Five Crossings Pale Ale

 From the 7 Barrel Series at Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery comes Five Crossings Pale Ale, a 4.5% beer brewed with oats and wheat. The beer comes out of a 473mL can looking hazy and dull gold, under a loose white head. According to the copy on the can, the brew was created in collaboration with Mike Shoreman, who will be traveling across each of the Great Lakes via paddle board to support mental illness programs.

Five Crossings has a gentle, fruit-driven nose. There are notes of orange and sweet wild strawberry, though these are quite mild. The beer has very little bitterness and it makes for a juicy, refreshing pint.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Summer Solstice

 During a summer cottage getaway outside of Ottawa, my party and I hit up a variety of local breweries in and around Lanark County, including Calabogie Brewing Co. out of Calabogie, Ontario. Most of the offerings from Calabogie disappeared in a blink, but I managed to secure a 473mL can of Summer Solstice to review. 

A 5% pale ale, Summer Solstice is a hazy orange-gold brew. Through the sudsy white head, the beer has a citrus aroma that has a slight metallic bent. The flavour certainly tastes more bitter than the listed 30 IBUs, with grapefruit elements; however, there is also a slightly coppery, bloody tinge that I found a bit unpalatable.

I didn’t really love Summer Solstice, though there were certainly some features that I liked. The beer was refreshing and agreeably bitter, and the citrus touches were nicely integrated. To be fair to Calabogie, several of the other brews we picked up were considerably more enjoyable, including a kölsch-style, a solid West Coast IPA, and a juicy NEIPA.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

De La Mimico

 Brewed as an homage to Belgian pale ales, De La Mimico comes from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery. A 4.9% Belgian-style pale, the beer comes in 473mL cans that celebrate the Humber River. The beer is orange-gold and pours with an impressive fluff of white foam.

DLM has yeast, orange zest, and something slightly spice to the nose (coriander?). The flavour charts a similar course, with Belgian yeast and citrus esters leading the way. There is some citrus bitterness here, but it is softened by the yeastiness.

The beer is soft in texture, with refreshing witbier characteristics that make De La Mimico a nice choice for a hot afternoon. I’d have liked a bit more hoppy oomph, but I’ll live.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Small Fortunes

 

Small Fortunes is a session-friendly pale ale from Toronto’s outpost of Collective Arts. Brewed with Nectaron hops, the beer is just 4.5% and comes in 500mL bottles. Hazy and golden, the beer pours with a sudsy white fog.

SF has a mild but enticing fruit-forward nose. The flavour is still quite mild, but it shows a bit more depth, with notes of peach and apricot. The finish has a faint touch of bitterness.

What I really like about this beer is that it is peachy (apricot-y?) without being over-sweet. That really ups the refreshment quotient to a healthy level. The texture is a bit thin and the price point was a little steep, but otherwise a really solid li’l ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Sky Bison American Pale Ale

From Toronto, Sky Bison American Pale Ale is, apparently, the first beer brewed on Longslice Brewery’s bricks and mortar system. The 5% ale comes in cool 473mL cans. It’s a dull gold colour with a thinnish white head.

This little ale demonstrated a trio of notes: caramel, pine, and citrus. The flavour takes a similar tack, though without much evergreen, though in a slightly more restrained fashion. The beer isn’t particularly bitter nor is it overpoweringly flavourful, but that’s not to say the brew ain’t enjoyable. Rather, the caramel and grapefruit/lemon notes are expressed gently, mellowly.

Truthfully, I like my APAs to be a bit more crisp and bitter, but I liked the rounded edges of this little beer all the same. I feel confident that I’ll continue picking up cans here or there as long as it’s available—it’s a nice alternative to Naughty Neighbour and Cruiser.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Neon Wasteland

Neon Wasteland, from Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing, is billed as a Belgian pale ale. Sold in cool 473mL cans, the beer tips the scale at 5.1%. It’s a swampy, dark brown ale that pours with a thick layer of of off-white foam.

NW has a pretty complex nose, with big yeast notes, some raisin, and just a touch of bubblegum. That bubblegum element is even more apparent in the flavour, where it blends with an earthy yeastiness and a touch of clove. The finish continues to be yeasty and sweet, but it also possesses a little spice.

While I found it a bit too sweet, on the whole I was pretty impressed with Rainhard’s take on the Belgian pale ale. Neon Wasteland had a lot of character, an interesting flavour profile, and a lovely dark hue.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Armed ‘N Citra w/Blackberry Dry Hopped Pale Ale

Another variant of Rainhard Brewing Co.’s Armed ‘N Citra is Armed ‘N Citra w/Blackberry Dry Hopped Pale Ale. The 5.2% beer from Toronto really leans into the blackberry look—it’s a purple ale with a pinkish white head. The beer comes in 473mL cans.

This blackberry beauty has a whiff of berry sweetness and just a touch of tartness to the nose. The flavour has really pleasant mora elements—tangy and juicy—but the underlying pale ale doesn’t really come through. The mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side, too, although it does finish nicely.

What this is, though, is a tasty, summery beer. Refreshing and fruity with a lovely plum colour, Armed ‘N Citra w/Blackberry is great for warm weather sipping.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Slow Hand West Coast Pale Ale

Slow Hand Beer Company’s West Coast Pale Ale is made in Vancouver. The beer clocks in at 5% and comes in 473mL cans. According to the copy, the clear, pale gold ale is a “crisp, bright, & juicy dry-hopped pale ale.”

The beer has a punchy citrus aroma with a bit of supplemental pine. The flavour is a bit on the mild side, with lemon and evergreen elements and a light, resinous finish. Though the flavour is a bit weak, the texture is spot on—crisp and refreshing.

Not a beer that I’d be likely to revisit, but decent enough all the same.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Coastality Pale Ale

I enjoyed a flight of beer at Victoria’s Whistle Buoy Brewing Company with my father-in-law and came home with a couple of cans of my faves, including a 473mL can of Coastality Pale Ale. The 5% brew comes in at a modest 33 IBUs and pours with a bright copper colour.

The beer has a nice pine and citrus melange on the nose and through the flavour, with a solid, effervescent texture. My complaint with the beer on tap was that was a touch thin, but the canned version had considerably more oomph.

Not a tremendously memorable pale ale, but it’s a well-made and enjoyable one.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Outstanding Pub Ale

 Outstanding Pub Ale comes from the baseball-mad team at Toronto’s Left Field Brewery. I’d probably class it as a British-style pale ale or a blonde ale. It’s a clear golden ale, at 4.1%, that comes in 355mL cans emblazoned with the 17 names of the 2021 indictees into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. According to the can, 25¢ goes to support the work of the Hall. Cheers!

The beer has a toasty, malt-focused aroma with a little bit of sticky toffee. The flavour is  impressively robust for a low-alcohol ale, with ample malt, caramel, and toast notes. There is also an agreeable copper streak running through this one. As for bitterness, there is just a tickle, localized in the back end in a floral/nutty configuration.

This was a really good little beer: enjoyable, huge flavour for the strength, and in service of a good cause. This beer went down beautifully on a crisp November eve.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Verse The World

 

Rainhard Brewing in Toronto has been pumping out a slew of pretty nice IPAs and pale ales and Verse The World is another example. The 5.8% pale ale is brewed with Barbe Rouge, Citra, Columbus, and Vic Secret hops. It’s sold in 473mL cans.

The beer is near clear with a handsome gold colour and a decent layer of off-white head. VTW has tangerine and grapefruit aromatics. The flavour is a little underwhelming—it has citrus elements, but they aren’t as well developed at the nose led me to expect. The beer isn’t too sweet, which is nice, and the finish has a middling grapefruit bitterness.

I wanted to like this more than I did, but it wasn’t disappointing or anything. It’s just a decent pale ale.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Paper Salesman Pale Ale

 During an impromptu visit to Canada’s capital city, I insisted on a first-ever visit to Dominion City Brewing Co., a brewery that I have ordered from several times but never set foot inside. After a couple of IPAs and a tasty BLT from Almanac Bakery, I went into DCBC’s “Corner Store” and dropped some dough. One of the beers that left with me was Paper Salesman Pale Ale. The 5.6% brew came in office-themed 473mL cans. The beer inside proved to be hazy orange with a fairly thin layer of eggshell foam.

Paper Salesman has big tropical aromatics and a flavour to match. Both were built around a mango-heavy fruit salad; a bit on the sweet end, but certainly enjoyable. The fruit juiciness carried on from start to finish, with just a faint dip into citrus bitterness.

A couple of the hazy IPAs that I bought from DCBC on this run were a bit heavy on the sediment; however, Paper Salesman kept is hazy right where it belonged. Really a nice little pick-me-up that brought me all the way back after a short afternoon hike in Orleans. A bit less sweetness is all I’d ask of this tasty ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Kingdome

 Watching the penultimate Blue Jays regular season game while hoping for a Seattle loss might seem like an odd afternoon to crack a 650mL bottle of a brew that honours the Mariners’ former home, but I was feeling reckless. Kingdome, from Toronto’s Left Field Brewery, is a 5.7% kveik pale ale. The foeder fermented ale is pale gold, has a hazy aspect and has a fluffy white head. 

To my nose, the beer has lemon notes and a tangy, earthy yeast presence. As for flavour, I picked up lemon drop along with saison-inspired peppery notes. The finish is floral and citrus notes, but very little bitterness. Kingdome also has a nicely-flowing texture.

I’m a big fan of Left Field’s short cans, so I seldom purchase their bottled offerings, but I bought four bombers of Kingdome on a whim, and I’m glad I did. The kveik yeast was used effectively, the flavour and texture were both smooth, and I’m better off for having consumed this beer.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Boy Wonder

 Hop! Malt! Pow!

Sold in 473mL cans reminiscent of the classic costume of Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder West Coast Pale Ale is a 5% pale ale out of Toronto, where it’s brewed by Rainhard Brewing. The beer is a just-faintly-hazy gold, with a fluffy cloud of white suds.

Boy Wonder has a mild but agreeable citrus aroma. The flavour starts out with citrus, malt, and a wee bit of sweetness, but quickly merges into a balanced, evergreen finish.

Full disclosure: I mail ordered a bunch of Boy Wonder; set one aside to review; drank it; and then ordered more. I found this to be an excellent “Little Pale Ale That Could”, with an extremely enjoyable flavour profile, lively texture, and great packaging. Not the pinnacle of the heap of pale ales in Ontario, perhaps, but Boy Wonder is damn fine beer.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Speak Softly

Speak Softly is an American pale ale from Ottawa’s Waller St. Brewing. The beer is a 5.5% job with a hefty 65 IBUs. Sold in 500mL bottles, the beer that emerges is rich gold under a creamy head.

This APA has a citrus aroma and a flavour comprised of grapefruit and nectarine, building to a robustly hoppy and citrus finish.

This is a well-constituted and balanced little beer. The high IBUs give Speak Softly a gritty character that I found agreeable. Good stuff. I’d like more, please.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Electric Circus New England Tropical Pale Ale

Cool fact about Electric Circus New England Tropical Pale Ale: according to the Great Lakes Brewery website, the cowboy depicted on the 473mL can is Kenrick Pompey, the father of former Blue Jays outfielder Dalton Pompey. Apparently, Kenrick was a stalwart of MuchMusic’s Electric Circus!

Electric Circus the beer is a 5.5% hazy pale ale brewed with mango, oats, pineapple, and wheat. A part of GLB’s 7 Barrel Series, the beer is a milky golden ale with a sudsy white head. EC has a mammoth mango smell, with a bit of pineapple juiciness, too. 

This is basically a modestly high-alcohol mimosa. It’s so juicy, with an agreeably smooth carbonation and only a touch of beery flavours. But that’s not to say it isn’t agreeable: it’s a delightful little fruit juice delivery system. I’d have liked a bit more “beer” and a bit more bitterness, but on the whole, this stuff is fun.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Guest List

 Sold in 355mL cans, Guest List is a double dry-hopped pale ale from Toronto’s Rainhard Brewery. The 6% ale is hazy orange and pours with a thick fog of eggshell suds.

Guest List has a quirky fruit and floral aroma—it’s tropical with notes of stone fruit, but also quite perfume-y. The flavour has some depth, and blends in passionfruit, resin, and also a vague soapiness.

This beer has a bit more depth than many of the other DDH ales in Ontario, which is a plus, though the slight soap note is a bit of a distraction. Still, I’d enthusiastically buy this beer again.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Aura

 Aura, a 5.9% India pale ale, comes from Toronto, where it’s brewed by Omnipollo. The cloudy yellow gold ale pours with a thick layer of white foam. The beer, sold in 473mL cans, is brewed with wheat and oats. 

Aura has a substantial citrus aroma, with massive notes of orange and grapefruit. The flavour maintains the citrus vibe, but blends in a creamy sweetness. The beer has a touch of citrus bitterness, but not much.

I wasn’t expecting to really engage with this beer—it’s under strength and sweeter than I usually like. However, the floral/juicy combination is well executed and I found myself fairly impressed.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Tarana-Saurus Toronto Pale Ale

 Billed as an “old-school pale ale from the center of the universe” (note the American spelling of “centre”), Tarana-Saurus Toronto Pale Ale comes from T.O., where it’s brewed by Indie Alehouse. The beer comes in very cool 355mL cans with a dino skeleton with its bottom teeth forming the Toronto skyline. The beer clocks in at 5% and has a dull orange-gold colour. It pours with a quickly thinning layer of off-white suds.

Tarana-Saurus has an extremely juicy tropical and citrus fruit scent, with a whiff of vanilla sweetness. The flavour isn’t quite as sweet as the aroma. It kicks off with some orange juice tang and drifts into a sticky and resinous hops finish. In the background, there are vanilla and floral notes.

Tarana-Saurus is billed as an old-school ale, but I found it to be fairly complex and reflective of the New England style. Still, it was extremely pleasant, well-packaged, and well-made. I’d have liked a bit less sweetness, but otherwise? Bring it on.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hardly Working Pale Ale

 A counterpart to Muddy York Brewing Co.’s Working Hard NEIPA, Hardly Working Pale Ale is a 5.7%, 20 IBU offering from the Toronto establishment. Hardly Working comes in 355mL cans. The hazy orange-gold ale is brewed with Azacca, Citra, and Mosaic hops and it pours under a fluffy cloud of white head.

Hardly Working has soft and sweet aromatics, with pineapple stealing the spotlight. The beer has a thin, yet creamy texture. For flavour, sweet tropical fruitiness is the most prominent feature, though there is a slight dankness in the finish that, in my opinion, doesn’t entirely suit the vibe of this beer.

I love Muddy York, and nearly everything of theirs that I have tried has been enjoyable. They might be a victim of their own success, because my expectations were sky high for Hardly Working, but I found it a bit underwhelming. A bit too sweet and a quirky final note left me a bit disappointed.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.