightful. This stuff’ll never be regular rotation, but I’ll definitely enjoy it again periodically.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Bronan Vermont IPA

Despite its reputation for being one of Ontario’s premiere wine-producing regions, Niagara-on-the-Lake is fast becoming known for its excellent breweries as well. This includes High Road Brewing Co., which produces Bronan Vermont IPA.

At 7.1%, Bronan doesn’t suffer fools. Sold in 473mL cans that would vex someone with trypophobia, the beer is a hazy and well-carbonated dull gold with a durable and fluffy layer of off-white head. True to style, Bronan packs a mighty aroma rich in tropical fruit notes—both sweet and a little dank. The flavour, too, delivers a great deal of juiciness—particularly passionfruit, with a bit of over-ripe mango. The back end has some sticky hops in evidence, but this is tamed by a persistent sweetness that runs from tape to tape.

In my experience, most Vermont or New England IPAs typically limit their alcohol content as well as their bitterness, but Bronan eschews that strategy, and the result is a beer that is both juicy and boozy. This gives the flavour added depth, but it also results in an ale that is just a touch too sweet to be optimal. The finish is really smashing, though—a great intersection of tropical fruit and dank hops, buoyed by healthy strength, makes for a memorable combo.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Post & Ring: Jack Layton’s New England IPA

Post & Ring: Jack Layton’s New England IPA, from Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Company, was brewed to honour the legacy of Jack Layton, who, before becoming leader of the federal New Democratic Party, was a Toronto city councillor and a top-notch cycling advocate in Canada’s largest city. One of his lasting contributions to cycling in the city are the post and ring bicycle lock stations that pepper Toronto. As a nice nod, the can says that a portion of sales is given to Cycle Toronto.

Post & Ring is Henderson’s Ides of June 2019 beer. Brewed for Bike Month and with input from Jack’s son (and my city councillor until a cruel trick of redistricting shuffled his ward boundaries) Mike, the beer is a 6% ale, sold in colourful 355mL cans. P&R is brewed with Azacca, Huell Melon, and Citra hops. It’s a hazy dull-gold grog that pours under a cloud of off-white head. It has a hefty citrus and tropical fruit aroma. For flavour, it tastes of fresh citrus, with tangy orange out front and bitter grapefruit hit on its heels. As you’d expect from an NEIPA, bitterness is present, but it plays second fiddle to juiciness.

Really a solid NEIPA, it’s a shame that P&R is a limited release, as I’d be happy to bring this hazy, juicy stuff home on the semi-regular.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Cloud IPA

A definite haze-monster, Cloud IPA from Bandit Brewery is a 6.8% ale sold in 500mL bottles that feature a nimbus-rendered raccoon in a blue sky. The Torontonian brew is a milky yellow-gold colour with a white head that appears almost pearlescent due to the beer’s haze.

With an aroma that tightropes Florida OJ and bitter grapefruit, citrus is definitely the name of the game. Orange notes dominate the front end of the flavour, with citric bitterness picking up a head of steam toward the back end.

Juicy and lively, with a respectable booze punch, Cloud IPA is pretty close to my ideal of a hazy, New England-style IPA. I might have liked the flavour to weave into mango or stone fruit territory, but the straight up citrus angle is not without its appeal. I bought this beer as an afterthought during a trip to Bandit to round out my order, and I’m extremely glad I did, because it’s a real winner.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

7Squared New England IPA

Born and raised in Niagara-in-the-Lake, Ontario, and sold to me by my local grocery store at a rate that wasn’t exactly extortionate, but was certainly more than I’ve come to expect to pay for a 473mL can of Ontario ale, The Exchange Brewery’s 7² New England IPA is a 7% 71 IBU brew. An orange-gold hue and a thick cover of sudsy white head make for an attractive looking beer.

To my sniffer, notes of orange mingle with a touch of sticky resin. The flavor is juicy, with citrus steering the ship, and balanced against a pretty respectable howl of bitterness toward the back end.

The beer tasted pretty good to me—well balanced with an eye to a closing note of bitterness that avoids the trap of over-sweetness that can plague NEIPAs. The strength is admirable, and the flavour agreeable. A bit too pricey to enter into my regular rotation, but The Enchange Brewery’s 7² is one I’ll enjoy as a periodic treat.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Starboard New England IPA

According to the copy on the 473mL can of Starboard New England IPA, the 5.4% ale is “partially filtered”. Given the amount of chunky sediment that poured out along with the hazy orange-gold liquid, I’d say the beer isn’t partially filtered nearly enough. Starboard comes from Lake of Bays Brewing Co. in Baysville, Ontario. It contains 40 IBUs and is brewed using a combination of Magnum, Citra, and Mosaic hops. Aside from the unpalatable chunks, Starboard poured with a thin layer of white head.

To my nose, Starboard had a primarily juicy aroma, with a whiff of floral perfume as a subtext. The flavour is big on citrus, with a sweet to bitter progression. The back end is slightly hoppy, but pretty underwhelming for an IPA.

As I understand it, a New England IPA should be hazy and juicy. This one struggled to deliver uniform haze. The chunks are, in my opinion, evidence of a significant flaw in this beer. Like Sparklepuff, another recent Ontario craft beer that has struggled with chunkies, this is an ale with potential, but which can’t garner a favorable review until it gets this aspect of its house in order. Added to that, the beer is under strength and not quite as bitter as I’d have liked. I’m willing to give this beer another chance, but I was disappointed with my first impression.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10.