IPA from what is probably Canada’s most renowned brewery. Thick and frothy, yellowish egg-white, dense, creamily lacing head over an initially clear, coppery red amber coloured beer, notably darker and more red than is custom for the style, so it already distinguishes itself in its looks. Aroma has wonderful piney and citrussy hops as well as a good dosis of malts, the latter even becoming stronger than the hops as the beer warms up: grapefruit peel, cedar needles and even cedar wood, hemp, orange zest, roses, lime peel, biscuit, toasted bread, walnuts, pink peppercorns, fresh and pungent apple cake sweetness piercing through here and there, mango, touch of liquorice. Clean and crisp onset of dried fruits, mango, hints of pineapple and strawberry, fairly soft carbo with a deep sourish accent for balance, lime freshness, after which - as expected seeing the colour and inhaling the aroma - a rounded, soft but very ’present’ malt character follows, toasted and nutty with a caramelly edge but not turning really sweet anywhere. It knows where to stop: though it persists till deep into the finish, this maltiness is overcome by a powerful yet elegant, gracious hop bitterness in the finish, spicy, piney, grapefruity and in that sense very American. It never becomes overly harsh though, so the beer ends with a juicy ’bittersweetness’. Lovely and idiosyncratic IPA; I would not call this an English style IPA, the hop character is way too strong and ’American’ for that, but it does put more emphasis on the malts than usual in this (now) obiquitous style; I’d rather classify this as an American red IPA, with which it shares all of its main features. Whatever the variant may be, this is a juicy, appetizing, flawless and interestingly delicious ale, in which one can clearly feel the expertise of this brewery. I cannot get enough of their beers now.