Bia IPA - Birrificio Del Ducato (Italy)

Bia IPA - Birrificio Del Ducato (Italy) 6.5%

Full gold in a glass with a slight haze. The head faded fairly quickly leaving minimal lacing. The aroma is sweet, honey and grain with hops that smell of tropical fruits: papaya, nectarine and maybe some peach.

The taste is quite sweet with touch of candi sugar and caramel while still having a bitter bite and finish. To my taste this beer is heavily loaded with drying hops that you would expect in a pilsner or European lager; there are, no doubt, other hop types used as well since the hops character of this beer features more than dryness and some hops spice but also subtle tropical fruit flavours. However, this heavy use of pilsner hops stands out to me because its use in an IPA in conjunction with other types is interesting and I can't quite think of another beer that does it to this extent. Combined with the sweetness of this IPA, the hops come across as more nectar than resin with faint fruity notes of peach and tangerine that remind me of a zinfandel wine. Bia IPA is an interestingly subtle IPA that still packs in the hops but is different from those North American IPAs that tote loads of cedar and resin flavours.

Pumpkin Ale 2013 - Black Creek Historic Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto)

Pumpkin Ale 2013 - Black Creek Historic Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 5.0%

A dark amber but appropriately orange also with a thin head. The aroma is very strongly pumpkin and spices: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and maybe a hint of cloves. An extremely appetizing aroma and, even though it has a hefty spiced character, distinctly pumpkin.

The taste is pumpkin and the same yummy spices from the aroma with a little dry hops. The finish is very roasty and sweet with lingering pumpkin and spices. So, basically, there are flavours of pumpkin and spices throughout but they are most strongly in the aroma. After I got over the step down in intensity from the initial aroma to the taste I found Black Creek's Pumpkin Ale to be most delightful and very refreshing on this unseasonably hot day at the end of August.

Sinha Stout - Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC (Sri Lanka)

Sinha Stout - Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC (Sri Lanka) 8.8%

Black and utterly opaque in a glass. A vigorous pour generated a inch of mocha foam that settled quickly but did not completely dissipate sticking around the edges and and left some nice lacing. The aroma is chocolate heavy with some coffee, and a touch of grape or perhaps more like raisins and prunes. There is something also a little milky, like you'd find in a milk stout in the aroma. No signs of the 8.8% alcohol in the aroma until it warms up just a little. There is an issue with the aroma though, it is a little bit musty which may be as a result of a little oxygen tagging along in the bottle during the travel time from Sri Lanka to Ontario.

Milk chocolate flavours but a bit of a thin mouthfeel with some taste of alcohol in the finish. Ah, but let it warm up a little bit and the mouthfeel is there as well as the chocolate flavour, dark fruit, some leather tones. Also the finish is more smoke and dark chocolate with some alcohol, but not much, and just a little of that musty flavour. The aftertaste is dark fruit first and then some chocolate.

Overall, Sinha Stout is actually pretty good considering it was only $2.15 and it is 8.8% ABV. It is not the best stout but the only real knock on it is that is was musty and thin at times.

New Grist - Lakefront Brewery (USA - Wisconsin - Milwaukee)

New Grist - Lakefront Brewery (USA - Wisconsin - Milwaukee) 5.3%

Very pale gold in a glass, almost like a cider with a nearly nonexistent head. All of which is typical of gluten free beers. The aroma is very lightly citrusy (tangerine perhaps) and fairly tart.

The taste is a just little tart at first, especially in the finish, but is otherwise very beer like. New Grist is a little overcarbonated to my tastes but has a convincing malt flavour with light grain flavours and even some light dry european hops. This is a very convincing Pilsner style gluten-free beer and while it is a little light on flavour that makes it a whole lot better than some of the gluten-free options out there. If Lakefront added just a little bit more dry hops flavour I think it would be about as close to a Pilsner as a gluten-free beer could be.

Baldwin Fish-Eye - Kensington Brewing Company (Canada - Ontario - Toronto/Guelph)

Baldwin Fish-Eye - Kensington Brewing Company (Canada - Ontario - Toronto/Guelph) 6.5%

An amber orange in a glass with a frothy white head with impressive staying power. Seriously this head last and lasts, it may contribute to the flavour being more bitter since the foam often contains the more volatile hop oils. An aroma like a pine and cedar forest but with some citrus (orange) and a perfumy floral touch too. I could contentedly just sit and smell this beer for quite a while.

Hoppy cedar and resin taste along with nice toasted bread and grain flavours. Pleasant orange flavours and malt sweetness balance some of the hops.  Quite a grain heavy finish. Late onset of a robustly bitter aftertaste. A nice IPA, more orange flavour with a more bitter aftertaste than the average IPA (if the term 'average IPA' means anything). If you like really bitter beers and the citrus character of hops this one is a riot and would go well with just about any strong flavoured food.