Monocle Single Hop IPA with Nectaron by Four Winds

I really like single hop beers for their educational value—there’s no better way to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of different hops. Mikkeller, one of my favourite breweries of all time, had a wonderful series of single hop IPAs a decade or so ago that was instrumental to my understanding of classic North American hop varieties like Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe and many more. So I was happy to see that Four Winds has a newer series of single hop releases with more contemporary hops coming out under the name Monocle. This was my first sampling of this series.

Aroma: Smells like yard and garden clippings—in a good way. I personally get that from a lot of modern IPAs with new hop varieties.

Taste: Very strong stone fruit finish, like peach or apricot. Bit of dank and a touch of grain which I like. (Maybe some blueberry notes as it warms—gets a little more sour too.)

Mouthfeel: Pretty nice. Doesn’t fully achieve the fluffy cloud-like feeling I associate with an outstanding hazy IPA but it’s not too full. Just maybe a little crisper than I’d like. Carbonation seems about right.

Overall: It’s a gooder. I wouldn’t seek it out but I’m happy I had it. What did I learn about Nectaron? A stone fruit bomb, at least in my opinion—with a nice touch of dank.

Rating: 3 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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