Stats: IPA. 7.0% ABV. 80 IBUs. Burlington, Ontario.
Size: 473mL can
Colour: Golden straw (chardonnay) — clear except for profusion of heavy particulate that grows with the pour.
Mouth Feel: Medium, very natural carbonation; light start and a refreshingly bitter finish.
Purchased: LCBO
Price: $2.85
Pairing Notes: n/a
→ 84 points
Penny for Your Thoughts ♦ Nickel for Your Thirst
Next up on my Getting Canned tour is this very nice craft beer from the alliterative tongue-twister of beer makers, Better Bitters Brewing.
As a novice guitar player, I am happy to riff on this psychedelically adorned can for more than a few minutes. It’s really hard to smell anything inside an aluminum can (so that’s a clear beef I have with aluminum packaging) but pour it out of the can and you’re in for a treat here. You’re going to experience a full west-coast hop presence in all its glory: citrus through with strong hints of grapefruit and orange followed a tropical backing of mango. For the fruit lovers out there, this is an IPA you’ll love.
Don’t get distracted by the precipitate in the beer. One: it’s only an aesthetic facet and Two: it’s indicative of the fact that this beer is “naturally carbonated” (read: fermented on the lees). So take a sip of this beer that pours a beautiful tight shaving-foam of a head and your tongue is given a wash of Seville orange and grapefruit before a tasty bit of pine washes over the middle along with the malts. Speaking of the malts, they bring excellent backup vocals with a bit of burnt orange (caramel) that plays well in the middle to bring balance to a beer that is bitter from start to finish.
So if you got detoured in the middle and thought the bitters were upfront, the ending is a full-on, Pete-Townsend-smashing-guitar on the tongue with a some intense bitters and a lot of grapefruit peel. The ending is uncharacteristically flavourful, but with those strong bitters at the end comes also the less grace’ful’ note of astringency which will suck your tongue dry. Truly, the grapefruit is as prominent in this beer as I’ve tasted and for something that actually doesn’t have grapefruit in it, it nevertheless reminds me of actual grapefruit ales; quite the stellar hops here.
As for the coda in this fine tuned beer, I’m more than happy to give this brewer more than a penny for my thoughts: superb. Will definitely buy this again and recommend it to any Ontario hop-heads looking for a great, hopped-up beer.
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