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.

 

Artificial Paradise India Pale Ale

A recently released offering from the 2019 Canadian Brewery of the Year, Hamilton’s Clifford Brewing Co., Artificial Paradise India Pale Ale is a 6.8% ale. Sold in 473mL cans, AP is brewed with oats and a trio of hops: Citra, Galaxy, and Simcoe. It’s a hazy, dull gold ale that pours with an extremely sudsy white head.

AP has a mild nose, with some tropical notes. The beer has mango and pineapple flavour notes, some solid sweetness, and a back end that tends toward some resinous bitterness.

I thought Artificial Paradise was an elegant hazy IPA. A bit stronger than the mean for the style, the beer is has a grand balance of sweet and bitter, and almost nothing to be critical of.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Wallflower

Sold as a “farmbier”, Wallflower, from Matron Fine Beer, is a low-alcohol farmhouse/saison. At just 4.4%, the beer is session-friendly. It comes from Bloomfield, Ontario in 355mL cans. The beer is a bright and cloudy gold colour, with a shock of white suds.

The beer has a spicy, yeasty aroma, accented with a lemony lilt. The beer has a softly effervescent, dry texture. The flavour is non-insubstantial for a low-octane beer, with farmhouse yeast, citrus, floral, and spice elements.

Wallflower is an enjoyable little saison with more flavour than I expected to find. It’s a fine bit of brewing.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

West Coast Classic IPA

West Coast Classic IPA appears to be a dual homage: both to a wildly popular video game and to a now-classic beer style. A true west coast IPA, WCC is a clear, copper brew with 7% alcohol and a durable, sudsy head. The beer comes from Toronto, where it’s made by Henderson Brewing Company. The beer comes in 473mL cans that are instantly recognizable to video game fans. It’s brewed with a quintet of hops: Centennial, Citra, Columbus, Magnum, and Simcoe.

The beer has powerful twin aromatic elements in evergreen and citrus. The flavour contains some caramel malt notes, but it’s pine and grapefruit that really make the wheels turn.

I enjoyed WCC quite a bit. It’s a flavourful beer in one of my all time favourite styles. The packaging is quirky and the beer itself looks perfect. The strength is good, too. The only complaint I’ve got is that the mouthfeel is a bit too creamy for a style that calls for something a bit more assertive.

 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Chanan

A “dry hopped saison with orange zest and Indian coriander”, Chanan comes from Hamilton, Ontario’s Merit Brewing Co. It’s a 5.3% concoction sold in 500mL bottles with  beautiful, peaceful labels. It’s an extremely cloudy brew—pale orange with a sudsy white foam.

Chanan has a spicy, yeasty aroma with a whiff of orange peel. The beer has a delicate texture and agreeable, if mild, flavour. It’s got a farmhouse yeast base, with some spice and an extremely dry finish.

This little Hamiltonian saison is pretty solid stuff. I’d have liked it to be a bit more effervescent, but otherwise it’s swell swill.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner

A quirky spin on Bellwoods Brewery’s excellent Bell Weiser is the Toronto brewery’s Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner. The beer, a 4.2% pale lager, is a pink hued and hazy concoction sold in 473mL cans. 

The beer, which pours with a thin layer of white suds, delivers a grapefruit blast to the sniffer. The crisp little beer has a potent pink grapefruit juice flavour that dominates the underlying pilsner flavour, though there is a pretty healthy dose of noble hop grapefruit at the back end to remind you of its pedigree.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner drinks like a fairly high alcohol shandy or radler. It’s a juicy lager with lots of grapefruit heft in a low-octane format. The beer isn’t subtle, but it’s fun. A compelling summer Saturday beer for sure.

Rating: 7.5 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.