Across The Nation Put A Cherry On Hop
Central City Brewers + Distillers

Can: Poured a cloudy pale reddish color ale with a medium size foamy head with OK retention. Aroma of syrupy cherry notes with gross sugar is not very enticing. Taste is amess with flavoured cherry juice notes that are mix in with cough syrup notes with some slightly bitter hops notes. Body is full with OK carbonation. I can’t believe the quality control level if this beer was even allowed to be released.

 

355 mL can from the LCBO, included in their Across the Nation Collaboration (Out West) mixed pack; dated Mar 27 2018 and served slightly chilled. I have heard good things about Rebellion, so I've been excited to try this one.

Pours translucent golden-orange, with one finger of foamy, buff-coloured head that settles off within a minute or two. A loose collar of soapy froth lives on, with an attractive swath of lacing also having been deposited - looks like any standard IPA, though the 'milkshake' part was lost on me - that is, until I started sniffing, at which point it became quite obvious. On the nose, there's a pleasant, subtly dessert-like sweetness of vanilla, oatmeal and milk sugar, merged with hints of black cherry ice cream and stone fruit. There's suggestions of resiny, earthy hops, but beyond that it doesn't smell much like your typical IPA - and yet, I'm loving it anyhow.

Tasty stuff; the dessert-iness carries over into the flavour profile, with notes of bready, pastry-like malts, oatmeal sweetness and a hint of vanilla black cherry ice cream. The earthy, resiny hop bitterness does show up on the back end, but is largely neutralized by the milk sugar and spicier aspects - I'm even getting a hint of cinnamon and gingerbread, which was unexpected but integrates nicely with the dessert theme. Sweet finish with lingering vanilla, lactose, cinnamon and earthiness continuing into the aftertaste. Medium-full in body, with moderate carbonation levels that impart a prickly, crisp bite to its otherwise smooth, creamy texture.

Final Grade: 3.9, a solid B+. Rebellion's Put a Cherry on Hop is easily one of the brightest highlights of these two collaborative mixed packs. The spice notes are actually weirding me out a bit - besides vanilla, there's nothing of the sort listed in the ingredients list, so the amateur biochemist deep within me is pondering whether or not it's a derivative of the vanilla (or even some other ingredient). This can is, after all, nearly 7 months old, and who knows what those molecules have been doing in there. This was a very interesting brew, and I'd jump at the opportunity to try it fresh.

 

Collaboration Rebellion Brewing, canned: Slightly hazy dark golden color with light activity. Slightly creamy beige 2-3 finger head, lasting around 10 minutes, with decent legs and swirl reaction. Flavors of cherries, vanilla, banana, sweet barley, oatmeal, lactose, and herbal hops. Smooth and light creamy medium to full body with soft crispy carbonation. Medium to strong strength finish, lots of fruits while moderately piney and leafy. More sugary than bitter, slightly dry hopped. The texture is fine but could be more carbonated, feels too much like milk. Interesting and unique ingredients (a first for me). Good freshness and balance. Overall very good quality craft.

 

Interesting experiment, but doesn't quite hang together for me. Ordinary to look at, delightful to smell, a bit confusing to taste. Subdued cherry fruit up front, chased right away by hops. Odd finish to it all. Elements of joy and weirdness.

 

 

Clear copper with a nice head. Fresh cherry nose. Inviting! Medium malt body with pleasant sour cherry notes. I was worried about too much sweetness but it's on the dry side like a cherry wine. Feel is crisp, begs for another sip. A winner from the 2018 Across the Nation collaboration pack.

 

 

 

355ml can, part of the 2018 Across the Nation collaboration pack with 12 different Canadian breweries, one from each province and territory. This one involves Saskatchewan's Rebellion Brewing, and is a Cherry Milkshake IPA.

This beer pours a clear, medium copper amber colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat bubbly ecru head, which leaves some stellar broken webbed lace around the glass as it slowly sinks out of sight.

It smells of candied cherries, creamy vanilla cookies, grainy and bready caramel malt, some minor generic citrusy notes, and very faint earthy, musty, and floral hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy cereal malt, bing cherry-flavoured vanilla ice cream, some earthy yeastiness, a hint of cherry cough syrup, and more understated leafy, weedy, and musky floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-supporting frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, but for a sense of burbling booze under the surface at this particular juncture. It finishes off-dry, the lactic cherry essence predominating.

Overall - well, they've more or less achieved what they set out to do, as malt shoppe favourite meets hoppy and warming IPA. Not nearly as sweet as I might have been expecting, but balanced well enough. A good kick-off for the long beer journey ahead of me.

A collaborative effort with Regina’s Rebellion, a brewery I’ve always had positive experiences with. This is a nicely made cherry milkshake IPA. The sweetness and fruit flavor are quite restrained, allowing you to remember that this is a beer at heart. So far, the western contributions to the Across Canada pack are very tasty, indeed!