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.

Laser Show Vermont Style IIPA

When the Stout Man has a head cold, reviewing beer becomes a challenge. However, the Bitter World doesn’t stop turning just because I have a head cold, so the answer is to select huge beers with massive aromatics. Enter Laser Show Vermont Style IIPA. From Left Field Brewery, Toronto’s baseball-mad beer maker, Laser Show is an 8% Imperial India Pale Ale. Sold in 650mL bombers, this is a beer to be undertaken solo only with caution and when one has a pretty clear schedule.

The beer is hazy and has an orange-gold tone. Jumbo notes of tropical fruit and sticky hops waft through a light, off-white haze. The flavour is rich in the juicy, exotic fruit notes that characterize a Vermont-style IPA—pineapple, guava, and loads of citrus.

Bitter and fairly strong, Laser Show packs a nice amount of flavour into a relatively boozy package. I’ve certainly had more assertive Vermont-styles, but this one has some chops of its own. I’d have liked to taste more bold and resinous hops in this number to justify that first “I” in IIPA, as well as a bit more booze—bump this up to 9%+ and I’d have been more impressed.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Meanwhile ... Down in Moxee

Meanwhile ... Down in Moxee is an American IPA—billed as a Vermont-style IPA on the tap list at Bar Hop—from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery. At 6.4%, the strength of this clear golden ale is a decent, but toward the base of the IPA booziness spectrum. My 15oz draught arrived with a pretty lush white head and a fruity nose that tended toward fresh melon and berries.

Though it’s extremely light-bodied for an IPA, Moxee doesn’t sacrifice one ounce of flavour, with juicy melon and  a cornucopia of other subtle and enticing fruit notes. Not particularly bitter, Moxee still manages to have a pretty dynamic hop profile with a bit of stickiness at the finish.

Vermont-style IPAs are a pretty new addition to the Ontario craft beer palate, and GLB’s take is definitely one of the best that I’ve tried so far. The body is thin, but the flavour has compelling depth. At 6.4%, this beer is either a bit too mild for the style, or dangerously too strong for a session ale. Either way, it’s a juicy, subtle creation from one of Toronto’s finest. I typically flavour bold, bludgeoning IPAs, but this one has a fragility that makes you take is seriously.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Greenwood Vermont-Style IPA

The Bitter Wife works every second Saturday afternoon. This creates a perfect recurring opportunity to duck out for a pint or to check out a brewery. One of my preferred Saturday afternoon haunts is Toronto’s Bar Hop (the original King Street location). They’ve always got something new and fresh that I’ve never tried before. On this Saturday in early October, that niche was filled by Greenwood Vermont-Style IPA. Built by the excellent Left Field Brewery in Toronto’s Greenwood neighbourhood, this little brew arrived looking milky gold, under a modest off-white foam.

The 6.3% 65 IBU ale had an extremely juicy tropical fruit aroma and a flavour to match. Notes of piña and mango were well represented, nestled in an assertively bitter body.

Bitter yet juicy are the hallmarks of the Vermont style, and Greenwood certainly hit both of those pretty squarely. I like my IPAs to have a bit higher percentage—if this stuff was in the 7% range, it’d have been closer to my ideal. I’d also liked the fruit flavours to be tangier, rather than the sweetness that settled in particularly as the beer warmed. All of that aside, though, Greenwood was a delicious beer from one of Toronto’s best.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Green Island New England IPA

Another juicy and fruity IPA from Fredericton's TrailWay Brewing Co. is Green Island New England IPA (which I took to be a Vermont-style IPA), a 6% alcohol brew billed as having "pungent tropical fruit". Sold in 473mL cans, I found Green Island to be, in many respects, very similar to Hu Jon Hops and Rype, two other TrailWay beers that I reviewed while in Fredericton for a funeral. All three had a similar look--hazy and milky orange-gold with a white head--and all three packed nice and assertive fruit-forward noses. While I enjoyed all three, if I were a creative at TrailWay, I'd be trying to diversify the portfolio a bit more.

I found Green Island to have a somewhat resinous strand to its flavour, as well as citrus and pineapple notes. The finish has some pretty nice hoppy elements, but I also found it to have a faintly chemical air that left me a bit nonplussed.

While Green Planet proved quite similar to two of its other TrailWay Brewing siblings, I found that compared to Rype and Hu Jon, it was the least compelling and well-crafted. Not a bad beer, but not the one TrailWay should be crowing loudest about.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.