Duvel Tripel Hop (2014) (Belgium)

 Duvel Tripel Hop (2014) (Belgium) 9.5%

Grassy, unripened mango, passionfruit hop laden aroma also with sweetness and a herbal hint typical of a less hoppy Tripel. A pale, cloudy gold in a glass with a frothy and resilient head of white foam.

Hoppy, bitter flavour at first, pine, sweet tangerine (got that from the Untappd description), something between the green (aka unripened) mango and passionfruit I got in the aroma but with a sweet herbal, floral finish of a Tripel. Interesting hops character and a flavour that is otherwise true to the Tripel style. Nice beer.

Wilco Tango Foxtrot - Lagunitas (USA - California - Petaluma)

Wilco Tango Foxtrot - Lagunitas (USA - California - Petaluma) 7.8%

An amazing aroma and taste to match: very hoppy (melon & cucumber), hints of peaches but also malty and roasted.  Dark and almost chocolatey tasting at times. It's not bitter at first (or maybe there is just too much going on to really notice it) but it does have a bitter finish. As far as colour, just like one of the many humourous lines to read from the label: "We're not quite in the Red, or in the Black...". It tastes like they mixed a heavily hopped beer with maybe a stout. It's really really good. Too bad it was only a limited release.

Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 5.6%

Full gold in a glass, cloudy too. It totes a resilient heady of creamy white foam. A berrylike (gooseberry?) touch to the hoppy floral, herbal, pine and citrus (tangerine) aroma.


The taste is floral, spicy, herbal, resiny, sweet but perfectly bitter with a delightful berry flavour throughout that is a little tropical and never seems out of place or inappropriate. A very tasty beer. Overall the impressive ingredient list (rose hips!) and the delightful flavour combine for a spectacular beer.

Dinner Jacket O'Red IPA - Arch Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

Dinner Jacket O'Red IPA - Arch Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 6.3%

A red hued gold in a glass with a big head of off-white foam. Cedar and resin aroma, with a scent of some sticky caramelized sugars you would expect from a Red Ale.

Very bitter, hops forward flavour at first and a very bitter aftertaste - a little metallic even. Honestly, Dinner Jacket seemed too bitter at first but I got accustomed to it quite quickly and more of the flavours came out rather than solely bitterness. Resin, cedar, pine and other faint wood tones form the hops character while crusty bread, and some nearly sticky candied fruit tones in the malty body. As promised on the label and by the use of oats, Dinner Jacket O'Red IPA does have a creamy mouthfeel.

In the end, the malt body of a Red Ale is what distinguishes this from other IPAs and a bit more of those Red Ale malt flavours as well as a bit less of the bitterness would make this beer a real standout.

Vulcan Ale - Pluto's Moon Beer Company

Vulcan Ale - Pluto's Moon Beer Company 5.4%

A dark amber in a glass, nearly brown when not held up to the light. Slightly hoppy (resin, cedar), toasty, sweet with a touch of something sticky - all said it reminds me a little bit a thin molasses.

Strongly sweet flavour but it is nicely toasty (just on the verge of turning into something roasty) and there is just enough hoppy bitterness. Some subtle wooden tones and faint red, fruity flavours round out this Irish Red Ale. I would say that Vulcan Ale is hoppier and just a little sweeter than an Irish Red ought to be but I enjoyed drinking it. Most importantly the name and can/label are awesome.

Live long and prosper.

Detour - Muskoka Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Bracebridge)

Detour - Muskoka Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Bracebridge) 4.3%

Mango, ruby grapefruit aroma with pine and hoppy loveliness. A darker gold in a glass with a head of foam that leaves behind some lacing.

A bitter beer first and foremost with pine hops in the forefront but the hops also combine with the malty body for a flavour that I'll describe as toasted bread topped with a sprinkle of sugar and a fresh citrus (orange as well as grapefruit) and mango salsa, or perhaps a chilled compote. Yes, I'm aware that this is a beer and not an entree at brunch but Detour has some serious depth of flavour and the most amazing thing to me it that it's only 4.3%!

I am a big fan of hoppy beers that are low in alcohol (my favourite beer in the whole world is Pump House Brewery's Special Old Bitter) but it is especially impressive that Detour has so much malt flavour as well and is still only 4.3%. I really hope that this is not just a seasonal and that instead is available year round because this beer would be the perfect accompaniment to all sorts of yard work or summer sporting events.

Rudolphus VI - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Rudolphus VI - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 6.9%

A very cloudy gold in a glass with a big frothy head of soda-like foam that settles down into a nice creamy layer of beer foam. The aroma is hoppy but it also has a malty body as well as distinctly Belgian, sweet tones.

Very hoppy, bitter flavour of cedar and resin at first. As you become acclimatized to the hops, Belgian candi sugar notes and nectary sweetness come out even as strong hops flavours remain. This is an interesting Belgian IPA, it is pretty strongly hoppy but also quite appropriately (for a Belgian style ale) sweet with the aforementioned nectar tones and some yeast flavours as you get down to the last third of the bottle. As a result of this unique mix of flavours, Rudolphus VI is one of those styles that you should know what you are going to be drinking before you taste it: a hoppy and bitter beer with the nectar and sugary sweet tones you expect from a Belgian ale.

Red Racer India Pale Ale - Central City Brewers (Canada - British Columbia - Surrey)

Red Racer India Pale Ale - Central City Brewers (Canada - British Columbia - Surrey) 6.5%

A slightly red full gold colour in a glass with a big head of white frothy foam. Resin, cedar, citrus (grapefruit) and mango hops aroma. Strongly hoppy flavour, with grapefruit, papaya, cedar, pine and sticky resin. Quite bitter but with some sweetness from the malty mixed in. A bitter hops (especially grapefruit) and slightly metallic aftertaste. This is a solid IPA that would go well with stirfry and one that I would drink regularly if it was local, that's no knock against Red Racer I just prefer my locally produced beers for environmental reasons.

Mill Street Barley Wine (2013) (Canada - Ontario - Toronto)

Mill Street Barley Wine 2013 (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 11.5%

A golden amber colour, very similar to a rich honey. Alcohol, herbal hops, caramelized malty sweetness with some clover, nectar and red fruit tones in the aroma, that I find a little reminiscent of some meads I have had, along with biscuit and honey.

A surprising chocolate flavour greeted me at first followed closely by the honeyed, sweet, caramelized roasted malt flavours. There are some red fruit (black cherry and red pear) esters and there is something about the mix of herbal hops touches, alcohol, clover and nectar that makes this barley wine taste 'meadow infused'. It is a very natural and somewhat medieval tasting ale. Chocolate never really came back as strongly as on the first sip but I taste it in there as part of the malty backing of this formidable barley wine. Mill Street's is a very nice American barley wine with a bit of a hops slant with the herbal flavour colouring things.

A few words about the ceramic bottle, the wax seal is a nice touch and more than just decoration if you want to age this beer for a few years. Also the little metal handle that is attached to the swing-top cap is a nice touch. This would make good gift for the beer geek on your Christmas list (is it too early to be giving out Christmas gift suggestions?).

Autumn Hop Harvest Ale - Amsterdam Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto)

Autumn Hop Harvest Ale - Amsterdam Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 5.6%

Herbal, citrus (orange and a hint of grapefruit), a bit floral, pine and sticky resin rounds out hops character of the aroma while there is also some earthiness and biscuit and honey tones from the malty body. Clear full gold in a glass.

To go along with its moderately hoppy flavour and sweet grain tones, this beer made with fresh hops (as in added without being dried first) has a pleasant peppery earthiness. The combination of spice and earth tones feels to me a bit like autumn incarnate (distillate?) which I think is perfect for a seasonal such as Autumn Hop Harvest Ale. The aftertaste is moderately bitter hops that tastes of pine as well as a little herbal, citrus and some resin too. This is a nice American Pale Ale in its own right but I feel it also is a good example of the appeal of fresh hop beers and the variety they can bring.

The Canadian Dream - Mikkeller Brewery (Denmark - Copenhagen)

The Canadian Dream - Mikkeller Brewery (Denmark - Copenhagen) 4.6%

An orange amber colour in a glass with a big off-white head of foam. A sweet and citrusy aroma with some resin and ever-so-slightly musty wood tones.

Very hoppy taste, cedar and light resin. Some citrus and tropical fruit flavours: I pick up papaya (think of those dried orange cubes in trail mix), some grapefruit and maybe tangerine. While this beer has sweet tastes at times it is also quite bitter and leaves the tongue tingling a little as a result.

There is a bit of confusion as to the alcohol content of this beer, the label claims 4.6% but I have seen it registered at 5.5% in several places on the internet. I think it is more likely to be 5.5% because this would otherwise be the hoppiest and lowest alcohol beer I ever had by a longshot. Roughly speaking, a higher alcohol content requires more sugar for the yeast to eat. Also, for a beer to be this hoppy without being overwhelmingly bitter there has to be a fair amount of balancing sweetness, this is something that I just don't think could be accomplished in a conventional beer that is only 4.6%. Regardless of the ABV, this is a very nice American Pale Ale.

Boneshaker Unfiltered IPA - Amsterdam Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto)

Boneshaker Unfiltered IPA - Amsterdam Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 7.1%

A deep, slightly orange and nearly glowing amber in a glass with an off-white head that fades fairly quickly but leaves pleasant lacing. Grapefruit, mango and passionfruit dominated hops aroma at first, but then it mellows into an aroma featuring more melon and resin tones. A swirl of the glass with bring back a finger of foam as well as the hoppy tropical highlights of mango and passionfruit for a moment. The taste is of resin and cedar mellowed with some melon and mango tones; strong hops bitterness and a sweet malty body that is caramelized and a little sticky like a Red Ale. The finish reveals some very nice caramel tones and the aftertaste is very much bitter for the most part but eventually fades into a nice grain flavour with lingering notes of pine. No alcohol taste that I detected but there is enough in this fine ale to set your tongue tingling at times.

Boneshaker is a very nice India Pale Ale and, seeing as how it tips the scales at 7.1%, it could even be considered to be a very nice Imperial IPA. Lots more tropical fruit flavours than other IPAs but that's part of the reason why IPAs are fun: sure they are almost all very hoppy but they can be hoppy in dramatically different ways. One final note about the hops-borne tropical fruit flavours, they come out even more so as the beer warms a little which decreases the extent of the bitterness.

Iron Throne Blonde Ale - Brewery Ommegang (USA - New York - Cooperstown) 6.5%

 Iron Throne Blonde Ale - Brewery Ommegang (USA - New York - Cooperstown) 6.5%

Full gold and slightly cloudy in a glass with a big frothy white head. The aroma is yeasty with banana, cloves and is also just a little minty - the latter two traits are from the seeds of paradise the label mentions.

The taste is spicy, lightly bitter (more so it is cold) with a bit of a creamy mouthfeel, from the wheat, and yet it seems a tad thin at times. Some coriander flavours, that also turn out to be accreditable to the seeds of paradise. The slightest bit of lemon. Iron Throne Blonde Ale is a Belgian Blonde Ale that is just a little bit more hoppy than usual and whose mouthfeel come across as a bit attenuated at times but is, overall, pretty nice.

This beer is the first in Ommegang's Game of Thrones series. The next one to be released is a stout by the name of Take the Black.

Hops and Bolts India Pale Lager - Mad and Noisy Brewing - Creemore Springs (Canada - Ontario - Creemore)

Hops and Bolts India Pale Lager - Mad and Noisy Brewing / Creemore Springs (Canada - Ontario - Creemore) 5.3%

Slightly cloudy, full gold with a distinct orange hue and a big, frothy off-white and touched with orange or gold head of foam that leaves some pretty nice lacing as it fades.

Hoppy cedar or pine aroma with a little resin, some malty tones and something that is distinctly lager-like in there too. Caramelized malt coupled with resin and cedar in the flavour. Fairly bitter, particularly in the finish. A roasty and a little sticky aftertaste with a grain flavour that sometimes borders on nutty.

Hops and Bolts is a neat example of an India Pale Lager, essentially a very hoppy lager, and I quite like it. It is certainly worth a try, especially if you are in Ontario, because it is tasty and it might be fun to compare Hops and Bolts with a similarly hoppy India Pale Ale to consider the differences between a lager and an ale.

River Walker Summer Ale - Lake of Bays Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Baysville)

River Walker Summer Ale - Lake of Bays Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Baysville) 6.0%

Full gold in a glass with a big, white, fluffy head. A nice ginger aroma that is sweet with hints of citrus (lemon) as well as some added melon tones, perhaps from the hops, that comes across as cantaloupe with just a hint of cucumber. But the ginger spice really is first and foremost and quite delightful.

The ginger continues in the taste but River Walker also has quite a bitter bite. There is also melon (still cantaloupe) and a grain sweetness. The ginger isn't overpowering at all but it is the main player. The citrus is fairly faint in the taste and the mouthfeel is a little creamy from the wheat but with a crisp, quite a dry finish. In the aftertaste, ginger and melon are there along side a distinctly toasted wheat taste, that builds to be quite toasty actually. The aftertaste is almost a little sticky with some resiny hops flavours presenting themselves.

The ginger and melon mixture actually reminds me of a few [pumpkin] beers I have had but is quite nice and, although it is marketed as a Summer Ale I think River Walker is better suited to late August and early September where there is just a touch of autumn in the air and you want to enjoy a summer day's warmth or savour the excitement of a late-summer night's chill.

Hoptical Illusion - Flying Monkeys (Canada - Ontario - Barrie)

Hoptical Illusion - Flying Monkeys (Canada - Ontario - Barrie) 5.0%

Reddish brown gold in a glass. Nice frothy head. Hoppy cedar aroma with some sweet slightly dark and caramelized malt. Interesting deception here in the taste: not as hoppy as it smells. Cedar and resin or sap in the hops, fairly sweet and not very bitter - pretty nice and a mild man's American Pale Ale. Pretty neat concept, an illusion of strong hops in the aroma but actually having a much more mild hops flavour, and it was well executed with a clever name, a cool bottle cap and a cool label.

Miami Weiss - Great Lakes Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Toronto)

Miami Weiss - Great Lakes Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 4.5%

A very cloudy gold colour in a glass. Lots of pine, pineapple, passionfruit and maybe a little bit of guava, all from the hops, in the aroma.

Bitter taste with not nearly as much hops in the taste as in the aroma but it hoppy with some pine and guava. The mouthfeel is creamy, as is typical of a wheat, but with a bitter bite. There is light sediment on the bottom of the bottle; it doesn't change the flavour all that much when it ends up in your glass.

There is a pretty silly suggested serving temperature on the bottle: 1 to 3 degrees Celsius. That is about as cold as you can get a beverage and is more appropriate for flavourless light beers like Coors Light than a hoppy wheat beer like Miami Weiss. At that kind of temperature this beer is only very bitter with the faintest hit of hops, please ignore their suggestion and serve it warmer so you can enjoy the lovely hops character.

Creemore Springs Traditional Pilsner (Canada - Ontario - Creemore)

Creemore Springs Traditional Pilsner (Canada - Ontario - Creemore) 5.3%

A pale, bordering on full, gold colour in a glass. The aroma is mildly malty with hints of the hops to come. Lovely hoppy character, flowery and green, a little reminiscent of clover flowers. Malty, bitter and lively on the tongue. Very refreshing and very much a pilsner. This is a nice product and pairs well with both food and lazing around on a patio.

Rye Pale Ale - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 6.6%

Rye Pale Ale - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 6.6%

A glowing orange colour in a glass with big a fluffy off-white head of foam that left nice lacing as it faded.

A sweet hoppy aroma of pineapple, cedar, resin and a little floral. Strong, bitter taste with hops first: cedar, resin, a little citrus (orange) and some of that pineapple. The rye flavour really comes out in a grain loaded finish and aftertaste but this bitter brew is all about the hops which are strong throughout.

If you aren't a full blown hop-head and find Cameron's Brewing's Rye Pale Ale too bitter at first you are probably not alone. My suggestion would be to let it warm up most of the way and give a chance for the toasted bread (rye bread of course) and light caramel tones to really come out. Warmer and this RPA is still bitter but shows more balance.

IPA - Southern Tier Brewing Company (USA - New York - Lakewood) 7.3%

IPA - Southern Tier Brewing Company (USA - New York - Lakewood) 7.3%

A full gold in a glass with a thick white head that fades but shows some resilience. Melon, pineapple and citrus hops aromas first, followed by sweetness, a bit of mint and some cedar or resin.

The taste is not as hoppy as I expected, don't get me wrong it is still hoppy and bitter, but the malt flavours are very nicely blended and intricate with touches of grain, sweet toasted bread and a not-quite-caramel flavour that latches onto the sweeter more melon-like hops flavour and melts it over you palate. The finish is sweet and somewhat bitter with the aforementioned fruity and floral hops but some cedar and resin reveal themselves in the late finish and aftertaste leaving you with a pleasantly hoppy glow. Speaking of glow, there is no way to tell that this beer has such a high alcohol content. It is very easy drinking and smooth as well as being 7.3%: all this translates into Southern Tier's IPA being deliciously troublesome, try one.