Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5
473mL can, pours a hazy bright orange with a small white head. Nose doesn’t really reveal anything remotely Nelson-like—more just a bunch of tropical fruits, stone fruits, melon, and sugary malts to back. Flavour is rather boozy and chaotic, with big tropical fruits, melon, a little citrus, huge booziness, and a semi-sweet candied malt character to back. What happened to this series? What used to be a rather refined product—full of hops, cohesion, balance, etc.—has degenerated into a clumsily hopped (probably less bittering and more late addition), poorly balanced, harsh/boozy mess of a strong ale of some sort. What’s more, there is no characteristic Nelson expression here. It’s not a total trainwreck, but this is a shadow of what this series used to be. A damn shame.
Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5
473mL can, pours a clear golden with a small white head. Aroma has lots of lacto, lots of cheap elderflower, and a touch of pear skins. Flavour has cheap elderflower, gentle pears, lacto, and floral notes. Cheap artificial adjuncts and lame base. Poor.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 6
Can. Almost opaque orange with cm of white head. Aroma of orange sherbet, tropical fruit, grass clipping that have sat awhile. A bit vaguely malty under the fruit at first, then bitter pith and somewhat burning herbal notes to finish. Adjusted a bit to the finish after a while but not for me.
RennyDoig (4859) reviewed On Fire from Strathcona Beer Company 2 months ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
On tap at Strathcona. Pours nearly black with a beige head. Loads of nutmeg and other stale spices on the nose. Flavour has a pretty thin spice profile, mostly nutmeg with some cinnamon and allspice lurking in the corner. No malt base to be found.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
On tap at Strathcona. Pours very dark brown with a beige head. Dusty bread malts and some cocoa powder on the nose. Flavour has more of that dusty bread and cocoa with some banana clinging to the edges. Light notes of vanilla and maple syrup. There's a lot going on and the stuff in the periphery is better.
Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5
On tap at Strathcona. Pours an opaque dull yellow with a white head. Strawberry purrée and lacto on the nose. Flavour has underripe strawberries and aggressive lacto. Local mediocrity in a glass.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
On tap at Strathcona. Pours clear blonde with a white head. Bright grassy notes on the nose; gentle lemon zest and spice. Flavour has grassy malts, hints of lemon flavour, dry spice. Decent lager, well made.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
16oz @ Ryan's shared with Farees and Phill.
Aroma: juicy, citrusy, creamy.
Taste: along the same lines, noticeably bitter, a lot of fruits, though. Some hop burn. Finishes with some rough tropical fruit bitterness.
Overall: a bit too bitter, but it's enjoyable.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Poured from 473mL can. Hazy yellow gold with small white head. Pithy citrus peel, pine, some hop burn, haven't been impressed with any of the recent versions of Head Banger. Not terrible, but uninteresting.
Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4.5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 4.5
473mL can. Pours an opaque, dirty yellow with a white head. Loads of citrus peels and syrup on the nose. Flavour has intense bitter citrus peels, sharp pine, and loads of hopburn leaving an unpleasant, lingering bitterness. This is a disappointing entry for this series.