Blue Dream Hazy IPA by Four Winds

Apparently inspired by a cannabis strain, Blue Dream is a hazy IPA infused with plant terpenes designed to give this beer the smell of marijuana.

Appearance: The can is visually distinct from all other Four Winds releases that I have seen. (The Four Winds brand doesn’t seem to have a strong design language. There's like four or five different design templates for their cans.) Blue Dream is hazy and yellow gold with a head that settles quickly and then dissapears completely, leaving almost no lacing. (I assume the additional terpenes inhibit foam formation.)

Aroma: Does it smell like pot? I’m not an expert, but I think not really. I do get a sort of vegetal smell, maybe a little spice and not too much fruit.

Flavour: Tough to pinpoint but I think there is some stonefruit in there. Some hops make beer taste fuzzy and I don’t know yet how to explain or elaborate on that any better. But this beer is fuzzy. There is a really strong ginger component to the flavour which is actually kind of pleasant.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is medium. Body is full, like a traditional IPA. It doesn’t have that pillowy fluffiness you get with a great hazy IPA.

Overall: For the record, I like Four Winds as a brewery. I have spent a lot of time in B.C. drinking B.C. beer and I always found their early, more traditional releases to be very technically proficient when a lot of craft brewers struggled with consistency. But this beer is just okay. Maybe it’s because I’m not a cannabis connoisseur, but the plant terpenes gimmick—which mostly seems to drive ginger notes in the flavour profile—isn’t enough to make up for what is a middle of the road hazy IPA. (And there's really no shortage of those in the world today...)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Entropy Series No. 11: Whisky Sour by Dageraad Brewing

Name: Entropy Series No. 11: Whiskey Sour Brewery: Dageraad Brewing Style: Saison Alc/vol: 5.0% OG: Unknown FG: Unknown IBU: Unknown Malt: Unknown Hops: Unknown Yeast: Unknown Appearance: This beer arrives in a beautiful champagne style bottle with a regular beer cap on top rather than a cage and cork. It features a classic label design that makes a bold commitment: this is a beer-based interpretation of the classic whiskey sour cocktail. I happen to love both beer and whiskey sours so expectations are high. The beer pours pretty clear—looks like a Kolsch or something similar. Aroma: It smells like farmland. Like hay and even manure. And a touch of sour milk or yoghurt. Yeah, it's complicated. Flavour: Mmm. This is something special. First, it comes across as a straight up citrus bomb with strong lemon and lime characteristics. But then it finishes with more complexity—sour, funky and smoky with hints of whisky-like flavours. This is something special. Mouthfeel: I find saison...

Do Stuff Together by Mikkeller

The core purpose of this blog is ostensibly the review of Canadian-made craft beer. But I will veer off-course from time-to-time. This review of an American-style beer brewed in Belgium by a Danish brewer is one of those times. There's a lot to like about Mikkeller . The homebrewer in me loves the story behind the company, from its homebrew roots, to its establishment as a virtual brewery, to its evolution into a global craft beer brand. The marketing professional in me loves the brewery's branding, focused as it is on the illustrative style of their talented art director, Keith Shore . And most importantly, as a fan of craft beer, I love that their output is universally pretty good. Mikkeller's beers are typically sold as singles, at least in Alberta. In fact, I don't believe I've ever come across a four- or six-pack of Mikkeller beer. Do Stuff Together is no different. This is a premium beer with a premium price of just under $10 for a single 473mL can. It is...

Synthwave by Boombox Brewing Company

Canada's best beer comes from British Columbia. I'm pretty confident of that. Some of my favourite Canadian breweries can be found there, like Superflux , Twin Sails and Boombox . The subject of this review is one of the latter's limited releases: Synthwave. I missed this beer the first time it was brewed and released but managed to pick up a four-pack recently. I believe it was brewed in December 2019 so it's not 100% fresh but not old enough yet that a review would be inappropriate. Information on the brewery's website is sparse at best—this beer does not appear there at all. A rough grain bill is printed on the side of the can and I found a list of hops at the beer blog Bring Your Porter to the Slaughter . This beer features a combination of Citra, Mosaic and Motueka hops. Citra and Mosaic are par for the course when it comes to contemporary IPAs, especially ones that are influenced by the hazy, fruit-forward beers popularized by certain New England brewerie...

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